Penn National calls off Thursday card due to flooded roads

Heavy storms that produced nine inches of rain within 24 hours in central Pennsylvania forced Penn National Race Course to cancel live racing for the second straight night on Thursday.

As of Thursday morning, most of the major access roads to the track were closed and not expected to reopen until sometime Friday.

“We had more than 20 shippers for Thursday’s program and their safety was our primary concern,” said Mark Loewe, vice president of racing. “We also want to pay close attention to our barn area with the same concerns for our local horsemen. Many of them had a hard time getting to the stable area today due to local street closures.”

Penn National is scheduled to resume racing this weekend with Friday and Saturday cards at 6 p.m. Eastern, The track then has a regularly scheduled shutdown until Friday, Sept. 23.