COVID-19
As the racing world mostly returned to order last week with the reopening of Santa Anita and Churchill and dates for two-thirds of the rescheduled Triple Crown being locked in, eyes turned to the New York Racing Association. Located in the epicenter of the world's coronavirus pandemic, NYRA hasn't run a race card since Mar. 15 at Aqueduct, and has remained in limbo like much of the state as the virus peaked, then slowly--painfully slowly--retreated. But with Governor Andrew Cuomo's proclamation that racing could resume in New York beginning June...
The G1 French 2000 Guineas and G1 French 1000 Guineas were moved to Deauville on June 1 instead of ParisLongchamp, as French racing undergoes a venue shuffle following the news that racing has been called off in France's red zone on Tuesday due to coronavirus restrictions, France Galop announced on Wednesday evening. Both 1600-metre Classics will be contested over a straight course. The complete schedule for French racing from May 25th-June 1st was also released, with the May 31 G2 Grand Prix de Chantilly also slated for Deauville. Below are...
The Pennsylvania Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (PHBPA) has agreed in principle with the management of Penn National to resume spectator-free racing at the track prior to the opening of Hollywood Casino if Governor Tom Wolf gives approval. "When racing resumes, our board is committed to maintaining the same daily purse structure," Todd Mostoller, the PHBPA's executive director, wrote in a one-page memo to members issued Wednesday afternoon. "The number of days raced will be adjusted as needed." Mostoller added that he has received assurance from the governor's office that...
Tampa Bay Downs has added eight dates in June to its 2019-2020 Thoroughbred racing calendar after its request was approved by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The track will conduct racing in June on Mondays and Wednesdays: June 1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22 and 24. Spectators will not be allowed, nor will they be permitted to attend the track's annual two-day Summer Festival of Racing June 30 and July 1. Tampa Bay Downs is racing on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday schedule through May 30. Management expects the...
Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association President Tim Keefe said it may be "unrealistic" for the local purse account to pay for the $1.5-million Preakness and the several stakes that are held in support of the Preakness. In a statement issued Tuesday, Keefe said he has become increasingly concerned about the amount of purse money that is available for racing at Pimlico and Laurel. There has been no racing in Maryland since Mar. 15, but the bigger problem is that the state's casinos also shut down on that date. According to Keefe,...
After the British Horseracing Authority released a policy to ensure that Royal Ascot's 2-year-old races were made up of the highest quality fields possible despite the challenges posed by the coronavirus on Friday, that scheme has now been tweaked to include all trainers after discussions with the National Trainers Federation and the Racehorse Owners Association, the BHA announced on Tuesday afternoon. The policy is intended to manage the demand for 2-year-old runs in the first eight days following the June 1 resumption of racing and was part of a larger...
The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) teleconference meeting Tuesday resulted in the adoption of four new Thoroughbred-related rules and the proposal of two others. Even though it was the NYSGC's first meeting since the COVID-19 crisis halted the state's racing industry in March, the five commissioners who participated did not discuss the pandemic or any aspect of return-to-racing plans for New York tracks. The only time the coronavirus got an oblique mention was during the reading into the record of a proposed emergency rule regarding changing qualifying race requirements...
The updated German fixture list, which has been modified due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was released by Deutscher Gallop on Tuesday. Previously, the racing calendar for Germany had been outlined through only June 15, as the nation begins to leave lockdown. The current safety precautions, which include racing without spectators, regional clustering and one event per calendar day, will also still apply. For the German racing calendar through Aug. 30, go to www.deutscher-galopp.de.
Two horses at Woodbine have tested positive for equine herpesvirus EHV-1, according to a report on CanadianThoroughbred.com. The two reportedly came from Barn 12 on the track's backstretch and are currently being cared for at the University of Guelph in Ontario. The news comes shortly after Woodbine was given the green light to reopen for racing June 6. "This will be an evolving situation, and we will keep [horsepeople] updated with information as it is known," Jessica Buckley, Woodbine Entertainment's senior vice president of racing, told CanadianThoroughbred.com's Jennifer Morrison. "This...
A live bugler played a first-race call to post that echoed and reverberated in front of a cavernously empty grandstand, and track announcer Travis Stone preceded his season-opening call with the declaration that "Better late than never, they're in the gate at Churchill Downs." But once the horses were off and running for Saturday's 11-race card, a sense of business-as-usual settled in--at least as defined by the new normalcy terms of spectator-free, pandemic-era racing in America. "It was surreal. I watched the first race of the season from the infield...
Santa Anita was up and running Friday, the first time racing had been held at the Southern California racetrack since Mar. 22. All that was missing were fans in the stands. The card was strong, the handle was robust and it appeared that the many strict protocols put in place by Santa Anita didn't affect the racing. "We're, overall, really happy with how things went," said Aidan Butler, who heads the California racing operation for The Stronach Group. "It is so good to be back racing. From a logistics standpoint,...
Brice Blanc is rested, swabbed, needled and raring to go. "It'll be good to get back to work," said the jockey, who's scheduled to ride Friday at Santa Anita before a grandstand empty of spectators--the track's first day of live racing since March 22. To get the green-light to ride, Blanc underwent a blood test Wednesday to see whether he carries antibodies showing that he's already been exposed to Covid-19. He was also given a nasal swab to see if he's currently infectious. "It wasn't that bad," said Blanc, of...