Starting Friday, up to eight licensed owners per horse will be allowed to attend Saratoga to watch a horse they own run

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Owners of horses racing at New York tracks will be able to attend the races on days when they have a horse running and will have access to the backstretch to watch their horses train in the morning, according to the New York State Gaming Commission, which posted the information on its website Wednesday afternoon, the day before the opening of Saratoga’s 40-day Thoroughbred meet.

Fans still will not be permitted to attend the races or morning training.

A few hours after the Commission posted its minimum requirement guidelines, the New York Racing Association announced that up to eight owners - licensed by the NYSGC - per horse would be able to attend the races on the day their horse is racing. Due to the lateness of the approval of protocols by the Commission, owners were not permitted on Thursday’s opening-day program at Saratoga, but were to be allowed beginning Friday.

The owners will not have access to the grandstand or box seat area. Picnic stables have been set up in three areas surrounding the paddock where owners will be allowed to sit during the day. They can watch the race that their horse is in from the track apron.

There will be limited concessions available, but there will not be mutuel clerks. Any wagering by owners must be done via an advance deposit wagering platform.

Play Saratoga with DRF! Visit our Saratoga shop for DRF PPs, Picks and Clocker Reports:

Under the minimum requirement guidelines published by the Gaming Commission, once the overnight for a race card is published, the owners of horses entered may call the racing office or their designee to be placed on an admissions list. The racing office, or its designee, will establish a roster of all owners authorized to be admitted that day. Reservations to attend must be made in advance and no same day requests will be granted. All reservations will be confirmed by e-mail.

Owners who attend the races will be subject to temperature checks, must wear a facial covering and must maintain proper social distancing. Owners with a temperature reading of 100.0 or above will not be granted admission. If a first temperature check shows a reading of 100-degrees or higher, a second one will be taken.

Owners will have access to the paddock and the winner’s circle, again while maintaining social distancing and staying in areas designated to them by the track.

A limited number of licensed owners, but no guests, will be permitted within the barn area at Saratoga during the meet. In order to access the barn area, owners must provide NYRA with a negative COVID-19 test result taken within seven days of the request. Access to the barn area ends at 11:20 a.m. and owners will not be permitted to watch live racing from the barn area.

Owners visiting the barn area will be subject to temperature checks and must wear facial coverings.

Originally, NYRA had asked the state to allow five people associated per horse to attend the races, but that could include guests, such as a spouse or other family member. But the state mandated that the attendees must be licensed by the Gaming Commission, though the state did not put a limit on how many people per horse.

“We have to put a limit on for safety protocols,” Dave O’Rourke, NYRA’s president and CEO said.

After owners were not permitted to attend the Belmont Stakes, Jack Knowlton, managing partner of Tiz the Law, who won the Belmont, is happy at least some of his partners will be able to be on hand to watch Tiz the Law run in the Travers on Aug. 8.

“I’m just thrilled our owners are going to have an opportunity to be at the races when we run,” Knowlton said.

Owners traveling to New York from any of the states currently listed on the New York Travel Advisory are subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine. Those states include, but are not limited to, California, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Owner applications for admission to Saratoga Race Course are to be sent to NYRA's Horsemen's Relations Associate, via email at horsemensrelations@nyrainc.com or by phone at (516) 488-6008. All reservations will be confirmed via e-mail.