OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Aqueduct will have to suspend live racing operations immediately and indefinitely after a groom who lives and works on the backstretch at Belmont Park tested positive for the coronavirus, the New York Racing Association announced Thursday afternoon.
Skip to main content
Create Your DRF Account
New to DRF?
Everything you could possibly
need in one place
need in one place
Register
Don't have an account?
Register Here
DRF Past Performances
Bets made in the three Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pools offered for this year’s running will continue to be honored for this year’s postponed race, a Churchill Downs official said on Thursday.
Churchill made the decision to keep the pari-mutuel bets in play after “numerous internal and external discussions,” according to Darren Rogers, the track’s senior director of communications. On Tuesday, Churchill postponed the Derby until Sept. 5 due to the upheaval caused by the coronavirus outbreak, raising questions about the fate of the bets in the future pools.
The horses nodding their heads over the stall webbings at their grooms in racetrack shed rows at dawn, walking to the track to gallop with exercise riders in the irons, and racing in a pack before empty grandstands have no idea about the coronavirus pandemic, as officials work to slow and halt its spread.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Derby, the race whose name is synonymous with the first Saturday in May, has been re-scheduled for the first Saturday of September on Labor Day weekend, the race’s host, Churchill Downs, announced on Tuesday morning.
The Evangeline Downs meet scheduled to open April 8 has been postponed until further notice after the Louisiana Gaming Control Board ordered a temporary closing of casinos in the state due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Boyd Gaming, the parent company of the track in Opelousas, La.
Evangeline sent out a notice of the meet’s postponement to horsemen on Monday. It also informed stable personnel and horses had to move off the grounds by 5 p.m. Central on Wednesday.
Boyd Gaming issued the following statement Monday.
Keeneland Racecourse on Monday announced the cancellation of its entire 2020 spring meeting due to health concerns about coronavirus, becoming the most prominent live racing casualty to date of the pandemic.
Keeneland made its announcement after the Center for Disease Control issued a warning last night about prohibiting gatherings of 50 people or more for the next eight weeks. Last week, Keeneland had announced plans to ban spectators at the track from April 2-11, at the very least. The meet was scheduled from April 2-24.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington will not allow spectators at its immensely popular spring meet from opening day on April 2 until at least April 11, the track announced late Thursday amidst a slew of similar cancellations for racetracks running live across the United States.
Maximum Security, the 2019 3-year-old champion and recent winner of the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup, will be moved to trainer Bob Baffert in the wake of the indictment of the horse’s trainer, Jason Servis, co-owner Gary West said in a statement released early Tuesday morning.
In the statement, West said that all of his horses will be moved from Servis “as soon as arrangements can be made with other trainers.” But he also said that the decision has already been made to send Maximum Security to Baffert.
Churchill Downs officials announced Friday that wagering on O Seraphina (No. 17) in the Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will not be accepted. The filly was reported by trainer Joe Sharp to have suffered a minor injury since an easy win in a Feb. 22 maiden race at Oaklawn Park.
The announcement was made shortly before noon Eastern, when the first of three days of wagering into the Oaks pool and Kentucky Derby Pool 3 began. The Oaks pool closes Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, 30 minutes after Pool 3 closes.