Aqueduct taking precautions but still racing in face of coronavirus

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – For only the second time this winter trainer Linda Rice didn’t have a horse to run Friday at Aqueduct, but she echoed the sentiments of most New York horsemen who were appreciative of the chance to keep going during a difficult time.

Though the coronavirus pandemic shuttered most sports leagues, horse racing continued Friday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card.

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No fans were permitted to attend the races, though some did watch on the apron, getting there through the adjacent casino, which was open but limited to 500 customers at a time.

“These horses are prepared,” said Rice, the leading trainer at the meet who scratched her lone entrant on Friday’s card. “I’m glad they’re able to compete and continue to keep everybody with a job, keep the bills paid. In that respect, I’m glad that they’re racing. I’m glad they’re taking precautions by doing it without the fans, but our industry is very much a simulcast industry nowadays anyway, so I think that is doable.”

The New York Racing Association sent horsemen an advisory Friday morning that licensed owners with a horse entered to run would be allowed to enter the Turf and Field entrance with up to four guests. However, no owners would be allowed in the paddock. There were areas on the first and second floor that were open to horsemen.

“I don’t expect many people to come at all,” David O’Rourke, NYRA’s chief executive officer told Daily Racing Form. “We might revise that number to lower or maybe no one. We’re trying to be as cautious and realistic as we go along here.”

O’Rourke said NYRA and other racetracks in the U.S. that continued to operate Friday were following the Hong Kong and France model by remaining open but barring fans. NYRA also placed restrictions on the media, allowing Daily Racing Form in the building but limiting its reporter’s access to the press box.

O’Rourke said racing could continue because it “is not a contact sport.” He said the jockeys “are essentially isolated from interacting with each other.”

“We believe this is prudent,”he said. “As we’ve seen in the last week anything can change.”

O’Rourke said that by shuttering parts of the building, resources could be utilized “doubling down on sanitization,” especially in the jockeys’ room. “We want to make sure they’re comfortable,” he said.