For Southwest tracks, extreme heat is a constant

Silvercents put on a show at Lone Star Park on Sunday when she became yet another winner for the hot freshman sire Goldencents.

Her performance was even more impressive considering the conditions.

The temperature hit an afternoon high of 103 degrees as the 2-year-old cruised by 4 3/4 lengths in the maiden special weight. The win came the same day Belmont Park canceled its card due to extreme heat. Delaware Park and Parx Racing also canceled programs this week due to the heat wave on the East Coast.

In the Southwest, tracks like Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La., hold night cards to combat the heat, and Lone Star, near Dallas, races nights on Thursdays and Fridays. Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La., does not have lights for night racing, but has a later afternoon post that stretches some of its card into the early evening. The tracks make ice, water and hoses available to the card’s participants, while some feature misting fans in the paddock.

Trainer Allen Milligan, who on Friday was sending horses to Louisiana Downs from the recently closed Churchill, long has competed in Bossier City.

“Racing there, it’s the hottest place I’ve ever been,” he said. “It’s just so humid and hot, when you open your door in the morning you’ve just got to take a deep breath.”

Richard Eramia, the leading rider at Lone Star who also competes at Louisiana Downs, said he found it particularly warm in Bossier City on Monday.

“I had to take off the last race,” he said. “I was overheated.”

Eramia follows a couple of protocols to battle back against high temperatures in Texas and the humidity in Louisiana.

“You take a lot of vitamins, and water, and potassium,” he said.

Milligan said that for the horses in his care, his first line of defense against the summer heat is electrolytes.

“The main thing is to make sure they get plenty of electrolytes, in the water and in the feed,” he said. “June, July, and August, we double up on electrolytes.”

Milligan said that in the summer months, horses heading out for a race are hosed down for an extended period before leaving his barn – and halfway over to the grandstand are doused in ice water carried in buckets by his staff.

“We just try to get them over to the paddock as cool as we can get them,” he said.

As for Eramia, he ultimately prefers summer racing to winter racing.

“I’d take the heat no matter what,” he said. “I don’t like the cold weather!”