The 123rd season of racing at the Fort Erie track in Fort Erie, ON is still scheduled to get underway with a 4:20 p.m. post time May 26.
The track reports more than 300 stall applications, slightly more than at this time last year, for the backstretch opening Sunday April 12.
However, the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus has left Canadian and US racetracks in limbo, some having cancelled meetings or delayed openings.
It is likely that the track’s main race, the Prince of Wales Stakes, second jewel of Canada’s Triple Crown, won’t be taking place Tuesday, July 21. That is because Woodbine has announced the first jewel of the Triple Crown, the Queen’s Plate, originally scheduled for June 27, has been postponed to a date yet to be determined. The Prince of Wales is traditionally held three weeks after the Queen’s Plate.
The strict measures for accepting horsepeople and horses on the Fort Erie will be similar to that of Woodbine where horses have been stabled since the first weekend of March.
There will be no gate training or timed workouts on the one-mile dirt track until further notice but horses can be given light training.
Read more from the St. Catharines Standard here.
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