My home track begins their season on Nov 18th, but with limited turf racing for the first month or so
That will really hurt. With Oaklawn opening in early December and offering much higher purses, turf racing was FG's ace in the hole (esp after the problems at CD). There has to be tons of turf runners looking for a suitable place to race. Looks like Tampa and Gulfstream are going to be loaded.
The reason given (by racing director Gary Palmisano Jr.) was heavy rains in July/Aug followed by near drought conditions in Sep/Oct....sprinklers, anyone?
I'm suspicious of that claim...just speculating here, but I've seen photos of the course and only the inside looks bad. I thought a drought would affect entire course, silly me.
Somebody messed up.
Anyway - away we go for season number 150 something
