LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The rain was falling at Keeneland on Thursday morning, which wouldn’t normally be a problem a little more than 24 hours before the start of a meet season. However, the rain isn’t expected to stop falling until Sunday, and predicted rain totals and expected severity of the storms are the problems, so the opening two days will be moved.
“With the forecast that’s predicted, if it's half as bad as they say it wasn't the right thing to do,” said Keeneland President & CEO, Shannon Arvin. “We had to do what was right for the horses, for our patrons, for our horsemen, and our community,” she continued.
Keeneland has never postponed or cancelled a full day of racing; now they’re moving two days' worth of racing to Monday and Tuesday when the meet would normally be dark. 10 years ago, they did have to scrap an afternoon session, while in-progress, due to weather.
“Imagine having 20,000 people in the grandstands when those tornado alarms went off last night. The stakes are too high to make the wrong call,” Arvin said. “These decisions are tough, but we had to make the right one,” she added.
Opening day is now on Sunday, and the potential revenue from ticket sales, concessions and the betting windows will undoubtedly be impacted negatively by not racing on a Friday and especially Saturday.
“This is definitely not a decision made on the economics, it was a decision based on what's best for the horses, our patrons and our fans,” Arvin said.
Arvin said weather experts and equine experts all agreed on this decision, and given some of the races on the opening two days factor heavily into next month’s schedule in Louisville, Keeneland officials were in contact with their race officials as well.
“We definitely checked with Churchill to make sure they’d honor the Oaks and Derby points with the Ashland and Bluegrass (Keeneland races), and they were understanding of the situation too. We all work together and want one another to have big, successful days,” Arvin stated.
Now, those days will be shifted around a bit.
Ticket holders for Friday and Saturday have been issued refunds for those sessions, which is standard for the track, but will be given priority consideration for purchasing tickets for Monday and Tuesday, if they choose to do so.
Post time for Sunday’s opening day is 1 p.m.
