Sunday’s eight-race Aqueduct card was canceled due to loud music blaring from a car and bike show held in the parking lot of the Resorts World Casino, next door to the track.
The noise from the event - held just on the other side of where the quarter pole stands - created potentially unsafe racing conditions for the horses and jockeys, according to a statement from Andrew Offerman, senior Vice President of Racing and Operations for the New York Racing Association.
“Resorts World scheduled an event in a parking lot immediately adjacent to the top of the stretch without providing NYRA with advance notice or an opportunity to discuss its potential impact on our racing operations,” Offerman said in a statement. “We were then faced with wildly unpredictable sound levels and other concerns causing potentially unsafe circumstances for horses and riders. We were left with no choice but to cancel racing due to these concerns.”
Offerman said NYRA will work with New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the New York State Gaming Commission “to determine appropriate next steps and how we can make up these lost racing opportunities for our participants,” he said.
NYRA is bringing one race scheduled for Sunday - a maiden $20,000 claiming event - back for Saturday as part of a 13-race card highlighted by the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial.
According to a release from NYRA announcing the cancellation, the event was called the “March Madness Auto and Bike Show.” The release said NYRA made an attempt to work with the organizers of the event to lower the noise levels, to no avail.
“Despite NYRA’s repeated attempts to rectify the situation, Resorts World Casino was unable to make the adjustments necessary to allow racing to proceed,” the release read.
According to jockey Kendrick Carmouche, the stewards deemed that the noise made it unsafe to conduct racing.
“The stewards came to tell us they don’t think it's safe out there, they got the car show, they got the noise,” Carmouche said. “They felt like they made so many necessary phone calls to see if they could get any cooperation, but they couldn’t come to anything to help to get the races run.”
Horses were in the paddock for the first race and were being walked around tacked up for nearly 30 minutes before the decision was made to pull the plug on the card.
Trainer Eddie Barker, who had three horses entered on Sunday’s card, said he could feel the vibration of the music in the paddock.
“How much money did New York State lose today? $700,000? $800,000?” Barker asked. “My owner came all the way from New Jersey with his whole family. It’s unconscionable.”
This was the second time in 5 1/2 months that NYRA had to cancel a card due to something associated with Resorts World. Last Oct. 11, Resorts World resurfaced the roof at Aqueduct. The smell from the chemicals was stifling, particularly on the upper level of the track where racing officials - including the stewards, track announcer, the teletimer operator, placing judges and Equibase personnel - are located. Since those personnel couldn’t do their job from their regular posts, that day’s card was canceled.
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