Santa Anita executives are hoping to meet with officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health next Saturday, April 18, in an effort to get permission to reopen the racetrack amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
Ontario Racing has announced funding for horse owners to make up for the suspension of racing in the province due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Angling for a resumption of racing at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita, seeking methods to fund workers' compensation costs, and planning a summer season were among the topics that occupied Greg Avioli's afternoon on Wednesday amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
The one-year state budget passed last week by the Kentucky legislature includes funding to establish an equine drug-testing laboratory at the University of Kentucky and directs money to the state’s racing commission in order to hire additional investigators, according to the Senate majority leader.
Total handle on historical horse racing machines operated by a number of Kentucky racetracks plummeted 43 percent in March due to the closures of their casinos in mid-March, according to figures from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
In his daily briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday evening, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear did not float any specific plan for the return of live racing in the state, even without spectators.
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic was clearly spelled out in Thoroughbred racing’s economic indicators for the first quarter of 2020, released on Friday by Equibase, as a reduction in race days and a corresponding drop in wagering led to dramatic declines in March.
Top trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis entered not guilty pleas to charges related to administering illegal substances to racehorses during an arraignment conducted telephonically Thursday afternoon by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Golden Gate Fields has been ordered closed by Alameda County officials because of the coronavirus pandemic, track executives said on Thursday.
The three tracks that host the Triple Crown have agreed to postpone the late nomination period for those races, which would have closed Monday, owing to the postponement of the Kentucky Derby because of the coronavirus pandemic and its potential impact on the Preakness and Belmont Stake.
