Track conditions prompt Laurel to cancel Friday card

Laurel Park has canceled its Friday card due to an uneven racing surface caused by a freeze-thaw weather pattern this week.

“The track is freezing at night and thawing during the afternoon. It is just uneven,” said Sal Sinatra, general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Laurel. “Until we can get some consistency, with it being either above freezing or below freezing for 24-7 where we can work it, we are going to be touch-and-go every day.”

Laurel had to cancel its Martin Luther King holiday card last Monday following freezing rain last Sunday.

Laurel is scheduled to run a pair of $100,000 stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday, the Frank Whiteley Jr. for both sexes and the Marshua’s River for fillies.

Rain and snow is predicted to move into the Baltimore area this afternoon and continue through Saturday morning. Freezing rain is possible. The high temperature in the area is forecast to be 38 degrees Friday with an overnight low of 32.