Coronavirus

The process for how trainers declare staff to attend the racecourse using Racing Admin will change on Sept. 18, the British Horseracing Authority announced on Monday. There will be a new Declare Staff section on Racing admin which will include the staffmember's: Health status (green / amber / red) Questionnaire status for that fixture (sent / completed / not sent) Questionnaire Last Completed date (to help calculate a 7-day validity) Also, the new area will give the ability to declare staff immediately after making a declaration to run, up until...

Irish jockey Danny Sheehy is now the third rider to test positive for COVID-19. His brother Mikey tested positive this past weekend. Mikey is a housemate of Shane Crosse, who was positive for the virus on Friday. "Following precautionary tests taken over the weekend, jockey Danny Sheehy has returned a positive test for COVID-19," Horse Racing Ireland said in a statement. "He was asymptomatic prior to the test and is now self-isolating. Contact tracing continues. "All other tests taken over the weekend, including contact tracing and those at the yard...

Saturday's live program at Woodbine, featuring the coronavirus-delayed Queen's Plate, generated betting turnover of $14,532,678, nearly $3.5 million of that on the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown alone. The handle ranks as the third-highest in the history of the race. "While this year's Queen's Plate might be remembered for not having fans in the stands, I would much rather it be remembered for the collective efforts of so many people that allowed this race to be run and its storied history continued to be written," said Jim Lawson,...

The Breeders' Cup will return to Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. as the host site for the 2022 Breeders' Cup World Championships, the Breeders' Cup announced Saturday. Keeneland, which is also scheduled to host this year's World Championships Nov. 6-7, will hold the 39th Breeders' Cup Nov. 4-5, 2022. It will be the third time the Breeders' Cup has been held at Keeneland since 2015. Del Mar will remain the host of the 2021 event. The announcement of Keeneland as host of the 2022 championships was made in conjunction...

Irish apprentice jockey Shane Crosse, who was set to travel to Doncaster on Saturday to ride the Joseph O'Brien-trained Galileo Chrome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) in the G1 St Leger and State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) in the G2 Champagne S., has tested positive for COVID-19 and has begun a 14-day isolation. Crosse has been asymptomatic and was tested as part of the protocol for traveling overseas to ride. Dr. Jennifer Pugh, the Irish Horse Racing Board's senior medical officer, said, "Shane was completely asymptomatic and was very surprised to...

by Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--Fasig-Tipton's two-day Selected Yearlings Showcase concluded Thursday with solid enough trade--especially on flashier offerings--given the global uncertainty leading up to the first major yearling sale in the year of COVID-19. The auction, necessitated by the cancellation of the July, Saratoga and New York-bred sales, featured 348 transactions for gross receipts of $61,765,000 at an average of $177,486 and median of $120,000. The buy-back rate was 33.7%. The sale topper came on Wednesday when Robbie Medina, bidding on behalf of Joe Allen,...

Thursday's Arizona Racing Commission (AZRC) meeting opened with the chairman Rory Goree asking stakeholders to "refrain from discussing anything" related to a controversial appeal over who controls purse account money that is scheduled for the October meeting. And it ended with Turf Paradise owner Jerry Simms apologizing for the frustration the state's Thoroughbred community feels over his decision not to incur liability by running a 2020-21 meet during a pandemic. In between those brief, book-ended statements that define the currently closed status of racing in Arizona, commissioners heard a slew...

Topping proceedings at the Goffs UK Yorton Sale was a yearling colt by Blue Bresil (Fr) as lot 38. The bay is out of SP hurdler Hora (GB) (Hernando {Fr}) and brought £60,000 from Highflyer/NJ Henderson. Of the 36 horses offered, 28 sold (78%) for a gross of £602,000. The average of £21,500 dropped -12% and the median was £21,000 (+5%). "Holding any sale during the COVID era has presented us with additional challenges, and none more than this unique sale which is very different to any other," said Goffs...

Sam Hoskins, an owner, breeder, syndicate manager and ROA board member, gives us his view of how the reduced prize-money will impact racing in Britain From where we were back in the spring, to get racing back on was an incredible achievement and obviously everyone understood then that prize-money was going to be hit. Horsemen accepted that up to the point when it became clear that, despite media rights flowing, there was going to be largely no executive contribution from the majority of racecourses. The call for transparency over media...

After around 2,500 spectators were admitted on the opening day of Doncaster's St Leger Festival on Wednesday as part of a pilot project for reintroducing fans to sporting events, the remainder of the festival will be behind closed doors with Prime Minister Boris Johnson once again limiting gathers to six people. The directive came from the Doncaster Council. A crowd of about 6,000 had been expected for the G1 St Leger on Saturday. "We have had confirmation this afternoon from the local authority that we will not be able to...

Newsells Park Stud, which will be consigning yearlings to the upcoming Tattersalls October Yearling Sales, has launched a new website at www.newsells-park.com. A total of 25 yearlings from Newsells Park are slated to sell during the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1, with visitors to the new website able to access pedigree links, photos and videos of the individual yearlings. One of the highlights of the draft is lot 436, a daughter of Galileo (Ire) out of Shastye (Ire) (Danehill), making her a full-sister to European highweight Japan (GB), who...

With the yearling sales now in full swing TDN quizzes industry figures on past purchases, life during lockdown and gets their perspective on the sales for the next few weeks. Nicolas de Watrigant answers our questions today. TDN:  What was your best yearling purchase over the last few years? And your favourite? NDW: From the 2014 Arqana August sale, Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) was definitely one of the very best horses I have purchased. Winning both the Prix Rothschild G1 at Deauville and the G1 Coronation S. during Royal...