SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — A power outage as the result of a downed tree limb not far from the track forced the cancellation of Wednesday’s fifth race at Saratoga, continuing a trend of unfortunate circumstances that have plagued the first half of this meet. The power went out ontrack at 3:19 p.m., seven minutes to post before race 5, a maiden race for 2-year-olds which had a full field of 10 and was the only race on the card that didn’t have any scratches. Due to the uncertainty of when the power would be restored and the fact the horses were on the track, tacked up with weight on their back for a long period of time, the stewards deemed it “in the best interests of the horses to cancel the race rather than delay,” said Pat McKenna, NYRA vice president of communications. The power began to be restored at 4:01 p.m. with various systems – cameras, televisions and tote – coming on-line shortly thereafter. Racing resumed with race 6 at 4:31 p.m. and the remainder of the card followed, albeit with later-than-scheduled post times. :: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more. Race 5 would have been the first leg of the pick six, a wager that was refunded. The canceled race was considered an all-win in other multiple-bet wagers. Race 6 was one of four scheduled flat turf races that were transferred to the dirt after New York Racing Association officials decided Tuesday that there would be no turf racing on the Wednesday card. The steeplechase race, which would have been the first on the card, had been announced as canceled on Monday. The combination of wet weather on Monday which followed concerns by jockeys about the conditions of the courses on Sunday led to the decision to cancel Wednesday’s turf races. In Sunday’s fourth race, Ever Summer suffered fatal injuries at the top of the stretch of a race over the inner turf course. The final three turf races on Sunday’s card were transferred to the dirt. That announcement was made as horses were loading in the gate for race 6, leaving bettors unable to change or cancel their tickets in late multi-race wagers. That led to an uproar among bettors. On Wednesday, just prior to NYRA’s “Talking Horses” segment, NYRA president and CEO Dave O’Rourke appeared with analyst Andy Serling and apologized to horseplayers for the late announcement and said NYRA would aim to do better in the future. “I can apologize and I am apologizing to the betting community,” O’Rourke said in his interview with Serling. “We will work on protocols to streamline this. The initial decision to come off the turf was the right decision. How we handle it internally and get the information out, we need to get better.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.