Harness: Coronavirus hits home as cancellations and tragedy infect the sport

It has been a tumultuous week for news worldwide and it became all too personal as the sport suffered the loss of one of its own due to the coronavirus, and the one element at the heart of the industry also took a major hit.

The one constant in Harness Racing is that the horses will race a mile around an oval. Of course, bad weather and contract disputes have sidelined a few tracks over the years, but the coronavirus has dealt all of sports one of the more brutal knockout blows with the cancellations of most professional sports and almost simultaneously most of the tracks across the East Coast.

The first domino to fall was Yonkers Raceway with the cancellation of racing on Tuesday March 10 due to the unfortunate and untimely death of long-time SOA of New York and USTA Director John Brennan, the first fatality of a New Jersey resident due to the potentially deadly coronavirus.

Brennan, 69, described by many as a straightforward man who always told it like it is, was a fixture in the paddock at Yonkers. Where he got the disease or whether he was the first at Yonkers to contract it is unknown, but with reports of others who frequent the paddock area having symptoms, MGM Yonkers officials wisely have halted racing through at least March 18. The track is scheduled to race on March 19 at this time.

No announcement has been made on what will happen to the first legs of the Blue Chip Matchmaker or MGM Borgata series scheduled for this weekend. The conditions for the race state the following:

“If any preliminary race is cancelled for any reason the horses entered receive 25 points. Make-up races will solely be determined by the Raceway at their discretion. If a make-up is re-scheduled, only those horses entered in the cancelled race may declare in, however, no points for starting will be given.”

Freehold was the next track to cancel, announcing that racing will be suspended through March 21 because an individual at the track on March 7 came in contact with a person testing positive for coronavirus (presumably Brennan). The next potential live date for Freehold is March 27.

The dominos continued to fall from there with Pocono cancelling its live racing scheduled for March 14, 15 and 16. Racing is tentatively set to resume March 21. Meadowlands then announced that they have canceled racing on March 13 and 14 for precautionary measures. Conditions permitting, the track will resume on March 20. Dover Downs elected to skip its card on March 12 and is fully expecting to resume racing on March 16 when next scheduled.

As of this writing many tracks are still intending to race this weekend, including major circuits like Mohawk Park, Northfield Park, Cal Expo, and Hawthorne. Most tracks are taking precautions and one, Buffalo, will race will essential personnel only.

Whether Harness Racing across the nation will face the fate of Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association and end up indefinitely suspended for weeks or longer is yet unknown. We can only hope for the best and hope to see horses on the track going around in circles across North America as intended.