Well, the rain did come. Although I agree with Strike that Thursday is certainly the card Del Mar would miss the least, I'm guessing that providing increased certainty to horsemen also entered into the decision to cancel that far in advance. Jay Privman has spoken on Steve Byk's show about how good the Del Mar racing secretary is at filling cards in the face of a shrinking horse population and about how important it is to let horsemen know in advance what races are likely to go.