Colonial cancels remainder of meet after additional COVID-19 positives

Colonial Downs in Virginia has been shut down mid-meet by the novel coronavirus.

A jockey tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, forcing the cancellation of Tuesday and Wednesday cards, and on Friday, following several more positive COVID-19 tests in jockeys and staff, the track called a halt to the remainder of its racing season. Including the two days this week, Colonial lost the last 11 days of an 18-day 2020 racing season.

Reopening this season in the midst of a global pandemic, Colonial required incoming jockeys to have a negative COVID-19 test before beginning the season and to ride only at Colonial, but leading jockey Trevor McCarthy contracted the virus. McCarthy felt ill last weekend and though his symptoms had subsided, a test on Tuesday, Aug. 11, came back positive for coronavirus.

That spurred a round of universal testing at the track, which yielded several more positive tests, and after meeting with the Virginia Department of Health late this week, Colonial decided that the meet would have to end prematurely.

Colonial reopened in 2019 for its first racing season since 2013 after being purchased by Chicago-based Revolutionary Racing for a reported $20 million in 2018, a transaction spurred by the Virginia legislature’s approval of Colonial for historical horse racing machines.

The law permitting HHR machines stipulated Colonial conduct 15 days of live racing per year, a number that could rise with an increased number of machines. Colonial will fail to meet their minimum in 2020 and, presumably, will have to petition the Virginia Racing Commission and the legislature for a waiver of the minimum dates requirement.