ALBANY — Golden Gate Fields was shut down Thursday by Alameda County public health officials in an ongoing effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
William Rizzuto, the racecourse’s assistant general manager, said the track is closed at least until May 3, but training will be allowed to continue.
“We’re disappointed,” Rizzuto said. “We felt like we were pretty safe. But we have to abide by what the county wants.”
Rizzuto said more than 1,200 horses are housed at Golden Gate Fields, which sits between the San Francisco Bay and I-80 in Albany. He added that about 400 people work the backstretch to take care of those racehorses. Many of them also live on site.
The track has been closed to everyone other than essential personnel since March 12. But live racing continued for online bettors.
The action Thursday follows the L.A. County Public Health Department’s decision on March 27 to temporarily close Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. Both tracks are owned by the Stronach Group, which came under scrutiny last year because of a spate of racing and training deaths at the Santa Anita track.
Golden Gate Fields joins Keeneland in Kentucky, Aqueduct in New York, Laurel in Maryland to cancel live racing.
The Kentucky Derby, America’s biggest race held on the first weekend in May, already had been postponed until Sept. 5. The Triple Crown’s other races — the Preakness (May 16) and Belmont Stakes( June 6) — have yet to decide if they also will push back their events.
The California Horse Racing Board, which governs the sport in the state, had previously stated it would rely on government health officials to guide its decisionmaking when it came to COVID-19.
“In this time of an extraordinary health crisis and pandemic, the (board) is relying on state, county and local health authorities to determine whether horse racing is deemed essential for exemption from shelter-in-place orders issued by those authorities,” the board said in a statement. “The CHRB will assist health authorities in enforcing their decisions.”
Rick Arthur, the state’s equine medical director, said in a recent board meeting that the horses didn’t need to race to stay healthy.
“It is a health consideration that they train,” he said. “These are very fit, healthy, very good feeling athletes, and you just can’t keep them in a stall. You have to get them out and train them.”
