OCEANPORT, N.J. _ After running its first two races Saturday, Monmouth Park canceled six of its 12 remaining races because of a dangerously high heat index (approximately 110) and pushed back post time of the $1 million Haskell Invitational from 5:47 to 8:05 p.m. NBC had planned to show the race live from 5-6 p.m.
Dennis Drazin, Monmouth's president and CEO, said, "I made the call. This was Plan B, the backup plan. We spoke with the jockeys after the second race and they were OK with continuing. I think we could have run (the entire card) safely. I don't think we would have had any incidents, but I'm supposed to be responsible for the safety of the horses."
Referencing the 30 fatal breakdowns at the recent Santa Anita meeting, Drazin said, "We're on the cusp of a crisis in the industry. The Santa Anita problems created a situation where the public is much more aware of the problem. We decided a breakdown could cause a national crisis, and we decided it wasn't worth taking the risk. I made the call to be conservative."
