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Riders Up Documentary Takes Look Behind Scenes at “First Sports Bubble”

As the realities of the coronavirus started to spread across California and the country, the team at Santa Anita wasn’t sure how to prepare for what could have quickly escalated into a dire situation for the track and the sport. But what began as a scramble of sorts led to a well-coordinated plan. Racing would successfully return to the historic Southern California track and with an innovative wrinkle. During the racing week, the jockeys were required to live in a bubble in campers situated on track. What might at first have seemed to be an imposition quickly turned into a collegial summer camp for the riders.

“If you have to do something like this, this is the way to do it. I’d like to say life in quarantine is pretty tough, but I’d be lying like crazy,” jockey Mike Smith says.

Santa Anita was shut down by the coronavirus following the Mar. 22 card but returned May 15 and the meet was completed without any serious setbacks. How it did so is the subject of the entertaining documentary from NBC Sports Network “Riders Up. The First Sports Bubble.” (Click here for a preview.)

While horse racing has figured out how to operate during a global pandemic, that wasn’t the case when COVID-19 started to upend life as we know it. As “Riders Up” begins, the management team at Santa Anita is considering the worst-case scenarios

“We started seeing the news day by day get worse and we realized businesses were going to start being put out of business for the time being,” said Stronach Group Executive Director of California Operations Aidan Butler. “Unlike any other business, the racetrack is like a town. Eight hundred people live here. Eighteen hundred horses live here. It’s not like any other business. That was the realization that we could have a real crisis on our hands. A little bit of panic set in across the group here.”

This was a case where panic turned into the mother of invention.

“At that point it was ‘What are we going to do?'” Butler said. “We have to make a decision here. We can start to ask animals to leave here and people to start to get out and try to get it to an amount that was controllable or double down and try to get her open as quick as we could.”

The horses and the backstretch community were the easy part. There was plenty of room to accommodate them and because the horses needed to be cared for, there was never any serous question about allowing the backstretch workers to continue on as normal. The jockeys were the bigger issue. Should they be brought back and then, had some of them tested positive, racing would have likely had to be shut down again. It was decided to house them on track in RV’s that were normally used on movie and television sets that had been closed due to the pandemic.

“We built a small city in a matter of a week,” said Senior Vice President and Assistant General Manager Nate Newby.

Santa Anita’s bubble would be the first of its kind in sports, a precursor to what the NBA and the NHL would do with their players once they resumed playing.

“I certainly had concerns,” Smith said. “What’s going to happen? Are we going to be close to everybody? Are we going to be piled into a room all together? Is it going to be a little bit scary?”

Understanding that confinement can be stifling, Santa Anita set out to make things as enjoyable as possible for the jockeys. With Butler and Newby acting as head counselors, there was a 50th birthday party for veteran Aaron Gryder, karaoke, poker, movie night and group dinners. The jockeys, who usually go their separate way after the races are over, bonded.

“It was a great time being with the guys,” jockey Edwin Maldonado said. “Like being in a man cave.”

It worked. By the time the meet ended without further interruption on June 21, over 1,000 COVID-19 tests had been administered to jockeys and essential employees. Not one jockey or racing employee tested positive.

Riders Up will air Friday on NBC Sports Network at 3 p.m. PT and will be shown again Saturday at 9:30 a.m. PT. It was produced by the Hennegan Brothers.RIdTTaea

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Fall Steeplechase Schedule, Starting Oct. 4, to Be Livestreamed

The National Steeplechase Association (NSA) announced Tuesday that the fall season’s first sanctioned race meet, The Foxfield Fall Races, will take place Sunday, Oct. 4 in Charlottesville, VA. While the races will run without spectators and under strict health and safety protocols, the NSA will livestream the races, feature commentary from the industry’s experts and strong competition by steeplechasing’s top horsemen.

In making the announcement, NSA President Al Griffin said, “This year has provided plenty of challenges for our sport, yet we continue to persevere. Despite the onerous regulations and protocols, we were able to run all of our races at Saratoga for the first time in a long while. We are in the process of indoctrinating a great group of young jockeys to American Steeplechasing this fall. Everyone is stepping up and making the most of our limited opportunities. Our fall live streaming opportunity is due to the generosity of our sponsors: Brown Advisory, Charleston Post and Courier Newspaper, Bruton Street (Charlie Fenwick, Charlie Noell, Mike Hankin) and The Virginia Equine Alliance. This unprecedented support will allow us all to view steeplechasing at a time when spectators are not allowed at the race meets.”

Steeplechasing enthusiasts are encouraged to livestream here at 12:30 p.m. EST. The races offer opportunities for a broad swath of the steeplechase community’s horses in training.

The Foxfield Fall Races will feature seven races with the sport’s prominent owner/trainer/jockey teams in the field. Although the races will be run without spectators, NSA owners and other essential horsemen and officials will be allowed on the property.

For more information about the National Steeplechase Association and the fall schedule, click here.

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UK Jockeys Benefit Addition to Elite Traveller Exemption Protocols

Following a submission to Public Health England, there is now an addition to the British Horseracing Authority’s Elite Traveller Exemption (ETE) protocols for elite sportspeople and essential support staff, which is effective immediately. The ETE applies for frequent travellers for competition in a country not covered by the travel corridor exemption, thus jockeys, trainers and stable staff who make frequent trips abroad for competition at COVID-19 secure venues in non-exempt countries may choose to register for a “Frequent Private Traveller” (FPT) option. This ruling will directly benefit the jockeys, trainers and stable staff who will be engaged at the two-day G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting at ParisLongchamp on Oct. 3-4.

The FPT programme requires weekly testing and daily post-travel monitoring with the BHA Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Jerry Hill, individuals who travel to compete at international venues on day-trips and via private transport will be exempt from the full period of self-isolation on their return. Following their return to the UK, all personnel participating in this programme must self-isolate for seven days and are only exempt from this condition to train or compete. For the new FPT option to apply, individuals must register with Dr. Hill at least four days before their first trip abroad.

Individuals who travel under this scheme will be monitored for a minimum of 21 days and will include:

Weekly COVID-19 test organised through BHA Medical Department funded by the applicant with the first test result returned prior to initial trip abroad. A minimum of three tests will be required under this scheme with two taking place after any trip.
Daily reporting of symptoms and temperature to the BHA CMA in the seven days after return from travel. Reporting will require the download of the BHA Smartabase Athlete Ap to allow reporting automatically via a smartphone.

The above protocols are in addition to the existing racecourse requirements for behind closed doors racing in Britain. Any positive tests will require immediate self-isolation for 10 days pending further investigation. For the full travel restriction details, go to www.britishhorseracing.com.

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Curtain Up For Ireland’s Flagship Sale In Doncaster

DONCASTER, UK—It’s crunch time for the European yearling market, with both Ireland’s and Britain’s major auctions being staged in the next fortnight. The major obvious difference is the relocation of the Orby Sale, which takes place over the next two days, to Doncaster. An expected difference, however, is a reduction in trade from some of the boom years the bloodstock market has enjoyed since the recovery from the major recession of 2008.

Considering the unprecedented backdrop to the sales calendar of 2020, the breeze-up sector and the early yearling sales have held up reasonably well, and it is of vital importance that the Orby Sale, the flagship auction of the Goffs calendar and one which has thrived of late, continues that trend.

It is fair to say that the mood on the sales ground at Doncaster settles somewhere between weary resignation that this year has been so trying in myriad ways, and a cautious optimism thanks to an increase in footfall on Tuesday as more trainers arrived in Doncaster. What is unwavering is the praise from a range of participants for the Goffs team, which took decisive action to wrest the sale from its natural home of Kildare and has pulled out plenty of stops to ensure as pleasant experience as possible even under the ever-increasing restrictions being imposed on the public amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

International participation is crucial to the yearling market at this level and while it is impossible for the full range of potential overseas buyers to be present this year, vendors will have felt heartened to see several familiar faces from America in South Yorkshire over the last few days, including Justin Casse and Ben McElroy.

“I actually left Keeneland early so I could quarantine in Ireland before I came here,” said Casse, who is visiting Doncaster for the first time. “There are some horses that I am involved with in training in Ireland, so I got to spend a week watching them and looking at a few foals and yearlings, and horses I own, then I came over here on Sunday.”

He continued, “It’s nice to get out, because by this time of the year usually I’d have made six trips across the Atlantic. It’s good for the mind to be out doing something. I don’t think anyone is going to be shell-shocked by what the market does. We’re all bracing ourselves for impact, so to speak. I don’t know how many Americans are coming over but I’ve done my best to let those who might be interested know that I’m here. I’ve found the sales grounds very accommodating and very easy to navigate. There’s plenty of space and I’ve gotten through the horses quickly.”

Casse will not be alone in longing for a return to normal for next year’s sales programme. He added, “This is an important sale for Ireland and I look forward to getting back there. I love Ireland and I like the sales grounds and the hospitality but this is a more than acceptable alternative.”

Plenty of the Irish vendors on the sales ground this week are also operating at Doncaster for the first time and have had to employ some quick thinking to organise transport and accommodation for the horses and staff. The Irish National Stud, with its draft of 12 yearlings, including representatives of the stud’s first-season sires Decorated Knight (GB) and National Defense (Ire), is one such consignor.

“We are used to going just 20 minutes down the road to get to Goffs so this has been a huge logistical effort to get the horses here, but the alternative was no sale at all,” said Irish National Stud CEO Cathal Beale.

“Credit to everyone for putting it on. The traffic to the doors has been fantastic and there seems to be quite a buzz about the place today so we are cautiously optimistic of a good sale. Goffs have gone to huge trouble and the sales complex is excellent.”

A giant marquee to the side of the sales ring is just one new feature at the Goffs UK sales complex this week, and it is one that will certainly come into its own as Tuesday’s warm sunshine gives way to the forecasted rain. Certainly the good weather so far this week has helped to keep spirits high among vendors, and Peter Fagan of Deerpark Stud was another who fulsome in his praise of the sales house.

He said, “It hasn’t been an easy season for anyone but Goffs has done an excellent job to get this on. They’ve made a huge effort.”

The Goffs complex in Kildare would usually be awash with Irish trainers and, at a time of year which is equally busy on the racing front, a number of them have made the trip to the UK, including Jessica Harrington, Joseph O’Brien, Michael Halford and Andy Oliver. No travel, even across the Irish Sea is without its complications at present.

With governments across Europe now frequently tweaking rules and restrictions as the coronavirus infection rate rises to levels previously seen in the early days of lockdown, it surely can’t be taken for granted that the 2020 sales season will continue without further disruption. For the time being, a couple of days in sunny Donny will be appreciated all the more by those who are just grateful that the wheels of the industry are able to keep turning, even if, as expected, it transpires to be at a reduced rate.

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