Horses raced at a successful race day on Aug. 8, but hopes for an improved follow-up on Aug. 22 were dashed when most horses were unable to get to Osoyoos through fire-ravaged Washington State. Major improvements were made to the facility at Desert Park this year. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Osoyoos was all geared up for another day of horse racing at Desert Park Saturday when the races were abruptly cancelled that morning due to the wildfires.
Pete Hormes, race director for the Desert Park Exhibition Society, said most of the horses were unable to get to Osoyoos because of wildfires in Washington State.
“They tried actually on Friday, but they were turned back at several locations on different highways,” he said. “So they tried to find alternate ways. Saturday morning they thought that they had other options to get through, but they closed those on them too.”
It will not be possible to reschedule the races for later this year, he said.
“For this year it’s the end of the season unfortunately,” said Hormes. “We’d love to be able to reschedule it for September, but it just can’t be done because the horses are already scheduled to be at other locations.”
While the Desert Park Exhibition Society is able to reorganize so that it doesn’t take a big financial hit from the cancellation, he said, there was a lot of time and volunteer effort that went into preparing for Saturday’s aborted races.
“We are actually probably in pretty good shape for 2016,” he said, adding that horse owners are already asking him to let them know about next year’s race dates.
The society was also able to make great progress in renovating and improving the facility and none of that will be diminished by Saturday’s cancellation, he said.
A race committee will be formed again to decide when the 2016 race dates will be and until that happens he can’t say whether the dates will be close together, as they were this year, or in different months, as they were the past two years.
It’s very rare to have a fire situation this serious, Hormes said, adding that it’s more common to have problems with bad weather.
“I want to thank all the people who volunteered,” he said. “It was great to see all the community support. It’s looking bright for 2016.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
