Racing canceled through Sunday at Laurel

Laurel Park in Maryland canceled all racing and training this weekend, citing “ongoing track maintenance and inclement weather predicted for Sunday,” according to a statement released on Friday afternoon.

The cancellation of the Saturday and Sunday live race cards will cap a week in which the track had already called off live racing on Thursday and Friday. The Thursday card was canceled because of the “lingering effects of a winter storm” that hit the mid-Atlantic earlier in the week. A second winter storm brought snowfall on Friday morning.

In the release on Friday, Laurel said that Glen Kozak, the track superintendent for the New York Racing Association, and Jamie Richardson, the track superintendent for Churchill Downs, will inspect the track on Monday morning to assess its suitability for racing and training. A meeting with horsemen on-site at Laurel has also been scheduled for that morning “to provide a full update.”

Entries for next Friday’s race card, which were scheduled to be taken on Sunday, will now be taken on Tuesday, Laurel said in the release.

Laurel officials have expressed concern that the recent snowfalls and the rain predicted for Sunday may have an unpredictable impact on the main dirt track, according to an official with knowledge of the talks. The track is not expected to make a decision on whether to pursue further renovations to the track until Kozak and Richardson have a chance to discuss their conclusions with the track’s former superintendent, John Passero, who has been consulting for Laurel over the past several months.

If the track needs additional work, racing and training are likely to be suspended for at least another week.

“It’s just a frustrating situation for everyone involved,” the official said. “We’ve never had problems like this here.”

Last year, Laurel Park closed for racing and training in the spring in order to renovate the main track, a project that took months to complete. The track was then targeted for further renovations in December after seven horses suffered catastrophic injuries while racing or training in November. Track officials had said that the renovated track did not respond well to the colder fall temperatures.

Laurel re-opened on Dec. 14 after the second round of renovations. Track officials told the Maryland Racing Commission earlier this week that no horses have suffered catastrophic injuries while either racing or training since the re-opening.