Coronavirus

With the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale, Saratoga Selected Yearling Sale and New York-Bred Yearling Sale all canceled, the sale's company offers a combination of all three auctions Sept. 9-10 at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Kentucky, in the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase. "It was a situation where we had to develop alternatives as it became apparent that the July Sale could not be conducted," Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said. "At about the same time, it also became apparent it would be very, very difficult, if not impossible, to have a traditional...

The New York Racing Association announced Sunday its COVID-19 health and safety protocols for jockeys during the 27-day Belmont Park fall meet, which will open Friday, Sept. 18 and run through Sunday, Nov. 1. In order to mitigate risk and reduce the spread of COVID-19, Belmont Park will be closed to out-of-town jockeys until further notice. Members of the regular NYRA jockey colony who travel to ride at any other racetrack during the Belmont Park fall meet will be required to provide two negative COVID-19 tests taken within a five-day...

LOUISVILLE, KY--After a four-month delay, the world spotlight finally shines again on Churchill Downs. While Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby has certainly lost some of its luster due to a number of high-profile defections along this seemingly never-ending Triple Crown trail, tensions remain extremely high in Louisville--which at times of late has felt like the epicenter of concurrent national crises. COVID-19 cases in Kentucky have continued on an upward slope while the overall U.S. graph trends downward, and the commonwealth's largest city has remained in the headlines as the community has...

A limited number of licensed owners will be permitted to attend live racing at Belmont Park on the day that their horse is entered to race, NYRA announced Friday. To reduce density and adhere to social distancing guidelines, the size of the ownership group will be restricted to 10 individuals per horse. All owners within the group must be in possession of a valid New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) license. Horses with identical ownership will be limited to 10 total admissions regardless of number of horses running that day....

Main street? It's a two-way street. And for the one horse race that truly engages the American nation, that is literally a mixed blessing. A blessing that mixes our own enchanted way of life, culpably introspective as it can be, with the passing traffic of the wider world. Right now, between pandemic and protests, there is a lot of turmoil out there. Nobody should be surprised, then, if society's discords have been filtering through the backstretch gate in Derby week: whether through the annual migration of mainstream media, or protestors...

A maximum of 5,000 people will be permitted on course at ParisLongchamp for the Oct. 4 G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, France Galop announced on Friday. Paris is once again considered a red zone for coronavirus and an exemption for a larger crowd could not be made. The same restrictions will apply to ParisLongchamp's Oct. 3 card. Access to the racecourse will be restricted to horsepeople (including some owners and breeders) and those required to put on the event. A statement from France Galop read in part, "France Galop...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - On the final weekend of what has been a very good Saratoga meeting, veteran trainer Jim Bond will take a swing with long shot Prioritize (Tizway) in Saturday's GI Woodward. The Woodward, being run at 1 ¼ miles for the first time since Easy Goer won the 1989 edition at Belmont Park, is Prioritize's first try in a Grade I and his first graded stakes in almost two years. Prioritize, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Bond's longtime patron William Clifton Jr., was a turf horse back...

The Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, which was moved to Newmarket this year due to COVID-19, has been shorted to two days, Tattersalls Ireland announced on Thursday. The sale will take place Sept. 21 and 22, with Part II directly following the conclusion after the September Yearling Sale. This scheduling change is in response to the relocation of the sale to Park Paddocks in Newmarket. The remaining 2020 Tattersalls Ireland sales will take place in Ireland, and any vendors not wishing to sell in Newmarket will have the opportunity to...

The 2020-2022 Godolphin Flying Start trainees began their two-year course at Kildangan Stud in Ireland on Aug. 17, Godolphin Flying Start announced on Thursday. Due to COVID-19, the first two weeks of the course were remote while trainees quarantined for two weeks. Since beginning their course, the trainees have completed ICT and communications training and started their Equine Anatomy and Physiology module at University College Dublin online. Also during the Irish portion of their course, they will take a short course at the Racing Academy and Centre of Education before...

There are now over 100 lots on offer at The Great Racing Welfare Auction which will be held virtually this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Racing Welfare announced on Thursday. One of the new items up for bid is the Ultimate Aintree Grand National package-the chance for two people to attend the invite-only Grand National Weights Lunch in February, a course walk with Carrie Ford and a day at the races on Grand National Day with a place for two at the Chairman's Lunch and more. Other notable lots...

Overseas jockeys will be permitted to bypass Ireland's 14-day quarantine requirement to ride on Group 1 cards, with the Irish government granting an exemption for elite athletes and sportspeople ahead of Irish Champions Weekend next weekend. Irish jockeys traveling overseas to ride in Group 1s will also be exempt from quarantine upon return. "We have had a change in the government protocols concerning sportspeople and athletes published today, but it is very much on a case-by-case basis," confirmed Horse Racing Ireland Chief Executive Officer Brian Kavanagh. "It will be limited...

When Ferrin Peterson came to Monmouth to ride this spring, she expected that she would have nine months as an apprentice rider to get her feet under her. And if she hadn't been so good, she would have. Last weekend at Monmouth, Peterson not only lost her bug after winning her 40th race Saturday, but went on to have the most successful weekend of any rider at the track, with four wins, five seconds and five thirds. Three of those wins came without the seven-pound allowance with which she had...