More snow fell throughout the night in Oklahoma City and the continued extremely cold temperatures and wind chill have colluded to force the cancellation of the remaining live racing programs this weekend.
The Friday, Dec. 6 and Saturday, Dec. 7 live racing programs will not take place as originally scheduled. Remington Park remains open for simulcast racing and casino gaming.
“We have elected to cancel live racing for the remainder of the weekend due to the winter storms,” noted Matt Vance, Remington Park vice president of racing and wagering. “We will work with the Thoroughbred Racing Association of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission on rescheduling the canceled races. An alternate race date request to the OHRC will be made the first of next week after considering all options. The Remington Park Casino and Simulcast venues will remain open.”
This is the first extended multi-day cancellation of racing at Remington Park, due to winter weather, since the Opening Weekend of the 1996 Spring Thoroughbred Season was canceled. That weekend was set for the beginning of February that year.
Remington Park is next scheduled to race Friday thru Sunday, Dec. 13-15 on what was meant to be the final three days of the 2013 Thoroughbred Season. The first race on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 13 & 14 will be at 7pm with the Sunday, Dec. 15 afternoon program, featuring the $250,000 Springboard Mile, starting at 1:30pm.
The Springboard is the season’s richest 2-year-old stakes event, used by many to propel talented runners into their 3-year-old Triple Crown campaigns. Will Take Charge, multiple Grade 1 winner this year, and runner-up by just a nose in the $5,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Classic, ran second in the 2012 Springboard.