Penn National to Race June 19, Parx Gets Green Light

Three months after racing was halted in Pennsylvania due to COVID-19, racing there is nearing a return. According to horsemen's representatives, racing has been approved at Penn National Race Course beginning June 19 and Parx Racing has been given the green light to resume from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Todd Mostoller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, said Penn National will race twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays for a three-week period before moving to three nights a week. Racing will take place under the same daily purse structure as before operations were suspended in mid-March.

"We have had horses that during the pandemic have left the backside," Mostoller said. "So our thought process is we race for two days a week until, one, there is some confidence that we will continue and two, horses will have returned to the backside before we get to three days a week. We're excited to get back to business. We're cautiously optimistic this thing is behind us."

A reopening date for Parx, which last conducted racing March 10, has not been established, but a June 10 tweet by the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association said that Parx had been given "the green light to commence live racing."

"I'm talking with the management of the track about how long they are going to need to implement (protocols) because they had furloughed all of their employees," PTHA president Sal DeBunda said June 11. "They have to get them trained for the COVID-19. So we're working out how long they need to do that and what that date will be. I think the outside date would be the 22nd (of June). I'm trying to do it sometime next week."

Spectatorless racing will take place at Parx three days a week, Mondays through Wednesday, with a diminished daily purse distribution of $180,000 per day, down from its usual $250,000, and owners would not initially be allowed to attend, DeBunda said. Parx supplements purses with revenue from its casino, which has been closed during the pandemic.

"There will be no claiming (races), initially, because they don't want people huddled around the paddock, looking at horses," he said of required health protocols.

The track's annual break of racing for a portion of August will not take place. Parx largely runs year-round.

The Parx stakes schedule has not been finalized, DeBunda said. The Pennsylvania Derby (G1) and Cotillion Stakes (G1) are its major races and were run Sept. 21 last year. Their customary placement on the calendar this year might not be possible or put it in conflict with a postponed Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), now set for Sept. 5, and the Preakness Stakes (G1), slated for Oct. 3. 

Racing at Presque Isle Downs, another track in the state, is farther on the horizon. The track never opened its backside this spring as a result of the pandemic, and horses still need to ship into the facility before racing can resume. Erie County, in which the track is located, still remains in the "yellow" phase under Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's reopening plans for the state amid COVID-19. Counties in the "green" phase do not operate under as many health restrictions.

Mostoller, disappointed to not yet see Erie in the green phase due to a limited number of recent COVID-19 positives in the area, said he reached out to Presque Isle management to open its backside in early July because many Presque Isle horsemen typically come to the track from Tampa Bay Downs. The Tampa meet ends July 1 and horses must vacate the Tampa backstretch by July 6, a message on the Tampa Bay Downs overnight indicates.

"We don't want a situation where (horsemen) have to ship to somewhere else because our backside isn't open," Mostoller said.