NYRA Making Safety a Priority at Belmont Park

When it comes to opening a racetrack with a laser-like focus on safety for the equine athletes, Glen Kozak has extensive experience.

When you add to that mix instituting safety measures for the men and women working at the racetrack, for him and everyone else at Belmont Park, it's the new reality of living in a world battling the spread of COVID-19.

As senior vice president of operations and capital projects for the New York Racing Association, Kozak has played in a key role in NYRA's teaming with the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and organizations such as the New York Race Track Chaplaincy and Backstretch Employee Service Team to create a safe working environment for the backstretch community at Belmont Park for the last three months.

Now, with Belmont Park set to open June 3 for NYRA's first day of racing since March 15, Kozak is coordinating a team effort to conduct racing in a manner unseen in the 115-year history of the Elmont, N.Y., racetrack.

"Everything has worked out well so far," Kozak said, "but there's a lot of boxes to check."

While racing without fans in attendance will be something new on the famed grounds of Belmont Park, for the essential personnel who have been caring for the horses stabled there since racing was suspended in mid-March, many of the protocols have become commonplace and a new way of life.

Wearing masks, temperature checks, washing, and sanitizing their hands and maintaining social distancing have already been embraced by workers and have kept the backstretch as safe as possible. Though Martin Zapata, a worker for trainer Tom Morley, passed away April 7 after being stricken with the coronavirus, and the surrounding Long Island and New York City areas have been bludgeoned by COVID-19 more than anywhere else in the nation, none of Belmont's backstretch workers are currently hospitalized with the virus.

"We have had real compliance with masks and mask use, and the level of cleaning you're seeing is beyond anything we've ever experienced. (As of May 29) we have only six positives for COVID-19 and over 70 people have recovered from it and no one is in the hospital. Those are stats we are proud of," NYTHA president Joe Appelbaum said. "I have to credit all of the professionalism we have seen, all the way from the hotwalkers and grooms right up to the trainers, to the NYRA staff, the NYTHA staff, the chaplaincy, and BEST and everyone else."

Backstretch protocols recently enacted by NYRA will remain in place throughout the meet, with essential workers needing to have their credentials checked and temperature taken and recorded before they can enter the grounds.

Owners are not considered essential personnel and cannot be on the backside or inside the facility during racing.

In getting the facility ready for Wednesday's resumption of racing, some of the small but vital elements include setting up sanitizing stations, putting up signage to explain the new protocols and marking off safe distances in areas where people may gather. 

Beyond all of that, for Kozak and his staff a main challenge has been preparing Belmont Park for the return of jockeys and essential frontside side staff such as racing office personnel, stewards, and camera operators.

One of the silver linings in having a limited number of workers in the massive facility is that Kozak was able to create expanded room for jockeys and their valets so that they can maintain social distancing throughout the day.

To keep the riders safely apart, the jockeys' room has been restructured to fit just 12 riders, with the rest getting newly created space in nearby areas and vacant rooms.

As for the new protocols, in order to ride at the meet jockeys must present either a negative COVID-19 test taken within five days prior to Wednesday or a positive antibody test, and they will be screened daily with a temperature check.

Visiting jockeys from other circuits will be allowed to ride once they present the proper testing evidence, but they will be isolated from Belmont's resident jockeys.

Though jockeys and their agents will not be allowed on the backstretch beginning Wednesday, they can work horses in the morning, provided those horses are brought to them in the paddock.

Like everyone else inside the facility, masks must be worn by jockeys at all times, though they can lower them from their mouth and nose during the actual running of races.

For horsemen, only a groom and a trainer or an assistant, will be allowed in the paddock, where stalls will continue to be used for saddling.

Kozak said trainers will also be allowed in the standing area circling the paddock before claiming races so they can inspect a horse before submitting a claim slip.

There were only three days of racing at Aqueduct Racetrack without fans (March 13-15) before the winter meet was ultimately canceled, but those few days provided Kozak with some beneficial experience in preparing a racetrack for operation during the pandemic.

"A lot of the stuff we've been doing lately in the building and the barn area has been refining the plan that has been in place for the last 10 weeks," Kozak said, "and those three days at Aqueduct were also extremely helpful. We figured out what kind of staffing levels we needed and how to create social distancing for the people who had to be here. We also started working with an outside cleaning company and began cleaning items like handrails, doorknobs, elevator buttons. We'll be using that same company at Belmont to sanitize the jockeys room and other heavily trafficked areas and we will also rely on our own staff to keep the building safe and clean."

It will surely be a new twist on racing at a historic venue and it may take some people a bit of time to get used to some of the restrictions, but given the inactivity since March 15, it's an odds-on bet there will be plenty of smiles behind those masks Wednesday afternoon.

"Racing your horse over the next few weeks is going to be a different experience than anyone has ever seen in the past, but it's baby steps," Appelbaum said. "It shows we can operate while keeping people healthy. It shows we can operate in a safe and responsible manner; not just showing the Health Department or the governor that, but showing ourselves that too. I think the protocols are well designed. We all need to keep being professionals and keep doing our jobs. So what if you have to wear a mask? We can either work together as a community or who knows what will happen to our business."