COVID-19

In 2020, America discovered Fonner Park in Grand Island, Nebraska. With COVID-19 raging, Fonner was one of a handful of tracks able to soldier on in the months of March, April and May, producing handle numbers that shattered anything they had done before.  Jockeys, trainers and horses who had been toiling in obscurity for years were thrust front and center, their every move covered by TVG. Fonner was a feel-good story at a time when those were in short supply. The little track is back. Fonner's 2021 meet begins Friday,...

The Virginia Gold Cup, one of the country's oldest steeplechase races and traditionally held on the first Saturday in May, will be moved for 2020 to Saturday, May 29. Contested last year in June and livestreamed without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's edition will allow limited spectators. Ticket packages are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis with regular space reservations reverting to tradition in 2022. "It's important to run these races so that we can continue to help out the equine industry and provide some income,"...

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has awarded $14.3 million to qualified breeders through the Thoroughbred Breeders' Incentive Fund for Kentucky Thoroughbreds' wins in 2020. The incentive fund requires owners to board mares in Kentucky from the time of breeding until the birth of the foal. Incentive payments are based on the foal's eventual winnings on the racetrack. Last year, nearly 3,500 races were won by a Kentucky-bred receiving a breeder award. Kentucky-breds won over 245 graded stakes in the United States and 18 group races in Canada, England, France and...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued 184 entries for The Gulfstream Sale of Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training, to be held Wednesday, Mar. 31, in the racetrack's walking ring. The sale will begin at 2 p.m. The under tack show is scheduled for Monday, Mar. 29, beginning at 9 a.m. Fasig-Tipton was forced to cancel last year's Gulfstream Sale due to the coronavirus pandemic. "We are excited to be returning to Gulfstream Park in March to conduct the nation's premier 2-year-olds in training sale," said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. "The Gulfstream Sale annually provides...

A plan for a mass lateral flow COVID-19 testing programme was unveiled by Chester Race Company Ltd. on Monday. The course's goal is to test up to 5,000 attendees per day at the 2021 Boodles May Festival on May 5-7. There would be three separate testing sites, enabling 1,800 lateral flow tests per hour to take place at the racecourse, with all attendees assigned a specific testing site and allocated entry time. There would also be staggered exit times. Fully-socially distanced racing experiences are also in development, so that racing...

The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (MTHA) and the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) have released procedures for access to the backside at MJC facilities. The restrictions are designed to help keep the spread of COVID-19 in check and are effective immediately. For traveling between the Mid-Atlantic region of Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., horsemen are required to submit a weekly negative PCR test. When traveling from all other states, a five-day quarantine is required and a negative test must be submitted after the quarantine period. International travelers must...

Since the start of a crowdfunding effort for Park Lane Stables RDA (Riding for the Diabled), over £362,000 has been raised toward the charity's goal of £1 million generated by Feb. 24. The Teddington-based riding school's landlord is not renewing their lease and is selling the property. The £1 million would go toward the purchase of the property and allow Park Lane Stables to continue its mission of providing therapy and happiness to children and adults with and without disabilities and mental health challenges. Normally, without the COVID-19 pandemic, the...

The Great British Stallion Showcase 2021 was launched by the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (TBA) and Great British Racing International (GBRI) on Monday. The online format is due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that prevented the TBA's Flat Stallion Parade and the National Hunt Stallion Showcase from taking place this year. Photos and videos of each participating stallion, as well as audio clips from stud managers, pedigree and fees are all available at www.greatbritishstallionshowcase.co.uk. In addition, the stallion pages also include the stallions' British EBF eligibility where appropriate. Following the theme...

Goffs kicks off its 2021 sales season on Tuesday and Wednesday with Part I of its February Sale. Prevailing unprecedented circumstances mean that the mixed sale of yearlings, 2-year-old, fillies and mares and horses in training will take place as a live online auction, with no horses, vendors or purchasers on the grounds at Kildare Paddocks. COVID-19 safety measures late last year meant that Goffs staged its Autumn Horses-In-Training and Yearling sales in the live online format, and the positive results spoke to the resilience of the bloodstock market as...

Julio Canani, a three-time Breeders' Cup-winning trainer who came to America from his native Peru in 1954, died Friday morning at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California, according to his daughter, Lisa. He was 82. The news was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman, who quoted friends as saying that Canani had been suffering from dementia and had recently contracted COVID-19. He was 16 when he came to America, and worked for a landscape company before heading to the racetrack and taking a job with trainer Tommy...

The International Forum for the Aftercare of Racehorses (IFAR) will host its fifth forum as a virtual series on each Tuesday during the month of April. The sessions, which will include a combination of prerecorded content and live discussions, will be held Apr. 6, 13, 20, and 27 at 12 p.m. GMT and will each last approximately one hour. Recordings of the events will also be made available on the IFAR website. Expected topics to be covered during these sessions include owner and trainer responsibility, traceability, the use of racehorses...

Tampa Bay Downs horsemen and horsewomen will benefit from another increase in purse money beginning Wednesday. The approximate 10% boost will provide a $1,000 increase for all maiden special weight, allowance, claiming and starter races. Peter Berube, the track's Vice President-General Manager, said a double-digit gain in simulcast wagering has more than offset a decline in on-track wagering, making the second increase of the 2020-2021 meeting possible. The track had raised purses by approximately 10% Dec. 16. Tampa Bay Downs is averaging $4.1-million in daily handle on its product, a...