Storms Cancel King's Plate Card; Rescheduled to Aug. 23

Woodbine, pounded by heavy rain that first resulted in its scheduled turf races being moved to its Tapeta main track, canceled racing for its King's Plate card after the fifth race Aug. 17. The King's Plate and four other stakes will now be run Aug. 23.

That date would avoid weekend conflicts with other major stakes races, such as the loaded stakes card on Travers Stakes Day, Aug. 24, at Saratoga Race Course.

"Late in the day, there was just so much rain that came down in such a short amount of time. It was pooling the track," Woodbine CEO Michael Copeland told reporters. "There was some safety concerns. Whenever there are safety concerns ... the decision is always made with safety as a priority. So we consulted with our vets, with our jockeys, and we made the determination that was unsafe to continue racing.

"And then the next step was to say, OK, well, this is a big day for racing in Canada. How are we going to make sure the 165th (King's Plate) continues to be run? So we made the decision, we're going to run it on Friday. We're going to carry over the four stakes races and the King's Plate and reschedule them for Friday. So Friday will now be a spectacular card. We had hoped it would be today, but Mother Nature had other plans."

He said the track would be in communication with those who bought tickets for the Plate with information related to Saturday's cancellation. He said it was too early to know if the King's Plate could be broadcast nationally Friday, as had been scheduled Saturday. He said the track would work to distribute it through as many outlets as possible.

Copeland said the rescheduled races would not be redrawn. These stakes would be supported by other races.

The Tapeta surface at Woodbine seemed to withstand the initial downpours of the day before the track later scrapped racing. The sixth race, had it gone off, would have been run about an hour and a half after its scheduled post. Lightning and heavy rain had caused weather delays earlier in the day.

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— Byron King (@BH_BKing) August 17, 2024

The sixth-race horses were in the paddock, and then unsaddled moments before the cancellation announcement was made.

None of the five stakes races on the day had been contested, which was to be topped by the CA$1 million King's Plate, the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown and the oldest continuously run stakes race in North America. Copeland said he was hopeful the six-day delay of the King's Plate would not negatively impact the second race of the series, the Sept. 10 Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie at 1 3/16 miles on dirt, due to less recovery time for horses between races. The Sept. 29 Breeders' Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Woodbine concludes the Canadian Triple Crown. 

Tapeta drains differently than dirt tracks and can typically handle steady rain but the volume of precipitation Saturday apparently proved too much, as determined by Woodbine officials.

"So I talked to one of our most prominent trainers, who said at any other track that this would have been called a long time ago, and the only reason that we were able to kind of hold out as long as we did is because of the Tapeta and because of our grounds crews. Everybody was working so hard," Copeland said.