Thistledown cancels after first-race breakdown
Thistledown racetrack outside of Cleveland canceled the remainder of its Monday race card after a horse broke down in the first race, one week after the track experienced problems with its racing surface that caused a week-long shutdown of live racing.
Dave Basler, the executive director of the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said that track officials called off the races after having a discussion with Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, following the running of the first race.
In response to an inquiry, HISA said that Lazarus asked Thistledown to cancel following the first race, and that management there “agreed to do so.”
“She also asked them to conduct an investigation and be prepared to discuss the results with her by this afternoon so that they can agree on next steps,” according to HISA’s response.
Patrick Ellsworth, the track’s racing director, did not immediately return a message. A track official said Ellsworth was in a meeting.
Basler said that going into today’s card, horsemen and management had agreed that the surface had improved since last Monday, when riders and horsemen began complaining about rocks emerging in the dirt track. Thistledown canceled all four live racing days last week to work on the track, after firing the track’s superintendent.
The chart of the first race said that Tayyara, an 8.50-to-1 shot, pulled up at the half-mile pole in a six-furlong claiming race and was “injured.” Another horse, Timely Secret, pulled up at the quarter-mile pole after a bumping incident and walked off the track, according to the chart.
Monday’s card at Thistledown was being held in the midst of an intense heat wave in the Midwest that led several other tracks to cancel, including Ellis Park in Kentucky and Prairie Meadows in Iowa. The forecasted high for the area around Thistledown on Monday was 90 degrees, with a heat index of 93.
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