Woodbine Mohawk Suspends Racing; Thoroughbred Training Continues

The spread of COVID-19 throughout North America has slowly been catching up with the other wide of the world and now our horse racing community is feeling the scary effects.

Woodbine Entertainment announced on Thursday (March 19) that following tonight’s card it will be temporarily suspending live harness racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park effective Friday (March 20) until further notice due to the ongoing efforts in limiting the spread of COVID-19.

“We have made the decision to suspend live racing in the best interests of the health and wellbeing of our employees, horsepeople and the larger community,” said Jim Lawson, CEO, Woodbine Entertainment. “Throughout these uncertain times, we were always prepared to take this step but implemented many precautionary measures to provide horsepeople with the opportunity to race for as long as possible.

Scroll to continue with content

“We will now shift our focus towards working with provincial agencies to provide the Standardbred horse community with financial assistance in order to support horsepeople and the essential care needed for their horses while we are not racing at Mohawk Park.”

Lawson and team tried to keep racing going in Campbellville for as long as possible, recognizing an industry that employs thousands and provides a living for not only immediate horsepeople but all of the others connected to the sport of standardbred racing.

Now those horses will remain at farms and training centres throughout Ontario while their people sit and wait. There are ideas moving around now to perhaps use purse money to help those who will not be able to race, to help them feed themselves and their horses.

At Woodbine racetrack, the strong measures in place for the backstretch, which opened three weeks ago, have, so far, been working. There are long line-ups to get into the barn area as temperatures are checked and questions answered. There are rules in place for those who look after their runners and those set to return from the US with their horses.

The meeting is scheduled to start April 18 and whether that can happen is very much in the air.

Lawson told The Canadian Press‘ Dan Ralph about a possible delay in the Woodbine season:

“I don’t know if waiting two months is any better than four or five in terms of planning. We just don’t know whether we’ll be racing at all and that’s not an alarmist or dramatic statement. It’s just the truth. When I say we’re going to look at a contingency Plan B of starting the season June 15 or July 1, I don’t say that with any conviction because I’m not sure things are going to be any better then.”

Already, some owners and trainers have been pondering contingency plans; should they ship their horses out of the backstretch to farms, will they have to?

But for the people, grooms, exercise riders, hotwalkers, assistant trainers and trainers it is a scary time. The majority have been waiting around all winter to get back to work, earning a badly needed paycheck.

The reality is, there is good reason to believe that up to 70% of the population of Ontario will have the coronavirus at some point and while it is, for the majority, a flu or bad cold, the possibility of it spreading is huge.

The work done by the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and Woodbine, under the leadership of Jim Lawson, cannot be praised enough. Many hours of conference calls, sleepless nights, endless press releases noting measures have maintained the training at Woodbine.

If horsepeople continue to follow the rules and everyone hopes for the best, perhaps training can continue. Should owners be able to afford daily training bills if the Woodbine season is delayed a couple of weeks, a month or more remains to be seen.

But for now, each and every person must be aware, be careful, be smart.