[The Indomitable DrugS]

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Santa Anita Postpones Two Racing Cards
Weather: Track officials hope to resume the meeting on Friday, after the surface has dried.
January 19, 1993|BILL CHRISTINE , TIMES STAFF WRITER

In keeping with the unusual happenings of the strangest winter meeting in years, Santa Anita announced before the improvised 11-race card began Monday that racing for Wednesday and Thursday, normally the next two racing days, had been postponed because of continued rain-related difficulty filling fields.

"We could have put together a card for Wednesday with 50 or so horses," said Cliff Goodrich, president at Santa Anita. "But then we would have been backed up for Thursday's card, with a probable shortage of horses.

"Rather than start something that would have led to additional problems a day or two down the road, we decided to wait until Friday. The weather forecast is the best I've heard for some time, but I'll believe it when I see it."

There has been about 20 inches of rain at Santa Anita since the meeting opened on Dec. 26, severely restricting the availability of the main track during morning training hours and forcing suspension of all turf racing since Jan. 1.

Monday, the main track was closed to workouts as superintendent Steve Wood's crew worked to make the surface race-ready for the afternoon's abbreviated card. The training track, which was overloaded with workouts last week, was used by only nine horses Monday, according to the workout tab.

On Sunday, when a cloudburst hit the track late in the day, the jockeys voted unanimously not to ride in the last race and it was canceled. They were ready to work again after the track was repaired Monday.

The cancellation because of a jockey action of Sunday's last race is believed to be a first in Santa Anita history.

"I go back about 50 years and I can't recall any," steward Pete Pedersen said.

Santa Anita has reported that there have been 17 consecutive off-tracks, all of the racing dates since Dec. 27, breaking the track record of 15. But the Daily Racing Form differs, saying its charts indicate all of the races on Jan. 1 were run on fast tracks. That would leave the string of consecutive off-tracks at 13.