Rain, Rocks Stall Charles Town Resurfacing

More than three inches of rain since April 27 has stalled resurfacing of the racetrack at Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, which has canceled live racing for May 11-12.

Charles Town took a longer break than usual after its April 23 Charles Town Classic (gr. II) program for track resurfacing and was scheduled to race May 6-7. Those two cards were canceled due to "unforeseen circumstances," including discovery of rocks in the surface.

The West Virginia Racing Commission scheduled a special meeting for May 11 to discuss the situation. The commission in a notice said it will address "the unexpected cancellation of racing at Charles Town due to unsafe track surface conditions caused by the placement of materials on the track containing rocks or stones."

Charles Town vice president of racing operations Erich Zimny May 9 said the area has received 3.26 inches of rain 14 of the last 15 days, and more could be on the way.

"We basically need two or three days of no rain, or just trace precipitation, to get the track dry enough to do the maintenance work that needs to be done, and it's just not happening," Zimny said. "Our track maintenance team tried to get out there (Monday) and go through the surface, which was still pretty heavy according to them, but they had to stop and float it because there's more rain coming.

"The weather forecast looks ominous again."

Charles Town earlier said it would add a ninth and 10th race to the regularly scheduled May 11 program and a ninth race for the subsequent 14 racing days; the track has been offering eight-race cards. It wasn't immediately known if additional races or programs would be added in light of the May 11-12 cancellations.