Del Mar Cancels Thursday 11/21 Card A Week Out

[Molesap]

From the Del Mar website...

“Due to projections of rain from Tuesday through Thursday of next week in San Diego, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) announced today that its Thursday, November 21 race card has been cancelled.  This action was due to “an abundance of caution,” said DMTC officials as the inclement weather likely will result in a muddy main track and soft turf course.”

Well â€" the forecast is kind of “scary” for Del Mar â€" heck, there is a full 50% chance of rain on Wednesday and it is in southern southern CA, so they do not see much water falling from the sky. Maybe they should start building arks as well. I know they are under scrutiny and many think the rain may have played a large role in the increased breakdowns at SA, but is this too conservative? I understand safety should be major concern, but this seems it was likely done to placate the politicians as much as anything, but this might be a precedent you do not want to set. Here is the forecast for Del Mar on those days.

TUE - NOV 19
 Partly Cloudy
 58-71
 20% chance of rain
 
WED - NOV 20
 Showers
 54-62°
 50% chance of rain
 
THU - NOV 21
 Showers
 52-62°
 40% chance of rain

[Strike]

Molesap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From the Del Mar website...
>
> “Due to projections of rain from Tuesday through
> Thursday of next week in San Diego, Del Mar
> Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) announced today that its
> Thursday, November 21 race card has been
> cancelled.  This action was due to “an abundance
> of caution,” said DMTC officials as the
> inclement weather likely will result in a muddy
> main track and soft turf course.”
>
> Well â€" the forecast is kind of “scary” for
> Del Mar â€" heck, there is a full 50% chance of
> rain on Wednesday and it is in southern southern
> CA, so they do not see much water falling from the
> sky. Maybe they should start building arks as
> well. I know they are under scrutiny and many
> think the rain may have played a large role in the
> increased breakdowns at SA, but is this too
> conservative? I understand safety should be major
> concern, but this seems it was likely done to
> placate the politicians as much as anything, but
> this might be a precedent you do not want to set.
> Here is the forecast for Del Mar on those days.
>
> TUE - NOV 19
>  Partly Cloudy
>  58-71
>  20% chance of rain
>  
> WED - NOV 20
>  Showers
>  54-62°
>  50% chance of rain
>  
> THU - NOV 21
>  Showers
>  52-62°
>  40% chance of rain

Well, I am down here. The true story is the attendance on Thursdays is terrible. Around 2,000. In fact there will be no Thursday racing next year in November. They are adding an extra weekend with Friday-Sunday racing only. If it did rain next Thursday, attendance would be around 500 -- just salty dogs like me.The true story indeed.

[Molesap]

Now that makes sense.

[BitPlayer]

Well, the rain did come.  Although I agree with Strike that Thursday is certainly the card Del Mar would miss the least, I\'m guessing that providing increased certainty to horsemen also entered into the decision to cancel that far in advance.  Jay Privman has spoken on Steve Byk\'s show about how good the Del Mar racing secretary is at filling cards in the face of a shrinking horse population and about how important it is to let horsemen know in advance what races are likely to go.

[Strike]

You are correct. Rain literally just stopped. Pretty heavy rain (at least for us) and even some hail. They predict dry weather until Tuesday -- in fact 70\'s this weekend. I agree a good call. I also heard the racing secretary predicted very short fields coupled with lousy attendance.Two good reasons alone to call it off.

[BitPlayer]

More rain coming.  Carding only dirt races for Friday and moving grass stakes to the weekend.

https://www.dmtc.com/media/news/del-mar-cancels-thanksgiving-card-due-to-inclement-weather-racing-1544

[shanahan]

Someone should tell the DRF...they still have the entries posted.