As the National Horseplayers Championship begins, Friday February 6th 2020, an active weather pattern for the eastern half of the United States is in full swing. A cold front is stretched from Maine to Florida bringing rain for almost all of the eastern seaboard. Below is my forecast for the Mandatory Races on Day 1. Good luck to all of those involved!
Oaklawn Park (Race 3 and Race 5):
Oaklawn has the first two mandatory races of the tournament. Light rain is expected to start around 11 am PT. I am only expecting about a tenth of inch which would not affect conditions for race 3 or 5.
Aqueduct (Race 8):
Rain has been a daily occurrence over the past 3 days totaling 0.6 of an inch of rain (with the bulk of that occurring Wednesday overnight into Thursday). More rain is expected Friday with totals reaching a half of an inch by Race 8. I would expect a sloppy track for this race.
Gulfstream Park (Race 9 and Race 10):
A line of thunderstorms currently located across the gulf of Mexico up through Georgia is moving North-Northeast and is expected to come through Gulftstream Park around 5am totaling around a third of an inch. The rest of the morning/afternoon will remain cloudy but free of rain. We should see a fast track for the Mandatory Races.
Santa Anita (Race 5 and Race 7): No rain expected.
Golden Gate (Race 8): No rain expected.
As always follow me @g1handicapping for updates throughout the day!
