Cuomo Urged to Allow Spectatorless Racing at Belmont

A group of state and local officials from New York City, Long Island, and the Saratoga Springs area is urging New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to let racing resume at Belmont Park by the end of May.

The New York Racing Association has made the pitch to racing regulators that racing can commence safely at Belmont because no fans would be permitted onto the grounds, and it would take only an additional 60 workers to resume racing beyond the 1,200 people already regularly at the track for horse training ongoing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The request to Cuomo, in two separate letters May 11 and May 12, comes as the governor is set to partially reopen the economies of several less-populated upstate regions May 15. It could be well into June or later before attractions like Belmont, located in downstate's outbreak areas, might otherwise open under a restart formula Cuomo is embracing for different types of sectors of the economy in 10 regions of the state.

Four state senators and two members of the Assembly—all represent districts in which Belmont is located or nearby—wrote Cuomo to say they believe a plan by NYRA for racing at Belmont to be restarted can be done "without creating a virus outbreak among the workers.''

"Each of our districts are closely tied to Belmont Park and we share a great fondness for this historic jewel in our midst,'' wrote the lawmakers—New York Sens. Anna Kaplan, Todd Kaminsky, Leroy Comrie, Joseph Addabbo, and Assembly members Michaelle Solages and Stacey Pheffer Amato. Addabbo, a Queens Democrat, is chair of the Senate's racing, gaming, and wagering committee.

A similar letter was sent to Cuomo by officials and business executives from Saratoga Springs, including Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, Sen. Daphne Jordan, Saratoga Springs Mayor Meg Kelly, as well as the owners of a local gift shop, town supervisor, and CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds.

A spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission, which regulates the racing industry, declined comment on the push by NYRA and the lawmakers to restart Belmont.

Racing industry insiders in New York wish to resume live racing at Belmont for a host of reasons. Among them: adding Belmont races to live wagering signals around the nation and world to help bring revenues back to the industry, its workers, and investors will provide a model, if successful and done without jeopardizing public health, for the major NYRA crown this summer, the prestigious Saratoga Race Course meet, which NYRA has already floated could be done without fans in attendance.

"Why are public and private sector leaders from Saratoga County reaching out to you regarding Thoroughbred racing at Belmont?" the Saratoga officials wrote Cuomo. Besides the direct Belmont economic impact, the Saratoga officials wrote: "Once the protocols have been proven successful at Belmont, this will again lay the groundwork for shifting racing, preferably with fans but again without fans as necessary, to Saratoga for the summer meet.''

According to a NYRA document obtained by Blood-Horse, a Belmont reopening would:

• Restrict entry to the track only for people required to be present under the rules of New York racing. There are now about 1,200 people working at Belmont for training, most of whom—unlike with other professional sports—already reside at the track. Another 60 or so people—from jockeys to state racing stewards to camera operators—would be needed if racing is resumed.
• Require anyone entering the grounds to get their temperature checked and answer various health questions and practice a variety of social distancing and health rules, such as the wearing of masks.
• Keep closed a number of common areas at the track, such as the track kitchen for more than just to-go food.
• Expand existing COVID-19 testing offerings for people at the track and maintain health protocols already in place since the state permitted training at the track, including hand-washing stations, availability of digital thermometers, and 14-day quarantine procedures for track workers who test positive for the virus.
• Require the cleaning and disinfection of jockeys' rooms between each race and imposition of new social distancing rules in those rooms.

NYRA maintains it already has experience running a safe workplace at Belmont.

"The effectiveness of these protocols has been demonstrated over the past seven weeks as NYRA has been able to effectively contain the spread of the virus since the first positive case on March 19,'' said the letter to Cuomo on Kaplan's letterhead.

One backstretch worker, Martin Zapata, died April 7 from the virus. Five others were hospitalized since the coronavirus outbreak began to ravage New York City and Nassau County in early March, but all have been released. A May 13 New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association newsletter reported 18 workers in quarantine and 47 who have been released from quarantine. In an April 26 report, NYTHA listed 20 active cases and 30 released from quarantine.

The letter sent by the Long Island senator noted that live racing without spectators has been done successfully in other tracks around the country, as well as by NYRA at Aqueduct Racetrack in the days before the state shut down all but certain "essential" businesses.

"Viewership of horse racing in March and April is up 206% over the same time in 2019,'' the Long Island and Queens lawmakers wrote in the joint letter to Cuomo. They noted the vast majority of wagering on horse racing in New York is already from off-track outlets.

A resumption of racing is needed, they said, to help owners pay for the costs of their horses and employees. They said funding training at Belmont will become "unsustainable" at some point without live racing restored. "The horses will then either be shipped out of state to race elsewhere, shipped back to the trainer's farm to save costs, or abandoned because the owner no longer has the resources to cover the costs of caring for their animal,'' the lawmakers wrote.

In the letter sent by Woerner and signed by the Saratoga County officials and business executives, Cuomo was asked to restart racing at Belmont "and later Saratoga" with an assurance that live racing can be done in a way "without creating a virus outbreak among the workers that can spread to the broader community.''