Normalcy Returning for Racing After Year of COVID-19

A year after facing the uncertainty of when racing would fully resume and stable areas would reopen to transfer horses between racetracks amid COVID-19, horsemen are largely hopeful for what this spring will bring.

Last week, Churchill Downs opened its backstretch for its meet that begins in late April, and training is taking place there, as it is at Keeneland, about 70 miles down the road.

The two major Kentucky tracks are not alone in terms of being back on schedule. Except for Woodbine—a Canadian track whose meet that begins April 17 remains in jeopardy due to COVID-19 protocols in Ontario—major North American racetracks are cleared to operate under their customary racing schedules. Fans can even attend racing at some tracks, though in a reduced capacity to adhere to social distancing.

"It looks like we're getting back to some normalcy," trainer Bret Calhoun said in a telephone interview. "You can see the racing schedule getting back to more of a normal schedule, like everybody's kind of back on board with their race dates and races that were dropped last year—lack of funding purses, whatever. Racing is starting to come back, and you can start pointing to spots. Last year, so much was unknown.

"With that being said, this past year, the racing industry's done an unbelievable job to keep it going. And not only survive but be able to hold their own, and we've maybe gained some new fans with all the account wagering. So, obviously a lot of negative things over the course of a year like that, but there was a lot of positive to come out of it, that we've gained a whole new group of fans."

Those fans will be in the seats for opening day at Keeneland, April 2. General tickets went on sale March 24, and by midafternoon, the track had already sold out Fridays and Saturdays for its spring meet that runs through April 23.

Last year's spring meet at Keeneland was scrapped with the pandemic's onset, though the Lexington track later added a boutique, week-long summer season. Churchill Downs delayed the opening of its backstretch until May and began running May 16, about three weeks behind schedule. The Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) was postponed until Sept. 5 and was run without paid attendance.

The spring shutdown left a void of racing in the Bluegrass State for almost two months after Turfway Park ceased racing on March 21, 2020. Over this inactive period, Kentucky-based trainer Tommy Drury did not run a single horse. A limited number of tracks, led by Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park, continued to race in late March and April of 2020.

"There was just so much uncertainty at the time," Drury said March 23 while observing training on the Churchill Downs backstretch, where he was among a handful of trainers with horses on the grounds. "Obviously we know we don't have horse racing without the owners. We were getting a little panicked and not sure what the future was gonna hold and it was scary. I don't remember ever in my career being so concerned, you know, so concerned over the future of horse racing. We've always had bumps in the road, but all of a sudden, these tracks just stopped."

Drury recovered from the suspension of racing, even enjoyed a breakthrough year. On the second day of the delayed Churchill Downs spring meet May 17, he won an allowance optional claiming race with Art Collector, a colt he had been tasked to prepare over the pandemic by owner/breeder Bruce Lunsford.

He was asked to continue training the horse. A couple of months later, during Keeneland's summer meet, the Bernardini  colt won the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2), giving the trainer, now a winner of 487 races, his first graded stakes victory.

Currently, he's also training his 2-year-old half brother, Legionnaire. On Tuesday, Drury welcomed the Lunsford-owned son of Into Mischief  into his Churchill Downs stable.

"He's been in Ocala with Robbie Harris, who does a fantastic job," Drury said. "They breezed him a few times down there, and they like what they're seeing. So, hopefully, we can pick up where they left off."

This spring, Drury's allotment of stalls at Churchill Downs has grown to 12 horses, up from four last year. The trainer also keeps 50 horses stabled at Skylight Training Center in Goshen, Ky.

He has also received a barn upgrade at Churchill, with a grazing area alongside his barn 18 stable, which was memorably used by the late Lynn Whiting, trainer of 1992 Derby winner Lil E. Tee.

Art Collector is set to join his younger half sibling at the barn later in the month after being freshened after an eighth-place finish in the roughly run Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland Nov. 7. On the mend from bone bruising, he is in light training at Kesmarc near Versailles, Ky.

"We'll let him get ready at his pace. Plenty of summer races for him," Drury said.

Training activity at Churchill and Keeneland is expected to pick up over the next 10 days following meet completions at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans and Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

Many horses from Florida also begin traveling northward in late March, around the Curlin Florida Derby Presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa (G1) at Gulfstream March 27.

Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse said he was set to begin shipping horses from New Orleans March 24, and some of his horses from South Florida would leave March 26. As usual, he plans a presence in Kentucky, where assistant David Carroll oversees his stable.

Casse has grade 1 winner Got Stormy, now owned by My Racehorse CA and Spendthrift Farm, pointed for the Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2T) at Churchill on Derby Day, May 1, the same afternoon the trainer hopes to run D. J. Stable's Helium in the Run for the Roses. The latter, winner of the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) at Tampa Bay Downs March 6, will not be one of Casse's initial Kentucky arrivals.

"He'll stay in South Florida. He's thriving at Palm Meadows. I wouldn't want to take that away from him," Casse said by telephone. "My plan is to get him to Churchill probably about three weeks out. I would want to put one serious breeze in him, probably about two weeks out from the Derby. "

In the meantime, Casse is hopeful for racing to proceed as scheduled at Woodbine, where he has long raced. He is a multiple Sovereign Award winner in Canada.

Track leaders and horsemen there continue to work to convince politicians that spectatorless racing does not pose a larger health risk than training and stabling, permitted activities considered essential. This is the same argument many American racetracks had to make last year to health departments and politicians before racing eventually took place last spring and summer without fans.

Woodbine was forced to end its meet early last year after Toronto entered a gray "lockdown" phase of COVID-19 related restrictions. Standardbred racing is underway at nearby Mohawk Park, located in a zone with fewer restrictions.

"I tell you who I feel bad for—not me, not one iota. It's the Canadian horsemen. They got shut down early. I mean it's ridiculous. I don't know how they are surviving," Casse said. "Like I said, for me and our owners, it's a setback, but for the Canadian horse trainers and horse owners and jockeys and everything, this could be devastating."