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Photo: Downs at Albuquerque TV
Saturday night’s ticket in Albuquerque, including the $200,000 ticket Downs in the Albuquerque Handicapwas canceled after one race when the jockeys declared the wet sand course too dangerous.
“It rained a lot last night and today,” said track president Don Cook. “It got a little too wet. So we canceled. We caulked and thought it was too slippery, so we’ll come back tomorrow.”
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Lucky Shot Annie stumbled in the final 300 yards and was relieved in the first heat, a five-eighths-mile race for two-year-old fillies. Cook said no one was injured but that served as a warning, just over an hour after his team spoke to jockeys on the muddy main track.
“We spoke to them around 5pm (MDT),” he said. “We knew it was pretty smooth. We told them that we would run the first race on a sealed track. …Once they start doing it (and raising concerns), I don’t stress the issue as much. … They accepted the vote and the majority didn’t want to go. That’s all I needed to hear.”
Cook said the Downs at Albuquerque Handicap has been postponed until the final day next Sunday afternoon and will not be rescheduled. He assumed that at least six of the seven participants would keep their place Truth seeker8-1 in the morning, the only possible crossing.
Racing in Albuquerque is scheduled to continue Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EDT with nine races, including two Quarter Horse Stakes worth $75,000 and $100,000. A windy, partly sunny day is forecast with a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms.
