No issues with dirt surface despite cancellations, track says

There are no problems with the main track at Indiana Grand, director of racing Kevin Greely said Wednesday, despite the Shelbyville, Ind., track having to abandon a card Tuesday for the second time in a week.

The Tuesday card was called off following heavy rain after one race had been run. The previous Tuesday, racing was halted after two races when another storm blew through the area. But the track surface, Greely said, is draining fine, and Indiana Grand was only the victim of ill fortune.

“It was just bad luck. Mother Nature just dealt us a blow and knocked us out,” Greely said.

The airport at Shelbyville recorded 0.87 inches of rain early Tuesday afternoon, but Greely said more than one inch fell at the track. Races first were delayed while the track’s maintenance crew attempted to ready the surface for the card to continue, but the program, an unusually strong one for a Tuesday, never continued.

“We harrowed it up, floated it, and it was drying – there was dust flying by 5 in the evening – but the jocks just didn’t feel like it was suitable for racing, so they decided to pull the plug,” Greely said. “It was a similar situation the week before.”

Greely said two of the races lost Tuesday were brought back for Saturday’s card, and two more were on the overnight as extras for Tuesday. “Some of the races come back in a week or so, so there was no need to bring them back,” he said.