spectator-free racing

Fairmount Park has been green-lighted to resume spectator-free racing next week, coinciding with the "Phase 3" stage of the pandemic re-opening plan in Illinois. The St. Louis Post Dispatch first broke the story late Wednesday morning. Jim Watkins, the president of the Illinois Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, told the Post-Dispatch he is not sure of an exact return date, but the plan is to have seven races twice a week. Fairmount, which is 12 miles east of downtown St. Louis, Missouri, traditionally races on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday nights...

Lone Star Park's 2020 Thoroughbred racing season will begin Friday, May 22. At this time, racing operations will be conducted with no spectators. Lone Star's Bar & Book Simulcasting will reopen Friday at 10:30 a.m. with occupancy limited to 25% capacity and all appropriate physical distancing measures in place. "The health and safety of our patrons and employees continues to be our top priority," a statement from Lone Star read. "We continue to monitor closely all Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and public health advancements, and we...

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...

The Washington Horse Racing Commission voted to approve a 44-day season for Emerald Downs Friday. Racing was originally scheduled to begin Apr. 18 and has now been approved to begin Monday, June 22. Races will be conducted every Monday and Tuesday with no fans in attendance. Horse Racing without public participation is included in Phase 3 of Governor Jay Inslee's "Safe Start Washington" plan. Upon entering Phase 4, racing will open to the public and Emerald Downs will return to a traditional weekend race schedule. A revised stakes schedule will...

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance has released a document outlining best practices for North American racetracks determined to prioritize the health and safety of all participants and employees, when conducting live racing in a spectator-free environment in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The document will assist racetracks that wish to resume live racing by establishing the safest public health environment possible, while also enabling gainful employment and economic activity at a time of uncertainty for so many. These best practices are based upon the most...

Golden Gate Fields will resume live racing on Thursday, May 14, after receiving provisional approval Wednesday morning from the Alameda County Public Health Officer. Live racing was temporarily suspended Apr. 2, following an order from Alameda County in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Live racing will be conducted under strict protocols and without spectators, to protect the health, safety and welfare of every person and every horse in the Golden Gate Fields community. The protocols are still being finalized with county officials and will be released in the coming days,...

Santa Anita has published its first condition book since live racing was put on a hiatus as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The book, published Thursday afternoon, spans May 15 to May 25, and includes a number of prestigious stakes races, including the GI Shoemaker Mile S. and the GI Gamely S. Entries close on Tuesday, May 12 for the following Friday—what would be the first day of racing at the track since mid-March. Racing was formally cancelled there Mar. 20. There has been no official announcement that Santa...

Churchill Downs Racetrack officials have announced that opening day of the 2020 Spring Meet will be Saturday, May 16. After opening weekend on May 16-17, racing at the historic Louisville racetrack will be staged Thursdays through Sundays with a special holiday Monday card on Memorial Day, May 25. Post time for the first race each day will be 1 p.m. (all times Eastern). Vice President of Racing Ben Huffman is crafting a condition book for the schedule of races, including a revised stakes schedule, and it is expected to be...

During his Thursday press briefing, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice announced that the state's racetracks will resume racing May 14. No spectators will be allowed to attend the races. "In regard to horse racing, on May 14 we will start spectator-less, without people, horse racing," Justice said. "It will be able to resume at that time. It takes a couple of weeks of active training and conditioning before it's safe for the horses, so they will be starting back very, very soon in preparation for us to have spectator-less horse...

Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson told the Toronto Sun that he anticipates racing will resume at the Ontario track in approximately six weeks. "With the optimism that we all need to share, we anticipate that we are approximately six weeks away from resuming live racing (under the strict conditions being developed with the AGCO) if the Provincial Declaration of Emergency is lifted and parts of the economy are permitted to gradually re-open following government and health officials' guidelines," Lawson told the Sun. "I will continue to provide updates in the coming...

Thursday was supposed to be opening day at Keeneland's spring meet, which has been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, officials who oversee the association's racecourse and sales company spent their afternoon on a video conference call with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s race dates advisory committee explaining how Keeneland will face a situation that is markedly different from the state's other four Thoroughbred tracks when emergency public health mandates are relaxed enough to allow live racing to resume. Bob Elliston, Keeneland's vice president of racing and sales,...