Saez tests positive for coronavirus, taken off mounts after race 2 at Keeneland
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Luis Saez, one of the leading riders in the U.S., was abruptly pulled off his mounts on Friday at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington after health officials informed the track he had tested positive for coronavirus.
Saez was informed of the positive just after finishing second on Fortuna in the second race at Keeneland, which is conducting an abbreviated summer meet this year after canceling its spring meet because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Saez had provided a testing swab on Thursday morning to health officials at Keeneland that produced the positive result on Friday, according to his agent Kiaran McLaughlin, and he had tested negative after a providing a swab on Sunday on New York.
Saez is likely to be required to undergo at least 10 days of symptom-free quarantine and will be required to pass a coronavirus test before he is allowed to return to riding.
Saez is the second rider in the past three days to test positive from a test administered at Keeneland, after hopscotching around the country in the week prior to Keeneland opening its meet on Wednesday. Saez and the other rider who tested positive, Martin Garcia, both rode on Saturday at Los Alamitos in Southern California.
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“He was there at Los Al with Martin, so maybe it was there,” McLaughlin said. “I don’t really know. He’s a young, strong, fit guy, so we can just hope for the best.”
McLaughlin said that Saez was not displaying any symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
Saez rode at Belmont Park in New York on July 3; Los Alamitos on July 4; Belmont again on July 5; Indiana Grand on July 8; and then at Keeneland on Thursday and for the second race on Friday.
Saez is the regular rider of the top 4-year-old colt Maximum Security, who is being targeted for the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on July 18 as his comeback race after winning the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 29 in Saudi Arabia.