Woodbine opens 109-day meet with adjusted schedule

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Jessica Buckley brings an impressive résumé to her new position as Woodbine Entertainment’s senior vice president of Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing. That valuable experience, coupled with strong leadership from CEO Jim Lawson and their management team, has led to a logical reshaping of the Woodbine meet, which was postponed from April 18 to Saturday due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saturday’s 11-race program attracted 118 entries, with the featured allowance carded as the ninth.

Racing has been modified from a Wednesday night and Friday-through-Sunday schedule to a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule. Post time is 1 p.m., except for Thursdays, which begin at 3:45 p.m. and will lead into a 6 p.m. broadcast on The Sports Network in Canada.

The 109-day meet runs through Dec. 13. The lone holiday card is Labor Day, Sept. 7. There will be no spectators for the immediate future.

“We had always raced Wednesday evenings because it was a very busy night for our bars and dining rooms,” Buckley said. “But without being able to host spectators on track, we looked at the wagering analysis to see what would go if we switched to Thursday afternoons. In the absence of the hospitality dollars, it made sense to switch to Thursdays and hopefully create stronger pools. We’re going to try that until the end of the summer, and then see whether or not we can have spectators back on track this fall.”

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Horses began to ship into Woodbine in late February, but workouts were not permitted in April after a state of emergency was declared by the Ontario government due to the pandemic. Official workouts began again when the clocking staff was allowed on track May 15. Strict protocols have been in place on the backstretch, including physical distancing and the mandatory wearing of masks. Another fly in the ointment was an outbreak of equine herpesvirus in May that has since been contained.

“There’s been some unexpected challenges, for sure, but I think we’re close to getting through” EHV-1, Buckley said.

There will be extensive turf racing on Woodbine’s two courses again this year.

“We’re really looking forward to our turf program,” Buckley said. “We’re really excited that our inner turf is going to be in its second season. It came out of the winter extremely well. The last few weeks, it has really rooted well, with the rain we had and the warm days.”

Buckley said the jockey “urging trial” that began last fall at Woodbine will be implemented this year by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Jockeys are limited to only underhand urging with the crop. No contact with the horse from the crop in the cocked position and no contact in the belly or surrounding area is allowed.

“The urging pilot has been put into place as a rule,” Buckley said. “All the jocks had an opportunity to learn it last year, and they’re going to do some more education on it. I think it’s an improvement to our product, modernizing it.”

Buckley said Woodbine looked at racing jurisdictions from around the world that have been successful in dealing with COVID-19 to put together its own set of jockey protocols for the meet.

“Masks are going to mandatory for every participant,” Buckley explained. “Only if jockeys need to for breathing purposes, will they be allowed to pull their mask down in a race. The gate crew will be wearing a medical-grade mask. We need to keep everyone safe, but the jockeys are a number one priority. We have very strict protocols in place for social distancing and for keeping everything sanitized. We’ve spaced out the jockeys in the room by taking over other areas. We made a small renovation so that there are separate entrance and exit doors for a better flow of people.”

Buckley said under Woodbine’s current Phase 1 of reopening that no one is allowed ontrack except for essential racing employees and participants. She said Phase 2 could include owners.

“We have developed protocols for Woodbine Phase 2, which would start to allow for owners and media and others on a limited basis, under strict guidelines. We just don’t know when that will be. It will be determined around the government guidelines for gatherings.”

Buckley, 49, is the daughter of the late breeder Bob Anderson, who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2015. Her brother, David, is the successful breeder of Grade 1 winner Hard Not to Love.

A graduate of Western University, Buckley is coming off a 2 1/2-year stint as the president of Woodbine Mohawk Park. Following her first stint at Woodbine Entertainment in the 1990s, Buckley worked for Magna Entertainment from 2001-11, during which she was the director of account wagering for Xpressbet and the director of marketing for HRTV. She rejoined Woodbine in 2015.

Buckley said horsepeople should know that purse levels will remain intact for the meet.

“We are going to be able to maintain our average daily purses,” Buckley said. “We’ll still have over 75 stakes. Some jurisdictions are having to cut, but we’re fortunate that we will be able to keep purses strong for the rest of the year. Let’s just hope that we get some good luck and that we’re able to continue on and operate the rest of the season. I think we’re going in the right direction.”