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Maryland Jockey Trevor McCarthy Recovered From Coronavirus, Returns To Saddle Thursday

Trevor McCarthy has endured his share of job-related injuries over the course of a 10-year riding career that has seen him win more than 1,500 races, four overall Maryland championships and 12 individual meet titles.

His latest setback came courtesy of a bout with coronavirus amid the ongoing pandemic that paused live racing in Maryland for 2 ½ months until May 30 and caused the early Aug. 14 closure of the Colonial Downs meet, where McCarthy was leading rider.

Back at full health and eager to return to riding, the 26-year-old McCarthy is named in six of nine races when live racing resumes at Laurel Park Thursday, Aug. 27. It will be his first action since going winless with two mounts Aug. 5 at Colonial.

McCarthy has ridden just 11 of the first 33 days of Laurel's extended summer meet and just once since June 27 – on July 17 – having spent most of the summer at Monmouth Park and Colonial. He still ranks eighth in the standings in both wins (15) and purses earned ($443,151).

“I've been back working out on my bicycle and back on my Equicizer, getting ready to gear up and get back to the races. We're looking forward to it,” McCarthy, engaged to fellow rider Katie Davis, said. “We've been trapped in the house for [two weeks] and it's been something else. We're excited to get back.”

McCarthy said he first began feeling ill Aug. 8, enough to cancel his morning workout and evening riding assignments the following day at Colonial and urge Davis to do the same.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt terrible,” McCarthy said. “I said to Katie, 'We're not going anywhere.' She said, 'What do you mean?' and I said, 'I feel terrible. I feel like I'm really, really sick.'

“She kind of looked at me like 'are you serious,' and I was like, 'We're not leaving the house,'” he added. “We were just very cautious and right then and there I made the decision. I was just thinking more about everybody else than myself at that time. It was the right move, and Katie couldn't go as well because she's been around me even though she didn't have any symptoms. It wouldn't be smart to have had her go without me.”

McCarthy said he experienced symptoms over the next 48 hours that felt like a severe flu and kept him housebound until he was able to get checked out Aug. 11. It was then that his worst fear was confirmed.

“I was sick for like two days. More like flu – fever, headache, I had the chills, a runny nose. Finally the third day I felt so much better so I went and got tested and that's when I found out I was positive,” McCarthy said. “Katie was negative, so it was really strange that day. We just went back home and I did my quarantining. It was only about five days total that I felt really bad. I lost my taste and smell for one day. Two days were really strong and then the three days after that were like a small cold I was just kind of getting over.”

Having heard and read stories about COVID-19 cases where people experienced extreme symptoms, McCarthy said he didn't expect to get a positive result for the virus.

“I went into the test kind of confident that I wasn't going to have it because I kind of whacked this thing out in two days and I was feeling so much better on the third day. Hearing from everybody else, it's a week-long drag where you're really sick,” McCarthy said. “So, when I knocked it out in two days I thought it was just a bug or a small virus or flu. They ended up testing me for the flu, as well, and I was negative, and I was positive for the coronavirus. It was really weird and I guess it just hits people differently.

“After those five, six days I was fine. It was weird,” he added. “Katie eventually showed a little bit of symptoms, nothing as severe as mine, just stuffy nose and she lost her taste and smell. But she wasn't anywhere close to how sick I got. It was strange.”

McCarthy credited his career and active lifestyle with helping to curtail the most serious symptoms of coronavirus as well as lessen its duration.

“I think it has a lot to do with being an athlete, being young, being in good shape, and having a healthy diet. When I had symptoms, our local farmer's market delivered groceries to our house. We just kept eating our strong diet, all natural foods and trying to give ourselves the best nutrition and keep our immune systems up,” he said. “I drank a lot of Pedialyte, hot tea, lots of water and kept on my diet. After five or six days, I was back to normal.”

All jockeys coming from the Colonial meet, including other Maryland regulars such as Davis, Forest Boyce and Jorge Ruiz, are required to serve a 14-day quarantine period from Aug. 13 and have a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours in hand to return to ride at Laurel, with Aug. 27 being the first eligible day. McCarthy said he is scheduled to be re-tested Aug. 24.

“I haven't had any symptoms lately,” he said. “It's just a part of what's going on in this world right now. I've got to follow the rules and that's it. There's not much more we can do.”

McCarthy is excited about the upcoming calendar in Maryland. Laurel is scheduled to host nine $100,000 stakes over Labor Day weekend including the Federico Tesio for 3-year-olds and Weber City Miss for 3-year-old fillies Sept. 7. Both races are automatic qualifiers for the Preakness (G1) and Black-Eyed Susan (G2), respectively, rescheduled for Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course.

“It should be a real exciting fall meet. It's going to be great,” McCarthy said. “It seems like they're going to have a nice weekend the first part of September and then you're always looking forward to Preakness time and Maryland Million time, as well. It should be a fun fall meet.”

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Spanish Race Caller Sues NYRA Over Wage Inequity Compared To White Counterpart

Race caller Luis Grandison filed a lawsuit against the New York Racing Association in the Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, alleging that he was paid less than half as much as his white, English-speaking counterparts, reports the New York Daily News.

The suit states that Grandison was paid an annual salary of $60,000, while his white, English-speaking counterpart Larry Collmus has a salary estimated to be over $200,000.

Grandison, a black native of Panama, had been employed by NYRA to call races in Spanish since 2014. He requested and was denied a raise in 2018. This year, Grandison was furloughed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was terminated in June, prior to the resumption of racing in the state of New York.

“Grandison has performed the exact same primary duty of race calling … at NYRA in Spanish that his white American counterparts performed in English in the same racetracks, under the same management, using the same oratory skills, and using the same NYRA simulcast network,” the suit reads. “The only difference between Grandison and, for example, Larry Collmus is that the former is a Black Latino speaking in Spanish whereas the latter is a white American speaking in English. Their primary work duty of race calling was otherwise identical.”

Lukas Back in the Saddle

The past two weeks has proven a veritable roller coaster ride for Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas. After opting to keep his operation in Kentucky for the summer rather than shift to upstate New York as he has done for over the past four decades, Lukas admitted that earlier this month, he began to feel less that ‘perfect,’ although he didn’t present any of the classic symptoms that went with COVID-19. At least not initially.

“I was being checked at the gate every day and I didn’t have a temperature and I didn’t really have any of the other symptoms, but [wife] Laurie and I decided I should get a test with [Kentucky] Derby week coming up,” recalled Lukas. “My granddaughter, who is a PA [physcian assistant] told me not to mess with getting in line to have a test and said I should come straight to the hospital and we’d have it done quickly.”

He continued, “While I was at the hospital, they found I had some fluid around my heart, which was probably a result of the broken ribs [sustained during a fall from his pony at Churchill Downs last month] that hadn’t fully healed. At that point, they concentrated on the heart and didn’t think it was [coronavirus]. They did all these tests for my heart and treated me for that, and since they didn’t think I had the virus, they sent me home. Later that night, all hell broke loose.”

And things quickly went from bad to worse.

“They later called me and told me I tested positive for the virus. And believe me, they didn’t have to call me to tell me that. I felt it. The first two nights were so critical, and I couldn’t get my air. I would have done anything to have access to a ventilator at that point. You feel like you’re drowning. But once I got through those two nights, I just needed to rest and get my strength back. Once you get through that critical period, even something like putting on your tennis shoes is a major task.”

“The doctors had recommended that I didn’t go back to the track for 14 days and I was in complete agreement,” he said with a laugh. “I have now spoken to several people who have had the virus and it seems to affect people in such different ways. For some it’s severe and others it’s not. For me, it was severe. If it had hit me any harder, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”

Following over two weeks on the sidelines, Lukas, armed with a follow-up ‘negative’ COVID test result, returned to the barn this week.

“I felt much better and was ready to go back, so I just saddled up and got back in the saddle,” said Lukas, who will be celebrating his 85th birthday Sept. 2. “I am not walking around too much and still taking it easy, but I am getting better every day on that count.”

This summer, Lukas campaigned his horses at Ellis Park, where he currently stands in third behind Brad Cox and Ken McPeek in earnings. He is also two wins away from McPeek, who has accounted for nine wins [as of Aug. 25] at the summer meeting.

“I’m back training and the horses are running well,” he said. “We’ve had a good meet so far and I think we have some live horses for this weekend. We also have a good lineup [Kentucky] Derby week, so we’re looking forward to that.”

In regards to the change in plans for the team this summer, he explained, “Aside from [the illness], I think staying in Kentucky this summer was the right decision. Our help was very concerned about shipping into New York, not so much the racetrack but more the community itself. We obviously have a lot of our equipment still in Saratoga, and we’ll be back next summer, but I think we really did the right thing in staying in Kentucky. Ellis has been good to us.”

Based at Churchill Downs since his return to Kentucky earlier this spring, Lukas indicated the team’s runners would continue the familiar protocol of shipping in to Keeneland to race this fall and closing out Churchill’s fall meet before returning to his winter base at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas in December.

With the worst of it in the rearview mirror, Lukas reflected on some of the struggles stemming from his recent health scare, admitting that the main component that has kept barn operations running smoothly while he convalesced was his team.

“You have to have a key person in your operation,” he said. “Over the years I had many of those people, and now I have Bas [Nicholl]. When the virus hit, I absolutely depended on him. I think we’re going to have to bronze him and put him in the infield or something like that.”

And while the barn had been observing the strict protocols in place throughout the pandemic, Lukas said he recognized that the virus was a formidable foe and not one to be taken for granted.

“The folks at Churchill have a force back there to make sure that everybody is following the rules, and our barn was really good on the front,” he said. “We were very adamant on everybody wearing their mask and have hand sanitizer available on all four corners of the barn. But once it gets you, it’s got you.”

He was asked if he has any advice for those who might be tempted to cut corners or ignore the pandemic protocols.

“The one thing I would tell everyone is to seriously not under estimate the COVID-19 virus. Whatever you do, don’t take it lightly. It gets on top of you quick and you might not be able to get out from under it.”

The post Lukas Back in the Saddle appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Duramente Colt Tops Hokkaido Selection Sale

Despite massive COVID-19 prevention protocols, the postponed 2020 Hokkaido Selection Sale drew a strong crowd, easily as big as normal years despite protocols requiring everyone to pre-register for entry credentials. The looming pandemic-induced global recession also seemed to have little effect on the sale, which set records on nearly all fronts despite being pushed back a little over a month from its usual mid-July date.

While the clearance rate was 82.5%, down from last year’s record of 83.5%, it was the best year of the sale by every other measure since its inception. The 2020 renewal grossed ¥3,589,300,000 (US$33,719,535/£25,694,448/€28,549,547), a 15.66% increase from 2019. The 2020 average was ¥19,507,065 (US$183,406/£139,643/€155,160), and the median was ¥16,500,000 (US$155,007/£118,117/€131,242), both a record, up 23.83% and 22.22%, respectively, from the 2019 figures. Overall 184 of the 223 lots that went through the ring sold, of which 137 were colts and 47 were fillies. After weeks of COVID-19 spikes around the country, Hokkaido’s rural breeders uniformly issued a massive sigh of relief, being spared any massive consequences from the recession thus far.

The sires of the top 10 lots sold say a lot about the current trends in Japanese racing and breeding, and one of those trends is the popularity of young sires. The highest price lot was lot 155, a colt by first-crop stallion Duramente (Jpn) out of Kirschwasser (Jpn) (Sakura Bakushin O {Jpn}) that sold to Toshihiro Hirosaki Holdings for ¥79,200,000 (US$744,034/£567,013/€629,944), the second most expensive yearling ever sold in the history of the Selection Sale. Offered by Amaba Reiji Bokujo, his fourth dam was blue hen mare Blitey (River Ridge).

The second highest priced lot was lot 125, a Kizuna (Jpn) colt out of Smash Heart (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) from the draft of Sakai Bokujo that Chiyono Terada bought for ¥66,000,000 (US$620,034/£472,511/€524,954).

Sophomore sire Kizuna (Jpn) had two other lots in the top 10. Lot 191, a colt that Toshihiro Hirosaki Holdings stretched to ¥50,600,000 (US$475,359/£362,250/€402,364) for from Tsuchida Farm and lot 97, another colt, that brought €44,000,000 (US$413,353/£314,945/€349,881) from Masahiro Miki and was offered by Hiroshi Chikushi.

Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), whose oldest foals are only 5-year-olds, had a pair of colts in the top 10: lot 21 went for ¥57,200,000 (US$537,358/£409,429/€454,825) to Minoru Yoshioka from Masanobu Sasajima’s draft. His dam is a half-sister to Japanese Group 3 winner Kinetics (Jpn) (Forty Niner) and the MSW Fujino Wave (Jpn) (Black Tie Affair {Ire}). The other, offered by Sakai Bokujo as lot 160, was out of MGSW & G1SP Kokorono Ai (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}). He was acquired by Shigeo Nomura for ¥50,600,000 (US$475,359/£362,250/€402,364).

Freshman sire Maurice (Jpn)’s lot 217 was a colt consigned by Kineusu Bokujo that was snapped up by Northern Farm for ¥50,600,000 (US$475,359/£362,250/€402,364). Consigned by Oshima Bokujo, the Mastery colt (lot 94), out of the MGSP mare Courtesan (Street Sense), sold for ¥45,100,000 (US$423,700/£322,854/€358,612) to Bando Bokujo. He came to Japan in utero after selling for $250,000 to J.S. Company during the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Also included in the top 10 was what is likely the last Deep Impact (Jpn) yearling filly to ever go through public auction. A member of the Sakai Bokujo consignment, lot 91, out of GII Indian Oaks heroine Tiz Windy (Tiznow), sold to Tatsue Ishikawa for ¥63,800,000 (US$599,381/£456,720/€507,349).

Also among the top 10 lots was Grand Stud’s lot 209, a Henny Hughes half-brother to Listed Japan Dirt Derby (Jpn-G1) winner Higashi Will Win (Jpn) (South Vigorous). He changed hands for €53,900,000 (US$506,402/£385,843/€428,622) and was bought by Yoshizawa Stable Co. Ltd., the owner of 2019 Kentucky Derby contender Master Fencer (Jpn) (Just a Way {Jpn}).

Besides Mastery’s single lot, two other foreign stallions were represented. Lot 129, a filly by Nathaniel (Ire) out of a full-sister to two-time G1 Dubai World Cup winner and Japan-based stallion Thunder Snow (Ire) (Helmet {Aus}) hailed from the Yano Bokujo consignment. She sold for ¥30,800,000 (US$289,372/£220,487/€244,933) to Yuichi Masuda. Postponed (Ire)’s filly (lot 70) rounded out the trio from the draft of Yano Bokujo. Knocked down to Yasuo Tejima for ¥9,350,000 (US$87,849/£66,932/€74,354), the daughter of Salasie (Fr) (Teofilo {Ire}) is out of a half-sister to Kind (GB) (Danehill), the dam of Frankel (GB).

Overall it was Kizuna that rocked the sale selling nine lots for a gross of ¥298,100,000 (US$2,800,860/£2,133,964/€2,370,398) and an average of ¥33,122,222 (US$311,217/£237,116/€263,377). Henny Hughes wasn’t far off selling all of his 11 offerings for a gross of ¥285,450,000 (US$2,682,095/£2,043,491/€2,269,837) and averaging ¥25,950,000 (US$243,835/£185,750/€206,348). Lord Kanaloa sold eight for a gross of ¥242,550,000 (US$2,279,088/£1,736,175/€1,928,706) and average of ¥30,318,750 (US$284,886/£217,021/€241,100). Epiphaneia (Jpn), a sophomore sire with a lot of promise, had 13 lots sell grossing ¥229,900,000 (US$2,160,305/£1,645,673/€1,828,207) and averaging ¥17,684,615 (US$166,177/£126,590/€140,631). The hot two freshman sires Maurice and Duramente grossed ¥227,700,000 (US$2,139,633/£1,629,925/€1,811,029) from 12 sold and ¥222,750,000 (US$2,093,019/£1,594,600/€1,771,659) from 10 sold, respectively. Maurice averaged ¥18,975,000 (US$178,294/£135,836/€150,920), while Duramente’s average came in at ¥22,275,000 (US$209,291/£159,448/€177,167). Finally, first-crop sire Drefong, who has been quite popular with his progeny at the sales this year and last year grossed ¥138,600,000 (US$1,302,258/£992,126/€1,102,390) from six sold, averaging ¥23,100,000 (US$217,047/£165,351/€183,731).

The week continues with the 2020 Hokkaido Summer Sale beginning Tuesday and running through Aug. 28. If the Selection Sale’s momentum can be maintained, it could be a banner year for Hidaka region breeders.

JP¥106.449 = US$ 1.00

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