'Perfect Storm' of Events Led to Saratoga Cancellations

For Glen Kozak and his track maintenance crew, it was "The Perfect Storm" of events.

Thankfully, no one was lost at sea in this soggy tale, but it did wipe out the final seven races on the July 25 card at Saratoga Race Course as a hellacious and unexpected rainstorm dropped roughly an inch of water on the racetrack in about an hour.

"It was the perfect storm that hit us at the wrong time, so we couldn't prepare for it," said Kozak, the New York Racing Association's senior vice president of operations and capital projects.

It all happened on an otherwise pleasant day at the Spa when the fickleness of Mother Nature in the region of the Adirondack Mountains was on full display. Forecasts called for a mix of sunshine with a chance of a brief rainstorm, offering no hint of what was to come.

"The challenge was that none of the forecasts predicted what happened," Kozak said. "We got an alert, but it said we had a small cell coming toward us. We talked to the forecasters, and they said it would be less than four hundredths of an inch of rain, but unfortunately we got pounded."

The storm was so localized over the racetrack that nearby towns were barely affected.

"Some people as close as Wilton (a town that borders Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) got nothing, and two miles away they got pounded. It popped up right over the track," Kozak said.

Given the forecasts, there was no reason to seal the racetrack, and when it arrived in its full fury, it came at the worst possible time, which prevented the maintenance crew from sealing the track.

A year earlier, a similar storm hit Saratoga prior to the Whitney Stakes (G1), but on that day, the horses were in the paddock when buckets of rain came down. This time, the horses were on the track for the fourth race, a 1 3/8-mile turf race. By the time the horses made it to the starting gate and the race started at 2:24 p.m. ET, the rain was coming down so heavily, the track announcer was unable to see the horses during parts of the race.

"To watch the replays of that race, it was rough the amount of rain we got in a short period of time," Kozak said.

After waiting for horses to exit the track, dealing with the main track became problematic when the starting gate was moved to the dirt course and created holes in the racing surface that could not be repaired in time to continue the card.

"The rain came during a turf race, unfortunately. We were trying to get the track plated down, but because of the tire marks, it was a little different from the rest of the area around it. There was no way for us to get that repaired quickly and have an even surface," Kozak said. 

Thursday's canceled races came on the heels of having the July 20 card called off because of oppressive heat. Those 11 races were shifted to July 21, which became a 13-race card when added to the regularly scheduled Shuvee Stakes (G3) and a steeplechase race that been canceled July 17.

After Thursday's turn of events, the $100,000 John Morrissey Stakes, one of the canceled races, was moved to Aug. 1. There will also be 12-race cards July 27 and 28.

"We will try to add races where we can," a NYRA spokesperson said about the lost races.

While it was sunny for the start of the July 26 card, the track was labeled muddy for the start of the 10-race card because of heavy morning fog that prevented the racetrack from drying out. Only two of the five scheduled grass races were to be contested on turf.

Meanwhile, after what happened Thursday, on a day when it was beautiful except for one fateful hour, it was another lesson in how there are no sure things when it comes to horse racing and Mother Nature.

"Especially at Saratoga," Kozak said.