Monday Morning Message with Jason Beem for June 30, 2025

A good Monday Morning to you all! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Writing today from Durham, North Carolina, and my first visit to this area. It’s quite nice. Heading to Colonial Downs this week as we get set for our season getting underway on July 9. It’s been a nice break, but I’m ready for some good turf racing and big fields in Virginia. 

On my trip up here I stopped in Atlanta to attend the Braves vs. Phillies baseball game on Friday night. I got to my seat about 20 minutes before game time and about five minutes before first pitch, I saw the grounds crew rolling out the tarp to cover the infield. It started to rain but it wasn’t too crazy. But within about 10 minutes it was a full fledged deluge. Copious amounts of rain and wind had the water coming in sideways and just nailing everyone in the stadium. 

We all ran up to the concourses trying to find dry spots, but there were very few to be had as the thunder began to crash down. I ended up spending about an hour tucked under a ceiling area on one of the ramps going down to the lower level. Everyone was soaked, shivering and I assumed there was zero chance they’d play the game.

After an hour of non-stop rain, a quick break in the storm allowed me and most other folks there to leave the stadium and head to our cars. I was shocked when I got to my hotel room at 9:30 p.m. that they were actually starting and playing this game. I wouldn’t have thought it was remotely possible to play that night, but they did. Luckily for me it was a crummy game so I didn’t miss much. 

Over the years I’ve heard people ask or mention why don’t we use tarps in horse racing like they do to cover a baseball diamond. The obvious main reason is size as a baseball tarp is 170 feet on all sides and takes a big crew to simply unroll it and set it over a baseball diamond. A tarp on a racetrack would have to feature a mile worth of tarp that’s 100 feet wide.  I don’t even know that tarps like that exist, but after watching the Braves game still go on after a storm like that, something like that would immensely help racing. 

It would also likely pay for itself rather quickly. Not having to cancel races or move turf races to the dirt would help tracks handle much more than they would in instances of surface changes and lots of scratches. I’m sure the logistics would be tough as it would take quite a while to get a tarp up. And with horses having medication windows, I’m sure waiting an hour or two for a storm to pass and getting a tarp on and off the track would really exacerbate those issues. It also would require a lot of staff to get it done. 

But it’s 2025 and there has to be some kind of solution to help alleviate so many off-the-turf days and so many off tracks. I grew up out west so rain in the summer wasn’t something you thought about all that often. Living on the East Coast now for a few years, rain is something you have to worry about most days in the summertime. But usually it’s just passing storms that come and pour for a while, then move on. If we could avoid that rain hitting the courses, it sure would be nice. 

Just spitballin and I know nothing is ever as simple as “just get a tarp.” But it sure works for baseball.  

Have a great week everyone!