(WKYT) – Weather can be a true wild card in Kentucky during the month of April.
“For opening weekend, we had a historic decision to make,” said Kara Heissenbuttel, senior director of community relations at Keeneland.
Heissenbuttel said last year’s spring meet was delayed because of historic rain across our region.
“Keeneland tries to make the decision best for the horse,” said Heissenbuttel.
It was the first time in 10 years that races were moved or cancelled due to weather.
“We had inclement weather that was coming in and we made the decision to pivot our opening Friday and Saturday race card to Monday and Tuesday. We had some key races to qualify horses into the Oaks and the Derby and we wanted to make sure those horses had the chance to run those races in a safe manor,” said Heissenbuttel.
It’s a decision that Keeneland doesn’t take lightly.
“People were very understanding of the changes we had to make,” Heissenbuttel said.
At the end of the day, Mother Nature made the final call.
“No one ever likes to make a decision last minute like that but we work so closely with our horseman staying in communication of what the best thing is for the horses, the riders, staff, and our patrons that would be here and we were very pleased with the outcome,” said Heissenbuttel.
Fortunately this year, the weather is not going to be like the start of the spring meet last year.