Racing Cancelled

(Dan's Report, a grand gelding by Corporate Report, Overbrook bred)


Well tonight we had Victory Moondance in race #2 at Mountaineer Park. His owners, the Swiharts are great folks and have had their share of hard racing luck this winter with cancellations. They drive 90 minutes each way, Chuck taking off work to come watch their horses race. I warned them earlier in the day that the clocker had warned us of a possible cancellation tonight, so they were prepared for the possibility. The past 36 hours or so have been warm enough that the ice on the bottom of the track surface has begun to thaw, in big chunks. Some places the track is 1" to the bottom, other places it is 12" before you hit bottom. It is never a good situation - thawing causes us as many problems racing wise as freezing conditions and cold weather.

Moondance was picked 4th, having regained a nice race condition (nw 2/6 mo)that allowed him to race against an easier class of horses. He has really come around, his coat blossoming, his body rounding and muscling out, and a new fluidity to his movement. Dancer was alert and ready to race tonight - ready but not worried about it. We were in race #2, and at the time of the cancellation announcement (about 6:40 pm) Moondance had been groomed, bandaged, his tail tied up and taped to keep out the mud - in short he was ready to be bridled and led over to the races. We were all disappointed, yet all agreed that cancellation was in the best interest of the horse given the track conditions.

The bright side is that a cancellation gives the horse a "Z" date for our entry system. Since we got "rained out" so to speak we will have priority the next time we enter. There is a race for him next week when he regains an even easier condition (nw/6 mo), it looks like the spot for him.

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be 60 degrees with up to 1/2" of rain. The track will be thawing out even more, ice mixing with the rainfall. The racetrack will be a total mess and in marginal condition. We opted to breeze a horse a day early because of the anticipated track conditions for tomorrow morning. We have Dr Zi racing tomorrow night (tuesday), and it is likely they will cancel racing again tomorrow. That horse has gotten so sharp he has to run soon before he hurts himself (or an innocent bystander).