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Welsh Covid Spike Not From Doncaster Pilot According to Track

A COVID-19 spike in Wales’s Rhondda Cynon Taf was not the result of last Wednesday’s Doncaster pilot event where 2,500 spectators were allowed to attend, Doncaster has said, refuting the Welsh government’s accusation. Wales’s Health Minister Vaughan Gething indicated that a rugby club outing that made several stops–including the racecourse–caused the lockdown in Wales.

“Our contact tracing teams have been able to trace about half of these cases back to a series of clusters within the borough,” said Gething. “The rest are evidence of community transmission. There are a number of clusters within Rhondda Cynon Taf, two of which are significant. One is associated with a rugby club and a pub in the lower Rhondda. And the other with a club outing to the Doncaster races, which stopped off at a series of pubs on the way.”

“As a condition of running the pilot event last week, we were required to implement a full track and trace database that took the details of all attendees that would be on site, linked to an e-ticket and photo ID system on entry that would verify attendance,” Doncaster said in a statement. “Doncaster Racecourse has received no contact from any organisation, including the NHS or the Welsh Government, to verify the attendance of any individuals at last week’s event for the purposes of track and trace. In addition, we do not have any ticket bookings for any groups from the South Wales area for Wednesday’s event. We will be contacting the Welsh Health Minister as a matter of urgency to clarify the situation.”

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Keeneland Sales Director Geoffrey Russell Joins TDN Writers’ Room

The world-renowned Keeneland September Sale has been a long time coming this year. With the coronavirus pandemic canceling and postponing much of the sales season, all eyes are on Lexington this week as Keeneland hosts its first live in-person auction since COVID-19 first hit American shores. Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell joined the TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland Wednesday as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss the obstacles faced by the company in conducting the sale and his early impressions of the trading.

“We’ve been fortunate that we are pretty much the only sales company in the world that has conducted the sale on the calendar that we set in January, which we actually find quite amazing,” Russell said. “We’ve been planning for it since we went into lockdown Mar. 16 and each plan changed monthly. We didn’t know what we were allowed to do, what we weren’t allowed to do. At one stage, we were told we couldn’t use the sales pavilion. Now we’re allowed to use it at 40%. It has been a moving target all the way along. We joked back in the early part of the pandemic, our internal Zoom calls were called the ‘what if?’ meetings. What if this happens, what if that happens, what can we do here?”

The sale has gone off without a hitch through the first several hundred hips, however, and considering the circumstances, results have been robust, with 14 seven-figure horses changing hands in the first two days.

“The top of the market has been very strong,” Russell said. “We’ve had 14 individual horses bring in excess of $1 million and, most interestingly, to 13 different buyers. So the buying group has spread out a bit and the numbers at the top end are staying the same.”

Keeneland has been proactive about instating strict COVID-19 protocols for both its sales and racing seasons, which Russell admits has gotten some mixed responses but says is necessary to get through this extraordinarily busy couple of months for the company and the business as a whole.

“COVID has been a very polarizing situation, but we are very concerned about this time of year,” he said. “We have September, we have our October race meet, we have the Breeders’ Cup in November and we have our November Breeding Stock Sale. It’s a very important three months for us and for the Thorougbred industry. We wanted to make sure that we could conduct all of those and we work very diligently with our state government and local health departments. We have pushback form several people about masks, about the fact that we ask for testing on our consignors. But when you explain to them why we want it, for the safety of everybody, everybody understands it. While they’re not happy about it, they’re at least fulfilling our requests.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the writers lamented the fall of the Betfair exchange in America and analyze why it didn’t work out. Plus, they discuss the scary situation of wildfires raging near Santa Anita, react to the announcement of no fans being allowed at the Breeders’ Cup and pay tribute to the late Pat Smullen. Click here to watch the podcast, click here for the audio-only version.

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Warwick Will Still Stage Spectator Trial

Only 474 spectators will be allowed at Warwick’s upcoming Monday pilot of racing with spectators, the course announced on Wednesday. Prior to this adjustment downward, the track had been planning for 800 spectators. One of The Jockey Club’s courses, Warwick had met with Public Health England which resulted in the spectator reduction. Racing resumed June 1 and, except for a pilot event at Doncaster last Wednesday, has been conducted without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Following discussions with local authorities and representatives, Warwick Racecourse will welcome up to 474 spectators at its Monday, Sept. 21 racing fixture as part of a limited capacity trial, with stringent health and safety measures in place for its first meeting since March,” said Warwick Racecourse in a statement. “The restricted capacity will be filled by 150 annual members, 124 hospitality bookers and up to 200 racehorse owners, in addition to participants and raceday staff. Tickets will not go on general sale given the limits involved.”

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden also offered an update via Twitter, tweeting, “Return of fans to sport update. Just held a collaborative and constructive meeting with major sports on the Oct. 1 review. There is mutual understanding of the need to get fans back in, while all acknowledging the very significant headwinds we face with the virus.

“The Government is conducting this review rapidly and will complete this work on the return of fans as soon as possible. This follows a meeting I held with the business events sector earlier this week as part of the review.”

The British Horseracing Authority issued a joint statement with other sporting bodies after the meeting with Dowden which read: “We conveyed to the Secretary of State the very serious financial situation now facing our sports, clubs and venues and that we believe we can stage events safely.

“It is clear that if fans cannot return soon that there will be very serious economic implications across our sporting sector.

“Our sports have already demonstrated through staging fixtures behind closed doors, in test events and through the return of recreational sport that we can deliver the very highest standards in safety and best practice.

“We will continue to engage with the Government in the days ahead and provide any further evidence required.”

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Marlhill House Stud Starts New Website

A new website was launched by Marlhill House Stud on Wednesday. The site will be a comprehensive platform for buyers to learn about Marlhill House Stud yearlings in advance of the sales, including photos, conformation videos and pedigree information. To view the 10 Marlhill yearlings, split evenly between Tattersalls October Book 1 and Goffs Orby, go to www.marlhillhousestud.com.

“We have done our best to move with the times this year by bringing ourselves online with a new website and greater use of social media,” said Marlhill House Stud Manager Brian McConnon. “We hope that it might give those who are unable to attend the sales due to COVID-19, as much opportunity as possible to look at our yearlings. We are particularly excited about our group of horses heading to the sales this year and hope that our website will help to showcase them to the best of our ability.”

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