By Bloodhorse.com
ALBANY, Calif. (May 6, 2020) — After live racing was halted at Golden Gate Fields on April 2 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Northern California track has been given provisional approval by the Alameda County Health Department to resume racing May 14.
There have been no known cases of COVID-19 at Golden Gate Fields, and the track has been closed to the general public and to all but essential personnel since March 12.
Racing will be conducted under strict protocols and without spectators “to protect the health, safety, and welfare of every person and every horse in the Golden Gate Fields community,” according to a May 6 news release from the track.
“Finally, we have something to smile about,” Golden Gate-based trainer Blaine Wright said.
The protocols are still being finalized with county officials and will be released in the coming days, as will the condition book.
“It was a lot of work, but we got there in the end,” said David Duggan, Golden Gate’s general manager and vice president. “We submitted a very comprehensive plan to the Alameda County Health Department, and they were receptive to that plan last week. They were satisfied that it allowed them to reclassify us as a relatively low-risk business, per (California Gov.) Gavin Newsom’s guidelines.
“We’re in the process of sorting out the stakes races and the condition book, which will run to the end of this current meet.”
The winter/spring meeting that began in December is slated to end June 14. Racing will be conducted four days a week on a Thursday-Sunday schedule with the exception of a special Memorial Day card May 25, with the track going dark May 28.
Duggan said the signature race of the meet, the $250,00 San Francisco Mile (G3T), will be held on closing day.
“I’m very determined to keep the Mile, which is one of the great bastions of American racing,” he said. “It’s got a great history, so it’s my absolute intention to run that the last day of the meet. We’re going to do what we can to accommodate people with the remnants of the stakes schedule.”
“We think it’s an excellent development,” Greg Avioli, the president and CEO of Thoroughbred Owners of California, said of the resumption of racing. “We have lots of horses and owners in Northern California that are ready to race. I expect they will have their fullest fields in many years.
“I was just up there last week, and they made some basic improvements to the synthetic surface. Horses were training over it fantastically well. The turf course is amazing. It’s just a great time to return to racing.”
Approximately 1,200 horses are stabled at Golden Gate. Their care is provided by 400 backstretch workers, most of whom live on-site and are operating under stringent new measures for protection aligned with the best guidance from local and international health and government authorities on COVID-19.
“We’ve battled, hoping our (owners) would stay in the business and keep things rolling, which they have,” Wright said. “The best thing that happened to me is I put together a couple of 20-person (texting) threads and said, ‘Hey, they’re opening next Thursday, guys. We’re going to get our chance here.’ I think that put a lot of smiles on a lot of people’s faces.”
Trainer Jonathan Wong, who also runs horses at Santa Anita Park, another California track closed for much of the spring due to COVID-19, lost some horses who were shipped away to race in other jurisdictions during the shutdown. Still, he praised his owners for largely keeping their horses stabled at racetracks, leaving them poised to return when racing resumes.
“Everybody should be ready to run. I know my barn is ready to run. We’re excited,” he said.
Duggan said the highlight of his day was relaying the news that the track had received permission to resume racing.
“I think it’s great for the owners, trainers, and backstretch workers. The morale just lifted when I spoke to them today, and that gives me a great feeling to be able to do that,” he said.
“I’ve only been here for three years, but I’ve experienced everything in my tenure from the sublime to the absolutely ridiculous. Cancellations because of smoke, because the surrounding drains locked up and flooded the track, cancellations because of a leaking gas pipe, cancellations because of COVID-19. But I’ve been very determined since I’ve been here to bring Golden Gate Fields back into a position of relevance in the industry. This is a very legitimate racetrack. It’s in incredible condition. The turf is fabulous. We’ve got a good bunch of trainers, a nice blend of veterans with years of experience and some nice young people coming through as well. I think the product is very competitive, and that’s reflected in the figures we’ve posted in the past couple of years.”