Out of an abundance of caution to all participants, officials from Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., have announced they will cancel Friday night's eight-race program due to dangerous high winds.
Charles Town in West Virginia cancelled the remainder of its Friday night card after the first race.
The National Weather Service forecast in Florence called for showers and thunderstorms with a high near 63 degrees at first post. The breezy conditions were scheduled to continue through the evening hours with sustained winds of 23 to 28 mph and gusts as high as 55 mph.
Friday's program featured a $99,210 carryover to the Late Pick 5 (Races 4-8) and that amount will be added to Saturday's Late Pick 5 pool (Races 5-9).
Saturday's program at Turfway Park is scheduled to get under way at 5:55 p.m. (all times Eastern). The National Weather Service forecast calls for sunny skies with a high temperature of about 54 degrees at first post. The low will drop to 35 degrees.
The Road to the Kentucky Derby and Oaks will head to Florence on Saturday with the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial (Race 8) and the $150,000 Cincinnati Trophy Stakes (Race 6).
Charles Town canceled the remainder of its Friday night card as wet weather and windy conditions are forecasted to continue move through the area throughout the evening. In addition to substantial rainfall in the area throughout the day on Friday, up to 50 mile per hour wind gusts were expected throughout the latter half of the card.
After the first race was run without incident, Charles Town management consulted with the jockey colony and decided to cancel the remainder of the card out of an abundance of caution.
Live racing at Charles Town is slated to resume on Saturday, March 4 ,at its standard first race post time of 7:00 p.m. ET.
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