Officials with Scarborough Downs have announced that the horse shortage in the State of New England is continuing to be a serious issue at the track, as it has been forced to cancel the card of live racing scheduled for this Friday (April 17) due to a lack of entries.
According to a release from the track, April 17 will mark the third consecutive Friday that Scarborough Downs has been forced to cancel its Friday live program.
"With only 51 horses entered for Friday, any card we put together would have been cobbled and would also have jeopardized our ability to put together stronger cards for the remainder of the weekend," Steve Cobbett, who was speaking on behalf of the track, was quoted as saying in the release.
The track’s release said that, in terms of looking to the future, the ability to fill races appears to be challenging. The release states that ’14 horses have been entered to qualify on Wednesday (April 15), which should alleviate the problem somewhat in the short term, but with Bangor Raceway set to open their meet with a proposed three-day-a-week schedule in just over two weeks, the outlook for full fields and adequate cards is cloudy at best.’
Scarborough is scheduled to race this Saturday (April 18) and Sunday (April 19), with first-race post time for each card scheduled for 1 p.m.
(With files from Scarborough Downs)