It seems like everyone wants to be at Saratoga Race Course for the upcoming Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
Including Mother Nature.
According to The Weather Channel, there is at least a 40% chance of rain during each of the four days (June 6-9) of racing at the Spa.
June 6 seems destined to be the biggest washout, with the forecast calling for a 90% chance of rain with thunderstorms likely.
The following day, there's a 40% chance of rain, with showers developing later in the day.
As for the centerpiece Belmont Stakes Day on June 8, there's a 44% chance of showers.
Finally, on June 9, there's a 50% chance of rain.
Keep in mind that weather predictions are off base at times and weather can change unpredictably in the Adirondack Mountains, where there can be rain and sunshine in the same half-hour. Yet at Saratoga, when it rains, it never seems to sprinkle. Intense storms are part of the Spa's lore, though it's an odds-on assumption that virtually everyone connected with the four days of racing would prefer it if Mother Nature sits out the festivities.
Of course, whatever the weather turns out to be, it would be hard to top last year's Belmont Stakes week at now-under-construction Belmont Park, when smoke from the Canadian wildfires turned the afternoon Long Island skies an eerie shade of orange and created unsafe breathing conditions that forced the cancellation of one racing program.
