Training canceled Thursday at Belmont, Saratoga due to air quality

ELMONT, N.Y. – Training Thursday at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course has been canceled due to poor air-quality conditions forecast to continue to impact New York state overnight and into Thursday morning, the New York Racing Association announced Wednesday evening.

Training hours at Belmont Park are from 5:30-10:30 a.m. and at Saratoga from 5:30-11 a.m.

A decision regarding Thursday’s live racing program, which has a first post of 3:05 p.m., will be made Thursday morning following an assessment of the air-quality conditions and forecast, NYRA said in a press release.

Air-quality conditions in New York – and most of the Northeast – have become hazardous in the wake of the wind-blown smoke from the Canadian wildfires. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air-quality health advisory through midnight Wednesday, though published reports indicated that advisory could be extended into Thursday.

Finger Lakes and Delaware Park both canceled their live racing cards Wednesday. Delaware and Woodbine in Toronto canceled their Thursday cards.

Wednesday’s New York Yankees game against the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium was canceled with a doubleheader scheduled for Thursday.

This is the biggest week of the meet at Belmont Park with an 11-race card Friday (first post at 12:50 p.m.) and the 13-race Belmont Stakes program scheduled for Saturday (first post 11:20 a.m.).

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