Woodbine card washed out

Woodbine canceled its eight-race Wednesday evening card because of poor conditions on the inner dirt track as a result of heavy rain that settled into the Toronto area Wednesday morning and early afternoon.

Woodbine began racing on the seven-furlong inner dirt track, which is normally used for harness racing, last weekend. The former main track is currently being converted into a synthetic Polytrack surface, scheduled to be completed later this summer.

Steve Lym, Woodbine's racing secretary, said the relatively steep banking on the inner track makes it more susceptible to washouts, which was what happened on Wednesday.

"We had washouts on the old main track, too," Lym said Wednesday, "but on this temporary track, the banking is slightly higher than on the old track, so when it rains excessively, like it did today, it's harder to keep the track together. It's hard to stop the washouts."

Thursday was a scheduled dark day at the track, and racing was to resume with an 11-race card on Friday.