Coronavirus

In a move that seemed inevitable, the New York Racing Association, Inc. announced Thursday that the opening of the Belmont Park spring/summer meet will be delayed due to the continuing impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Highlighted by the 152nd running of the GI Belmont S. June 6, the 51-day Belmont Park spring/summer meet was originally scheduled to begin Apr. 24 and conclude July 12. "We are working closely with the New York State Gaming Commission and public health officials to determine a timeline for the resumption of live racing...

As an organization with enormous interests in both the racing and sales worlds, Keeneland has been quick to act in response to the coronavirus pandemic, canceling its April 2-Year-Old Sale and Spring Meet in the early days of the sport's shutdown. They also were quick to reassure nervous buyers and sellers of yearlings that this year's marquee September Yearling Sale would proceed as scheduled, Sept. 14-26. President and CEO Bill Thomason joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday, calling in via Zoom from his home as the Green...

The Backstretch Employee Service Team of New York, which operates the B.E.S.T. Health Center located on the Belmont Park backstretch, is seeking additional donations in support of its efforts to assist the local racing community during the coronavirus pandemic. Donations can be made here. B.E.S.T. is tasked with providing backstretch workers free health care, life insurance, drug and mental health counselling, as well as food and clothing. It is funded by the New York Racing Association, Inc. and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, along with public donations and grants...

To Our Customers: It goes without saying that we are in historic times. COVID-19 has disrupted our industry and changed the manner in which we conduct our businesses and our everyday lives. While we are all doing our part to protect against the spread of the virus, we must also provide stability and normalcy to our industry. The Keeneland September Yearling Sale serves as a barometer for the state of our industry and establishes certainty for our global marketplace. This is a responsibility which we do not take lightly. With...

Much has been said and written about racing's opportunity during the coronavirus pandemic to capture wagering dollars typically directed towards sports betting or spent in casinos, and I'm happy to report that two of my closest friends have done their part in contributing to handle over the past month or so. Neither are complete rookies, but they don't regularly bet races. We actually started betting horses at the same time--early in our college careers, but they never got hooked on the sport like I did. They've been to Saratoga, will...

The Hong Kong International Sale, during which the Hong Kong Jockey Club offers to its licensed owners the opportunity to purchase race-ready horses it has acquired at auction houses from either hemisphere, has been postponed for the second time due to the COVID-19 situation in the Special Administrative Region, South China Morning Post reported Monday. The sale typically takes place on the Friday before the BMW Hong Kong Derby in a cocktail-hour type setting in the parade ring at Sha Tin Racecourse. Officials at the HKJC tentatively rescheduled the event...

Horseplayers were up in arms last week over a controversial disqualification at previously under-the-radar Fonner Park during a $4.1-million pandemic-inflated Pick Five sequence. Off-the-beaten-path Will Rogers Downs is flirting with $10 million in weekly handle fueled largely by bettors who, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, would have had difficulty pinpointing that track on a map. Amid the dystopia triggered by racetrack closures nationwide, such rapt attention and robust wagering on the five Thoroughbred tracks still running (Oaklawn Park, Gulfstream Park, and Tampa Bay Downs are the others) could be viewed...

The longer live racing is suspended in California the deeper the economic toll, which is why the industry continues to push hard for that suspension to be lifted: that was the main takeaway from a broad-sweeping conference call Friday morning, organized by the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), for industry heads to outline and discuss the impacts from the coronavirus pandemic on racing and training in California. The call was presided over by TOC Chairman Nick Alexander, Greg Avioli, TOC president and CEO, The Stronach Group (TSG) CEO Craig Fravel,...

The Ohio State Racing Commission (OSRC) issued a new directive on Friday that extends an existing shutdown mandating that Thoroughbred and Standardbred tracks remain closed for live racing while stipulating that backstretch facilities at venues where meets were already in progress have to stay "open and operational until further notice." Right now, Mahoning Valley Race Course is the only Thoroughbred track in the state with an operational backstretch. There are about 800 horses and 95 caretakers living in the stable area. The track was supposed to race through Apr. 18,...

Recognizing that stakes horses have limited options as to where to run due to shutdown of several tracks, Gulfstream has begun the process of adding new races to its schedule, including an Apr. 25 stakes for 3-year-olds. The race has been named the Unbridled S. and will be contested at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the dirt with a purse of $75,000. The story was first reported by horseracingnation.com. Though a $75,000 purse would not normally be big enough to attract top-echelon horses, the Unbridled could prove to be an attractive option...

The German racing authority Deutscher Galopp has released a revised racing programme for the sport to begin behind closed doors from Friday, May 1 at Hannover. At present the dates have been announced for one race meeting each day to June 15, and they include the first German Classics, the G2 Mehl Mulhens-Rennen (2000 Guineas), which will be run at Cologne on Monday, June 1, followed by the G2 German 1000 Guineas at Dusseldorf on Sunday, June 7, the same day as the Listed Derby Trial. During that period racing...

Edited Release, courtesy Gulfstream Park Calling it "the biggest challenge of my life," popular Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano has overcome being diagnosed with the coronavirus. Castellano, 42, spent 14 days in quarantine at the South Florida home of his 64-year-old mother, where Gulfstream's five-time Championship Meet leading rider had been since testing positive upon his arrival from New York to ride over GI Curlin Florida Derby weekend in late March. As part of strict protocols put into place by Gulfstream management, all riders who came in from out...