All Thursday Races Cancelled in Anticipation of Torrential Rain
With six to eight inches of rain expected in the next 24 hours, Santa Anita officials announced Wednesday morning that live racing for Thursday would be cancelled.
“We are in the midst of a severe weather system right now,” said Santa Anita President Ron Charles. “The Weather Service has told us that this is the heaviest rain we’ve had in this area in the past five years. Since Sunday afternoon, we’ve been hit with a lot of rain. As we know, this system of storms has resulted in mudslides and evacuations in our neighboring hillside communities and it’s just something that we’re hoping to be able to get through very soon.
“For now, we’re going to evaluate the main track on a day by day basis and safety is of course our number one priority. We’ve made the decision to cancel live racing for Thursday and we’ll take a look at our prospects for Friday tomorrow morning.
“We realize that by canceling on Thursday that a lot of people are being impacted and we want everyone to know that we’re doing everything we possibly can to become operational again.”
Santa Anita’s current winter/spring meeting runs through April 18.