Monmouth Park and Delaware Park cancelled Friday's (July 25) scheduled races, and Colonial Downs pushed its first post time back one hour because of the extreme heat that continues to grip the eastern half of the US.
All races cancelled Friday at Monmouth Park will be brought back as extras for next Friday, and the racing office also will look to use them through next weekend. Entries will be taken Sunday for next Friday’s card.
Delaware Park announced its cancellation Thursday, when it managed to squeeze in a day of races. Racing there is scheduled to resume Saturday.
The decision to delay races Friday at Colonial Downs was made in the afternoon. The racing office announced in a text message at 2:59 p.m. EDT that the first post would be moved from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. This comes one day after jockey Tyler Conner broke his neck and nose in a spill that led to the last four races on Thursday's card to be cancelled.
With heat advisories and severe-thunderstorm watches in effect, forecasters at the National Weather Service predicted a high near 95 with heat indices up to 106 on Friday afternoon for both Monmouth and Delaware parks. The high was expected to drop to 89 on Saturday in Oceanport, N.J., and 82 in Wilmington, Del.
