Live racing Sunday and Monday at Aqueduct has been canceled due to extreme cold, the New York Racing Association announced Sunday morning.
Training on Monday at both Aqueduct and Belmont Park is also canceled. Both tracks were open for training on Sunday.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures on Sunday and Monday were forecasted to be in the mid-to-high teens but the wind-chill factor on Sunday was between zero and 5 while on Monday it was between minus-10 and zero.
These cancellations come after frigid temperatures canceled Thursday’s card and the last five races of Saturday’s card were scrapped after the jockeys expressed concerns about the condition of the main track.
Five stakes scheduled to be run between Thursday and Monday were lost including Monday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes, a race that offers qualifying points to the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Other stakes that have been canceled include the East View, Bay Ridge, Damon Runyon and Alex Robb, all $100,000 races restricted to New York breds.
The long-range forecast calls for brutal temperatures next weekend as well, creating a tricky situation for NYRA management on when to reschedule these stakes races. It had been previously announced that the East View, lost to Thursday’s cancellation, has been rescheduled for Jan. 7.
Racing is scheduled to resume Thursday with an eight-race card. Thursday's forecast calls for a high of 28 degrees with a 30-percent chance of snow.