Sam Houston cancels final Thoroughbred dates, full Quarter Horse meet

Sam Houston Race Park in Houston announced Sunday it has canceled its final four dates of the Thoroughbred meet as well as its full meet for Quarter Horses that was to open April 10.

The meet for Thoroughbreds was to have originally closed March 28. The cancellations were made due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re extremely disappointed to not be able to complete what we started, which was a tremendous racing season for the Thoroughbreds,” Frank Hopf, senior director of racing operations for Sam Houston, said Sunday.

“In the situation that everyone is facing with the unknown with the coronavirus, we made the decision, for public safety, to cancel the end of the Thoroughbred meet and the 2020 Quarter Horse meet.

“Disappointed is not a strong enough word.”

Hopf said Sam Houston’s staff had put in a great deal of work on both annual meets, which each had purses increased significantly due to a new Texas law. Hopf said Sam Houston also is grateful for the support it’s had from owners, trainers, jockeys and horseplayers.

“We can’t thank everyone enough,” he said.

Sam Houston had recently instituted spectator-free racing ontrack at the direction of state officials, who are limiting the number of people at gatherings like sporting events in an attempt to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.

The track’s final card ended up being Saturday night’s Texas Champions program, but Sam Houston was forced to cancel after the second race when a track lighting issue arose.

“The transformer blew and we were unable to get all the track lights on to run safely,” Hopf said Saturday night.

Sam Houston experienced wet weather Saturday, with the track rated sloppy and the races scheduled for turf moved to the main track. The card featured seven stakes worth a total of $525,000, but none were run as the first of the stakes races was scheduled as the third race on the 10-race card Saturday.

The stakes races, which were all for horses bred in Texas, will not be rescheduled by the now-dark Sam Houston.

“We’ll certainly be having conversations with the horsemen’s associations to do whatever we can do to help out for the remaining racing year in Texas,” Hopf said Sunday.

Sam Houston’s stable area had about 1,000 horses on the grounds as of Saturday night and those horses can remain onsite at the present time, said Hopf. He added that Sam Houston will not be accepting any new horses.

Hopf said training would be available for the onsite horses, which is key for some outfits because Lone Star Park, the next meet on the Texas circuit, announced Friday it has delayed receiving horses on its backstretch until at least April 3 because of coronavirus restrictions in Dallas County. The meet is scheduled to open April 16.

“We are having meetings with the Texas Horsemen’s Partnership in the coming days to discuss further stabling of the horses that are on our property,” said Hopf.

He said Sam Houston wants to do what it can to help in the situation.

The average daily handle for Sam Houston's meet for Thoroughbreds was up approximately 40 percent over the corresponding season through Wednesday, according to numbers the track provided last week to Daily Racing Form.

It made the cancellation that much more bitter for Sam Houston, and all with ties to the comebacking industry in Texas.

“We share in the disappointment this creates throughout the Texas racing industry and for our valued customers and employees.” Dwight Berube, vice president and general manager of Sam Houston, said in a statement. “Sam Houston Race Park looks forward to a time when our entire community can once again enjoy great racing.”

For Sam Houston, that will now be 2021.