Belmont Park has canceled its Sunday racing program because of extreme heat.
The card was canceled just about the time it was supposed to begin, at 1:30 p.m. Eastern. A press release from the New York Racing Association said the card was canceled “by order of the stewards.” The release said that “a spike in afternoon temperatures prior to the first post made conditions unsuitable for racing.”
Delaware Park has canceled its Monday card due to a forecast for excessive heat. The decision was made Sunday on the advice of the chief veterinarian of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission.
Parx Racing canceled its Monday program on Sunday morning.
The forecast in Stanton Del., on Monday is for a high temperature of 97 and a real-feel temperature of 106, according to AccuWeather.
The next scheduled race card at Delaware Park is Wednesday.
On Sunday morning, Parx Racing canceled its Monday card because of anticipated high temperatures and humidity as the current East Coast heat wave drags on.
Temperatures in Bensalem, Pa., are forecast to reach 100 degrees Monday, with humidity making it feel more like 108, according to AccuWeather. An excessive-heat warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for Bensalem through 8 p.m. Monday.
Florida Derby winner and Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Audible has been taken out of training and won’t race again until the end of this year at the earliest, trainer Todd Pletcher said.
Audible in late May was sent from Todd Pletcher’s base at Belmont Park to the Rood and Riddle Clinic in Kentucky for a full physical exam because Pletcher wasn’t satisfied with the way the horse was training. Veterinarians found no substantive problems with the colt and, after spending a short time at WinStar Farm, a part-owner of the colt, Audible returned to New York.
Breeders’ Cup has designated three turf races for 2-year-olds scheduled for October as qualifying races for its newest race, the Juvenile Turf Sprint, which will be run for the first time this year on Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.
The winner of each of the three races will receive a guaranteed berth in the 5 1/2-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint without having to pay any entry fees.
A Belmont Park backstretch worker who died on June 6 did so as the result of a bacterial infection and not the hantavirus, according to a release issued late Saturday afternoon by the New York State Department of Health.
On Friday, the Department of Health issued an advisory stating that tests were being conducted to see if the deceased - whom Daily Racing Form has identified as Julio Salazar - died as a result of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, caused by Salazar having been exposed to rodent excretions.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The sudden death of the wife of the perennial leading jockey at Churchill Downs has thrown the racing community here and beyond into a deep state of grief as its members struggle to come to terms with their loss.
Shantel Lanerie, 42, died Friday at Norton Women’s and Children’s Hospital after going into cardiac arrest the previous day. She was married for 21 years to Corey Lanerie, who has been the dominant rider at Churchill since 2012 and has won more than 4,400 races in a career dating to 1991. Their daughter, Brittlyn, 10, is their only child.
Prominent horseman Olin B. Gentry died Saturday at North Florida Regional Medical Center, a stroke facility in Gainesville. He was 51.
Gentry had collapsed in the stable area at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s June sale of 2-year-olds in training in Ocala, Fla., one day prior.
“Prayers for Olin tonight,” Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales posted on Twitter. “He was a good guy. Very loyal and a champion of the underdog always. Very sad to hear this news.”
ELMONT, N.Y. – A female backstretch worker was stabbed to death by a former boyfriend at a Belmont Park barn Sunday morning, police said.
Police arrested Jose Franco-Martinez, 53, and charged him with second-degree murder. He will be arraigned Monday at First District Court in Hempstead, N.Y.
Triple Crown-winning rider Mike Smith will make an appearance at Ruidoso Downs in his home state of New Mexico on July 8, the track announced Sunday morning. Smith will be meeting with the public and signing posters to raise funds for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.
Justify and Smith completed a sweep of the Triple Crown on June 9, when the two won the Belmont Stakes. Justify is the 13th horse in history to win the Triple Crown. Smith, a 52-year-old native of Roswell, N.M., became the oldest rider to sweep the series, according to a press release from Ruidoso.
