It has been announced that a track has been forced to revise one of its racing series after a relatively unique incident on Tuesday afternoon (January 19) led to the cancellation of six races that had been set to go behind the starting gate.
A cancellation of the last six races at Miami Valley Raceway on Tuesday afternoon – which was caused by an unusual blowout of a glass window in the cab of a track maintenance tractor that spewed glass fragments into the racing surface over an approximate 75 yard area – also caused revisions in the popular Survivor Series which was underway on the program.
Three of the four elimination heats which comprised the second round of the tournament for $5,000 claiming mares had been completed, but the fourth heat was scheduled as one of the cancelled races. After consultation between the race secretary, the presiding judge and the executive director of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association it was decided to give the participants who had already raced and advanced a couple options on how to restructure the event, in hopes of getting unanimous support of one of the options.
Unanimous support was received for the following option by the trainers of all horses already qualified to advance in the tournament: The top five finishers in each of the three elimination heats that were contested Tuesday will advance, along with the nine mares that were scheduled to compete in the cancelled race. Instead of two nine-horse elimination races in Round 3, there will now be three eight-horse eliminations. The top three finishers will advance from those three races to comprise the nine-horse championship field in Week Four, a race which will carry a $17,500 purse.
Wednesday qualifying races scheduled at Miami Valley were cancelled by agreement between track management, the judges and the horsemen’s association to allow track superintendent Jimmy Shelton and his crew ample time to completely scrape and resurface the effected area of the racetrack over a two-day dark period, insuring a safe racing strip when the next card goes to post on Friday at 6:05 p.m.
(With files from Miami Valley)