SARATOGA SPRINGS – A meet that already was snakebit by the weather and other factors, with flagging attendance and betting handle, received a body blow yesterday when the last eight races of the 10-race card were cancelled after a ferocious thunderstorm turned the track into an unsafe quagmire.

“It’s completely washed out in three different places [around the far turn],” said jockey John Velazquez, who took his mount Ravel to the track, along with the other riders, before the third race was to be run.

“The [track] maintenance guy was there, and he stopped us [because the track was not safe].”

Another jockey, Robby Albarado, said the water-filled holes were nearly knee-deep.

The thunderstorm, one of several to pass through in the past several days, hit shortly before 2 p.m., and for about 15 minutes deluged the Old Spa with rain and hail, accompanied by lightning and thunder.

Track announcer Tom Durkin tried to make light of the situation, paging “Mr. Noah.” Water washed across the track in waves, forming puddles in some spots when the horses for the third race surprisingly came out on the track after the storm abated.

“Why did we go out there?” Velazquez said. “There was a bit of miscommunication. We initially thought the track was safe.”

When the track maintenance crew alerted the stewards it would take at least an hour, possibly much of the afternoon, to repair the washouts, the stewards had no choice but to cancel the remaining races, although by then the sun was shining.

“Even after an hour, there was no guarantee the track would be up to standard,” New York Racing Association President Charles Hayward said in a statement.

The track remained open for simulcasting.