Laurel cancels Friday card, quarantines four barns due to equine herpesvirus

Laurel Park in suburban Maryland has canceled its Friday card and put a quarantine on four barns after a horse on the grounds tested positive for equine herpesvirus, a highly contagious disease, according to the track’s top racing official.

Sal Sinatra, director of racing for Laurel, said that the horse who tested positive has been sent to a clinic and no other horses on the grounds have displayed symptoms of the virus. But “18 or 19” horses that are now under quarantine had been entered for the Friday card, necessitating the Friday cancellation, Sinatra said.

The cancellation of the card also resulted in the cancellation of Friday’s Stronach 5 wager.

The symptomatic horse tested positive on Monday, Sinatra said. Because the horse came out of a barn that had recent ship-ins and a claim, the quarantine had to be applied to four barns in total, lasting for 14 days from the positive test, Sinatra said. The horses in the quarantined barns are being allowed to train after the main track has been closed, but they will not be allowed to enter races.

The canceled Friday races will be added to the cards for Saturday and Sunday, Sinatra said.

“We’re hoping we can fill them, but the horsemen who were entered on Friday will get stipends if they can’t get in,” Sinatra said.

Horses that ship in to Laurel during the quarantine period will be required to remain on-site during the lockdown. Horses will not be allowed to ship out.

Equine herpesvirus can cause respiratory and neurological problems in horses, and it can sometimes be fatal. Sinatra said that positive horse appears to be recovering.