NEW YORK — Racing at Belmont Park was canceled and the Washington Nationals' home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks was postponed Thursday due to poor air quality from wildfires in Canada.
It's the second straight day the continuing fires north of the border have impacted sports in the Northeastern United States.
With weather systems expected to barely budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe could persist throughout Thursday and possibly the weekend.
The New York Racing Association canceled live racing at Belmont Park two days before the facility is scheduled to host the final leg of the Triple Crown with the Belmont Stakes.
As previously announced, morning training was canceled Thursday at both Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park.
The conditions that necessitated the cancelation of training are likely to persist this afternoon and into the evening, according to the NYRA, and a twilight racing program that would kick off the 2023 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival has been cancelled.
“Based on current forecast models and consultation with our external weather services, we remain optimistic that we will see an improvement in air quality on Friday,” NYRA President & CEO David O’Rourke said in a statement.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned the Belmont Stakes could be called off if the air quality index exceeds 200 on its scale.
If the air quality is 150 to 200, only horses that pass an additional pre-race vet examination will be permitted to race.
“People come from all over the country,” Hochul said. “It’s huge for the local economy. And so we … hopefully can get this going, but there’s no assurance of what the weather’s going to be. So it’s going to be a last-minute decision, I’m sure."
The postponement comes a day after several games in New York and Philadelphia were postponed because of the poor air.
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