WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2020 SURGE IN JOCKEY VIRUS GEROUX LATEST JOCKEY TO TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 by Bill Finley POSITIVES MET WITH SLEW Jockey Florent Geroux has joined a growing list of prominent jockeys who have tested positive for the coronavirus. OF NEW RESTRICTIONS Geroux was scheduled to ride Wednesday at Canterbury Park and had to take a test before he would be allowed to ride there. He took the test Monday and came up positive. AI don=t really have any symptoms,@ Georux said. AI was a little bit tired Monday, but I had a long week last week. I didn=t have any shortness of breath or anything like that.@ In less than a week, jockeys Luis Saez, Martin Garcia, Victor Espinoza, Flavien Prat, Eduard Rojas Fernandez and now Geroux have tested positive. Other than Geroux, the jockeys all rode at Los Alamitos and Saez, Garcia, Espinoza and Prat all rode at the Southern California track July 4. Cont. p9 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Coady VAUCELLES SWOOPS IN MALLERET Vaucelles (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) captured the G2 Prix de Malleret by T.D. Thornton at ParisLongchamp on Tuesday. Click or tap here to go straight A surge in positive coronavirus tests among jockeys was met to TDN Europe. on Tuesday with a flurry of new movement-related restrictions at Thoroughbred tracks from coast to coast in an effort to keep the pandemic from spreading further. For the industry in general, any sizable spike in COVID-19 positives among participants will almost certainly trigger another wave of racetrack shutdowns. But for jockeys specifically, the balance of maintaining safety under pandemic precautions often comes down to treading a fine line between protecting one=s health versus protecting one=s livelihood. Since the end of June, jockeys Luis Saez, Martin Garcia, Victor Espinoza, Flavien Prat, Gerard Melancon and Eduard Rojas Fernandez have all been added to the fast-growing list of North American riders who have publicly acknowledged positive tests for COVID-19. On Tuesday morning those reinsmen were joined by Florent Geroux, who posted on Twitter and subsequently told TDN he got a positive coronavirus test on July 13 and is symptom-free, but now self-quarantining at home. Los Alamitos Race Course, which raced from June 26 through July 5, was a common-denominator site among at least five of those positives, including Saez, Garcia, Espinoza and Prat, who all rode at the southern California track July 4. 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 Wednesday, July 15, 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 The Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing age sale, the first in-person sale in Kentucky since February, is in the books. The TDN's Katie Ritz was on hand to gauge the action and the Photographer/Photo Editor reaction. Click the photo above to watch the video. Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] Social Media Strategist LANNI STRIKES EARLY FOR SHACKLEFORD FILLY 5 Justina Severni Agent Donato Lanni struck early with a session-topping final $375,000 bid for Director of Customer Service a filly by Shackleford at the OBS July sale Tuesday. Vicki Forbes [email protected] DUTROW FORCED TO WITHDRAW LICENSE REQUEST Marketing Manager 8 Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen Rick Dutrow Jr. faced another setback Tuesday after the Kentucky Horse Racing License Review Committee voted unanimously to allow Dutrow to Director of IT/Accounting withdraw his application for a training license. Ray Villa [email protected] [email protected] THE SHOW MUST GO ON FOR NEW VOCATIONS 11 Thoroughbred aftercare programs have seen an increase in demand with WORLDWIDE INFORMATION the onset of COVID-19, while funding has failed to keep pace. Katie Ritz International Editor offers a closer look at the New Vocations Adoption Program and its Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] progress during the pandemic. 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) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 15 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • JULY 15, 2020 Surge in Jockey Positives..cont. from p1 AAs we=re finding out, jocks are very essential,@ Meyocks said. Some of those virus-positive jockeys then collectively went on AAnd at some tracks, they don=t think so. Again, there=s no to ride at Belmont Park, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Keeneland leadership in our industry to say you=ve got to do X, Y, and Z. Race Course, Indiana Grand and Prairie Meadows before That=s a shame, and that=s why we=re at where we=re at today. learning of their positive tests. AWe need minimal standards,@ Meyocks said. AIt doesn=t have The New York Racing Association (NYRA), which is scheduled to be the extent that Santa Anita went through [with jockeys to open the Saratoga Race mandated to live on-site in Course meet on Thursday, trailers during racing weighed in on Tuesday with days]. But there have to the most prominent change be minimum standards. in protocols in response to We=ve been working on the COVID-19 uptick. this since March. I don=t In a press release, NYRA know if people just got lax announced that AUntil or just didn=t think it was further notice, Saratoga needed. Race Course will be closed ANobody should be to out-of-town jockeys. In allowed in the jocks= room addition, any member of [without having passed the regular NYRA jockey standardized protocols],@ colony who travels to ride Meyocks said. ANot only at any other racetrack will for jockeys, but the clerk not be permitted to return of scales, the assistant to Saratoga Race Course.@ clerk of scales, the [silks] On the opposite coast, at Saratoga Racecourse | Sarah Andrew person. Everybody in the Del Mar, most of the local jocks= room should be jockey colony underwent newly required COVID-19 testing on tested and [kept] spread apart. At Gulfstream, they had seven Tuesday morning, according to Darrell Haire, the western different places [for personnel]. Keeneland had six the other regional manager of the Jockeys' Guild. day.@ Haire told TDN there are ongoing Aheavy discussions@ between Meyocks continued: AWe talk about social distancing. Spread jockeys and track management about additional protocol out the room--no steam room, no sauna. And tracks haven=t adjustments that could be put in place before the next day of done it. I=m not going to name names [of non-compliant tracks], racing July 17. but you just can=t do it that way. There have to be minimum Also Tuesday, updated health precautions and jockey standards if they want to continue racing.@ movement restrictions were unveiled by the Maryland Jockey Haire said that on the SoCal circuit, where the riders have Club, the Ohio State Racing Commission, and Ellis Park. shifted from Santa Anita to Los Al to Del Mar over the course of AIt=s so fluid right now,@ Terence Meyocks, the president and about a month, the protocols for riders and testing were not chief executive officer of the Jockeys' Guild, told TDN. ANot only standardized. in New York, but the rest of the country with what=s developed Haire said at Santa Anita, jockeys were mandated to be tested in the last 72 hours. We thought we had protocols in place, but every Wednesday. There was no testing at the Los Al meet, he then there were more positives.@ said, just required masking and social distancing. At Del Mar, Meyocks said that the non-uniform handling of coronavirus Haire said coronavirus testing for jockeys just began several days protocols from track to track is yet another example of how the ago after the meet had already started July 10 without that industry=s fragmented, state-by-state regulatory structure requirement. complicates an already complex and dangerous situation. AAs we speak, the riders were just tested at Del Mar, so AAs I=ve said before, our industry doesn=t work well together,@ they=re taking the precautions now because of what happened,@ Meyocks said. AAnd this is one case where [protocols] need to Haire said Tuesday. AAnd right now, the riders, for the last two work and we=ve all got to be on the same page. It=s not only the mornings, haven=t been getting on horses at Del Mar. That was a jocks, but the backside, the grooms, the horsemen, and policy from Del Mar, and we=ve been back and forth working everybody back there. It=s very difficult with people close closely with them to make it as safe as possible for the riders." together. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 15 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • JULY 15, 2020 Cont. been closed and will remain closed through the end of the meet. In New York, the Saratoga restrictions are aimed at proactively AJockeys and valets are not permitted access to the barn area. warding off virus penetration into the riding colony before the In order to work a horse in the morning, the jockey must meet meet begins.