Lone Star Park Closed Until at Least July 19

Lone Star Park, which suspended racing after the first race July 5 after being notified an employee involved in racing operations tested positive for COVID-19, is expected to be closed until at least July 19, according to the racing office staff person and a Texas Racing Commission spokesperson.

Racing Secretary Tim Williams, reached via telephone late morning July 14, said he was readying to conduct a post position draw and was unavailable for comment. Messages left for Lone Star Park officials were not returned.

As of 4:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, the track had not updated its Twitter or Facebook posts since July 8 and its website stated on its home page that "We're Open for Simulcast" without mentioning live racing.

"The most recent information we have is that they will not conduct live racing until at least" Sunday, said Robert Elrod, public information officer for the Texas Racing Commission.

Besides the Sunday card, entries have been taken at Lone Star for July 20-21. Four stakes that were lost July 5 when the card was canceled after the first race are listed on the July 21 overnight as "extra" races for July 22.

Amid fluid health and safety conditions related to COVID-19, entries to races at Lone Star do not guarantee those races will be run. The aforementioned stakes were part of a Tuesday card this week that was scrapped, as was racing July 15.

Texas has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, prompting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to close bars and issue other health directives. There have been more than 275,000 confirmed cases in Texas and in excess of 3,300 deaths attributed to COVID-19.

Lone Star's season kicked off a delayed season May 22 and was set to run through Aug. 11.