The Meadows has completed grading and banking of its racing surface and is ready to install a new crushed limestone-silica mix to complete the $223,000 renovation of the track.
Live racing will resume Tuesday, September 3, at 12:55 p.m., but the refurbished track will get its first test with qualifying races scheduled for Friday, August 30.
Although day-long rain Wednesday slowed renovation activities, Dan Coon of Charles E. Coon and Sons Inc. said better weather Thursday — the forecast calls for a dry day — would enable his crew to install up to 8,000 tons of the new mix, which already has been delivered.
“We wanted to have horses on the track Wednesday, but the rain prevented it,” Coon said. “We’ve been pretty fortunate with the weather, though.”
With the resumption of live racing, the Meadows will roll out a schedule that emphasizes daylight cards rather than a split between afternoon and evening programs. In fact, between September 3 and the end of the year, all cards will begin at 12:55 p.m., with only two exceptions: Friday, September 13, when the Meadows hosts the $1.2-million Pennsylvania Sires Stakes championships for three-year-olds, and Saturday, October 5, when the track offers all eight divisions of the PA Fairs championships.
(With files from the Meadows)
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