Indiana Grand Halts Racing Relocations From Lone Star

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Photo: Coady Photography
Horse racing at Indiana Grand

Indiana Grand has halted the transfer of all jockeys, exercise riders, and grooms from Lone Star Park to the racing program in Indiana, the Shelbyville, Ind., track announced July 6, citing recent news of several positive tests for COVID-19 at Lone Star.

Effective immediately, Indiana Grand will follow Center for Disease Control guidelines and will not allow anyone from the above racing category currently working and racing at Lone Star onto the property due to potential exposure risks. All individuals wishing to relocate to Indiana racing will be required to quarantine for 14 days. At the conclusion of the quarantine period, participants will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test before they will be allowed on the grounds at Indiana Grand.

The decision to prevent participants coming from Lone Star into Indiana is a result of a group effort between Indiana Grand, the horsemen's organizations, and the Indiana Horse Racing Commission to provide due diligence for the safety of all those currently racing at Indiana Grand.

Lone Star, located in Grand Prairie, Texas, near Dallas, announced July 5 on Twitter that is had suspended all racing until further notice. The action came following Lone Star's first race Sunday. The rest of the card as canceled.

"Due to an abundance of caution, all racing operations at Lone Star Park have been suspended due to #COVID19," the tweet read. "Racing will resume at a date to be determined."

The state of Texas has recently seen a spike in COVID-19 cases, prompting Gov. Greg Abbott to issue a statewide face covering mandate July 2 for all counties with 20 or more positive cases.