Despite coronavirus lockdown, horses were still racing at Sacramento’s Cal Expo. Until now
The NBA and Major League Baseball shut down weeks ago because of the coronavirus pandemic, March Madness was canceled and the Kentucky Derby has been postponed to September.
But the horses were still racing at Cal Expo.
Until Wednesday.
Peter Beilenson, Sacramento County’s health director, said Wednesday he ordered a halt of harness racing at Cal Expo to stem the spread of COVID-19. Beilenson said he notified Cal Expo officials of his decision less than two hours before a series of races was set to begin Wednesday afternoon.
The Cal Expo racetrack had been closed to the public since mid-March but harness racing was continuing for offtrack betting, in which fans place bets from remote locations. According to the website US Racing, Cal Expo was the last harness track still operating in the country as venues closed due to COVID-19.
Beilenson said he told Cal Expo to stop racing because of the health risks.
“The drivers are within a couple of feet of each other and obviously could be breathing on each other,” the county health director said. He said track employees will be allowed to remain at the facility to care for the 300 horses at Cal Expo “as long as they practice the correct distancing.”
It wasn’t immediately clear why Cal Expo was still running races up through Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Beilenson issued a “stay at home” order March 19 that shuttered all non-essential activities in the county. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a similar order for the whole state the same day.
Margaret Mohr, Cal Expo’s deputy general manager for marketing, referred all questions to Golden Bear Racing LLC, which has the contract to operate the harness racing meet at the state-owned facility.
Christopher Schick, Golden Bear’s principal, told The Sacramento Bee that he’d been told “we were exempted” from the county’s original shutdown order on the grounds that racing wasn’t spreading the disease.
“We were closed to the public, we were practicing social distancing,” he said. But he acknowledged that the drivers weren’t always able to maintain six feet of space. “There are points in the race when the field bunches up,” he said.
Although the racing season only had seven dates left, he said roughly 100 drivers, trainers and other employees are affected by Beilenson’s order. “These horsemen have nowhere to go right now,” he said.
US Racing reported that racetrack officials in California convinced Newsom to allow several tracks to continue holding races without public spectators. They argued that racing posed little risk and that someone had to look after the horses, anyway.
Newsom’s spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment, but local officials have closed at least one of the tracks besides Cal Expo. Late last week Santa Anita Racetrack was ordered closed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
The California Horse Racing Board, which regulates the sport, didn’t order closures because the board took the position that “health authorities have jurisdiction in these matters,” said spokesman Mike Marten.