Woodbine, Laurel cancel Friday cards due to air quality

Woodbine outside Toronto, Canada, and Laurel Park in Maryland made early decisions to cancel their live race cards Friday, as smoke from wildfires in Canada continues to cause problems with air quality through the East and Midwest.

In a statement, Woodbine said that local authorities have forecast that the area’s air quality will be “high risk” through Friday afternoon. The decision to cancel was made in consultation with their local horsemen’s group, Woodbine said.

While Friday’s eight-race card at Woodbine consisted entirely of claiming races or starter races, Saturday’s 11-race card celebrating Canada Day includes five stakes races and a number of races with large purses. That card is scheduled to start at 1:10 p.m.

Canada’s weather forecasting service was predicting on Friday morning that the air-quality index would decline into the “moderate risk” category by Saturday morning. Woodbine said in its statement that it will “continue to monitor the situation.”

Laurel said in a posting on social media that the track’s 10-race Friday card would be made up on Thursday, July 6. On Friday morning, the air-quality index in the area was 150, considered “unhealthy” by the U.S. government.

Tracks began canceling live race cards in the United States on Wednesday after smoke from the Canadian wildfires once again descended south of the border, mostly affecting tracks in the Midwest. Current weather patterns have pushed the smoke farther east.