Canterbury Park hoped that delaying Wednesday's race card by 90 minutes would allow it to escape the worst of the heat. But with temperatures and humidity expected to remain high into the evening, track officials decided Wednesday afternoon to cancel the eight-race card.
Canterbury Park cancels Wednesday's horse race card because of hot weather
One day after shifting Wednesday's races to a later time, Canterbury Park officials decided to cancel the card altogether as the heat index exceeded 100 degrees.
August 23, 2023 at 8:08PM
The Shakopee track announced Tuesday that the card would move from its usual 5 p.m. post time to 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday, an updated weather forecast predicted the heat index would still hover above 100 degrees at 7 p.m. That could be dangerous for horses, jockeys and other workers, leading the track to cancel racing.
At 3 p.m., the "feels like" temperature in Shakopee was 105 degrees.
"Predicting the weather is not an exact science,'' said Chris Merz, Canterbury's director of racing. "Based on what we see now, the best course of action is to cancel [Wednesday's] program.''
The track still plans to run an eight-race card at 5 p.m. Thursday. That card was rescheduled from last Saturday because of high heat and humidity.
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