A horse gets a cooling bath after morning exercise at Saratoga Race Course on Thursday. Temperatures have been in the 90s for several days this week.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — “Racing is a matter of degrees.” That sums up how Dr. Scott E. Palmer, the Equine Medical Director of the New York State Gaming Commission, looks at racing in hot weather.

He was referring to the conditions facing the equine athletes racing at Saratoga Race Course and the human athletes who ride them during this week’s hot spell.

Dr. Palmer is quick to point out the state Gaming Commission studied conditions and established parameters governing the possible suspension of a racing card when extreme summer heat could threaten the health and safety of horses and riders starting in 2015.

Since that time, Dr. Palmer reports, “There has never been a heat-related fatality at a NYRA track.”

Racing fans can get some of the data the state collects when the television forecasters report a “feels like” temperature. The technical term for “feels like” is the heat index.

That is a reading that takes into account the air temperature and the humidity. The magic number that could cause a cancellation of a Saratoga racing card is 105 degrees.

When that number is hit or predicted the morning of racing, consultation starts immediately among the New York Gaming Commission, the track management, the horsemen and the jockeys.

They don’t turn on television sets to get their data. Forecast heat indices are received from the National Weather Service and NYRA’s own weather station that is located in the infield.

That NYRA station reports its heat index numbers every 15 minutes and also details rainfall, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, wind speeds and direction.

NYRA communications director Pat McKenna is quick to report there are NYRA-funded infield weather stations in use at Belmont Park and Aqueduct that produce the same data. The station at Aqueduct keeps watch when cold weather threatens the cards there.

While all the meteorological data is being studied, the trainers are also reacting to the weather conditions.

Charlton (Charlie) Baker, who has been training thoroughbred horses for 28 years, reports “All our horses have fans in their stalls. We also use electrolytes to encourage them to drink.”

These are methods of dealing with heat that are almost universal on Saratoga’s backstretch.

Kate Dalton, who trains Down Royal, the winner of Saratoga’s  Grade I, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial steeplechase on Wednesday, echoes Baker’s sentiments, saying, “Electrolytes are essential to get the horses to drink more water during hot days.”

She also advocates, “Get there early. We come from South Carolina so our horses can get accustomed to the heat” as steeplechasing moves north to its geographic apex at Saratoga.

Baker finds a garden hose can be a vital race-day tool for trainers. He says, “We start hosing them down before they leave the barn. Then there are hoses available in the holding barn and in the paddock.”

After a race, Baker and his colleagues can be seen giving their charges a quick bath just in front of the winners’ circle. “Then, there’s hoses on the way back to the barn or at the testing barn,” he said.

Dr. Palmer encourages trainers and stable staff to keep a watchful eye on their horses’ body temperatures after a race, making sure “it returns to 101 degrees.”

While Baker and Kate Dalton, and every other trainer on the Saratoga’s backstretch, are using electrolytes to help keep their horses hydrated, Dr. Palmer discourages giving a horse too much water too soon after a race.

Fans heading for the Spa’s free parking lots on the Oklahoma track side of Union Avenue after the last race on the card may see horses walking in a big circle that is formed by a half-dozen or so buckets full of cool water.

This simple step allows the horse to keep walking while taking in a few sips of water as it passes a bucket.   

If a weather cancellation is called for at Saratoga, racing fans can rest assured the decision to cancel was not a haphazard one. And, that the horses are being cared for in their well-ventilated stalls.