Obs Marches on As Pandemic Panic Reaches Fever Pitch
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TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2020 OBS MARCHES ON AS ON A DAY OF TURMOIL FOR SPORT, NYRA, OAKLAWN, GULFSTREAM, FAIR GROUNDS PANDEMIC PANIC REACHES ANNOUNCE SHOW WILL GO ON FEVER PITCH by Bill Finley On a day when racetracks around the world, including Keeneland, announced they would be shutting their doors due to the COVID-19 outbreak, NYRA, Oaklawn, Gulfstream and the Fair Grounds announced their intentions to continue racing. The decision by NYRA may have been the most surprising among the three as it came just hours after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a ban of gatherings of 50 people or more and that restaurants, bars, movie theaters and casinos must shut down. Cont. p7 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY RACING SUSPENDED ACROSS CONTINENTAL Buyers and sellers go about their business over EUROPE the weekend at OBS | Photos by Z With racing in Britain and Ireland continuing behind closed doors, fellow European nations on the continental mainland by Brian DiDonato & Steve Sherack are now enduring a temporary shutdown of the racing The Ocala Breeders= Sales Company will hold its two-day programme in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale Tuesday and Wednesday Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. amid unprecedented circumstances as the nation and world grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused most major events to be canceled or postponed and racing conducted without spectators, if at all. Add to that a plummeting stock market--circuit breakers were again triggered as trade opened Monday despite the Federal Reserve announcing Sunday evening that it would slash interest rates to 0% and launch a $700-billion quantitative easing program--and a doping scandal that rocked the racing world last Monday but now almost seems in the distant past, and it=s obviously difficult to know what level of trade to expect this week in Florida. In addition to breezes, pedigrees and conformation, buyers and sellers must now also attempt to handicap the future in ways they=re not accustomed to. Will there be races for these horses to run in in the late spring and summer? Some tracks have started to cease operations for at least the next couple weeks, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issuing new guidelines that recommend canceling events with more than 50 people for the next two months. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Tuesday, March 17, 2020 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Brahms (Danzig - Queena, by Mr. Prospector), a perennial leading Arkansas sire, stands tall at Arkansas State University Equine Center in Jonesboro. | Sarah Andrew Social Media Strategist Justina Severni Director of Customer Service LICHOA AMONG THOSE CHARGED IN 10 Vicki Forbes [email protected] MONEY LAUNDERING SCHEME Florida-based trainer Alfredo Lichoa is among five people who have been Marketing Manager arrested afer a money-laundering investigation that was conducted by the Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the same agency that has indicted 27 people as part of a horse-doping ring. Director of IT/Accounting Ray Villa [email protected] [email protected] KEENELAND CANCELS SPRING MEET 11 Having already canceled its 2-year-olds in training sale and subsequently announcing that racing would be conducted with no fans in attendance, WORLDWIDE INFORMATION International Editor officials at Keeneland have canceled the Spring race meeting set for Apr. 2 Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN through Apr. 24. [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 20 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • MARCH 17, 2020 OBS March Preview cont. from p1 the sale. OBS has increased its phone bid capacity, posted Races like the GI Kentucky Derby appear very much in doubt of ThoroStride virtual inspection videos for many hips, and being run in their typical calendar spots as of this writing. increased cleaning protocols in order to facilitate as much trade Will there be other 2-year-old as possible and do its best to sales this year? Keeneland mitigate the risks of a large canceled its 2-Year-Olds in gathering of people from around Training and Horses of Racing the world. Age Sale slated for Apr. 7, and "For the most part, the Fasig-Tipton followed suit by horsemen that we spoke to have canceling its Apr. 1 Gulfstream felt strongly about moving Sale of Selected 2-Year-Olds with forward with the sale," OBS current plans to add some Director of Sales Tod Gulfstream horses to its Wojciechowski said. "We've Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training gotten a lot of overwhelming Sale in mid-May and hold support in that regard. As far as another sale in Timonium in late what the sale is going to be like June. and getting a read on it, I will With the horses and consignors say that we've had plenty of already on the grounds and with people looking at horses." many buyers having already He continued, "Everybody, I Prospective buyers don protective masks at OBS | Photos by Z made the trip to Ocala for think, understands it's tenuous under-tack shows that began last Thursday--right around when circumstances, but we're all going to get through it." the realities of the Coronavirus outbreak became apparent--OBS shareholders made the tough decision to soldier on and conduct Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 20 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • MARCH 17, 2020 Ten horses shared the quickest eighth-of-a-mile breeze time of :9 4/5 during three under-tack previews held Thursday, Friday and Saturday: $ Hip 129, a The Factor colt from GOP Racing Stable Corp. Click for breeze. $ Hip 230, a Kantharos colt from Golden Rock Thoroughbreds. Click for breeze. $ Hip 289, a Run Away and Hide colt from Havens Bloodstock Agency, Inc., Agent III. Click for breeze. $ Hip 347, an Anchor Down colt from Pike Racing, Agent I. Click for breeze. $ Hip 369, an Orb colt from L. G., Agent I. Click for breeze. $ Hip 397, a Liam=s Map filly from Harris Training Center LLC, Agent IV. Click for breeze. $ Hip 417, a Ghostzapper colt from Sequel Bloodstock, Agent VI. Click for breeze. $ Hip 433, an Overanalyze filly from Golden Rock Thoroughbreds, Agent IX. Click for breeze. $ Hip 477, a Will Take Charge colt from Golden Rock Thoroughbreds. Click for breeze. $ Hip 514, a Shanghai Bobby filly from L. G., agent. Click for breeze. Hip 237, a filly by American Pharoah consigned by Ciaran Dunne=s Wavertree Stables, Inc., was the lone :20 2/5 quarter- mile breezer. Fiver more youngsters covered a quarter in :20 3/5. At the conclusion of last year=s auction, 309 head sold for $44,422,500. The average was $143,762 and median was $80,000. OBS=s official numbers have since changed to reflect subsequent post-sale transactions, as is company policy. perfect three-for-three season with a dramatic win in the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. The 2019 March Sale has also produced Reddam Racing LLC=s last-out G3 UAE 2000 Guineas winner Fore Left (Twirling Candy), who RNA=d for $145,000 from the Wavertree Stables, Inc. (Ciaran Dunne), Agent II, consignment following a :10 flat Hip 237 | Photos by Z breeze; and Koichi Nishikawa=s unbeaten Cafe Pharoah The unbeaten Structor (Palace Malice), an $850,000 OBS (American Pharoah), who rose to the top of the Japan Road to March >19 (:21 1/5) purchase by Mike Ryan on behalf of owners the GI Kentucky Derby standings with an impressive come-from- Jeff Drown and Don Rachel from the Pick View LLC, Agent II, behind victory in the Listed Hyacinth S. at Tokyo Racecourse. consignment at this sale last year, put an exclamation point on a Cont. p5 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 5 OF 20 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • MARCH 17, 2020 The latter brought $475,000 from Narvick International, agent, What They=re Saying... after breezing a quarter in :21 1/5 from the consignment of AAs crazy as it sounds, we were up [Sunday] in terms of the Eddie Woods, Agent XXI. shows we had from last year as a group. And our most popular After registering an OBS March record of $2 million at last horse, we've shown more times than our most popular one last year=s sale, Chestertown (Tapit) is entered to make his stakes year. There are plenty of people here. Everybody has that deer- debut in Saturday=s $1-million GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana in-the-headlights look like, 'What's happening?' I think if nobody Derby at Fair Grounds. The gray, consigned by Sequel panics, we'll all be ok. Bloodstock on behalf of breeders Chester and Mary Broman AFor the last 10 years, we've sold 30% of what we've after breezing an eighth in :10 1/5, is campaigned in partnership cataloged.