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NYRA: Beginning April 1, Fully Vaccinated Jockeys No Longer Required To Undergo COVID Tests

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced COVID-19 health and safety protocols for jockeys competing at the 2021 Aqueduct Racetrack spring meet, which will run April 1 through April 18.

The 11-day Big A spring meet will include 13 stakes worth $2.7 million in purses highlighted by the 96th running of the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on Saturday, April 3. Live racing will be conducted on a Thursday-Sunday schedule with a 1:20 p.m. first post.

NYRA will continue to permit out of town jockeys to compete at Aqueduct during the 2021 spring meet. Those jockeys must provide a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken in New York State within 48 hours of the day they intend to compete at Aqueduct. Out of town jockeys will be provided isolated jockey quarters at Aqueduct.

Members of the regular NYRA jockey colony who travel to ride at any other racetrack during the Aqueduct spring meet will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken in New York State within 48-hours of the day then intend to compete at Aqueduct. Jockeys who have traveled and returned to Aqueduct will be provided isolated jockey quarters at Aqueduct.

Beginning on April 1, all jockeys who have been fully vaccinated will no longer be required to undergo COVID-19 testing in order to compete at Aqueduct. Vaccinated jockeys traveling to ride at Aqueduct, as well as members of the NYRA jockey colony who travel outside of New York State, will continue to be provided isolated jockey quarters at Aqueduct.

According to current Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance, individuals are considered fully vaccinated 14 days or more after receiving the second dose in a two dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), or 14 days or more after they have received a single-dose vaccine (Johnson & Johnson / Janssen). NYRA will adhere to the current CDC guidance regarding COVID-19 vaccination standards.

Beginning on April 1, all jockeys who have been fully vaccinated to the satisfaction of CDC guidelines will be permitted to enter NYRA barn areas for morning training. Jockeys who have not been fully vaccinated will not be permitted in the barn area but can continue to meet horses in the Belmont paddock and utilize the main track.

In accordance with current CDC guidelines, jockeys who have traveled internationally will be required to quarantine for seven days upon their return. Four days after arrival in the United States, the jockey must be tested for COVID-19. Upon receipt of a negative COVID-19 PCR test, and completion of the seven-day quarantine, the jockey may compete at Aqueduct. All jockeys who have traveled internationally will be provided isolated jockey quarters.

In addition to race day safety protocols which include standard health screening and temperature checks, the jockey quarters at Aqueduct have been substantially altered to provide maximum social distancing and reduce density. All areas accessed by jockeys during the regular course of a race day are closed to outside personnel, including credentialed media, and are cleaned and disinfected throughout the day.

Jockey agents must produce a negative COVID-19 PCR test in order to gain access to the barn area. Races will continue to be drawn via Zoom.

Beginning on April 1, jockey valets who have been fully vaccinated to the satisfaction of CDC guidelines may enter the barn area for morning training. In addition, jockey valets that have been working in the barn area and only saddling horses in the afternoon that have not been fully vaccinated may re-enter the jockeys quarters after completing a 10-day quarantine and providing a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 48-hours of their intended return.

For additional information, and the complete stakes schedule for the 2021 Aqueduct spring meet, visit NYRA.com.

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Harry Bentley Licenced to Ride in Hong Kong

UK jockey Harry Bentley has been granted a Hong Kong Jockey Club licence from Apr. 16 to the end of the 2020/2021 season, the HKJC announced on Monday. The 28-year-old, who has already booted home 1,002 winners since he was apprenticed at the age of 16 to trainer Gary Moore, has accrued 41 group and listed race wins. Bentley was aboard Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}) when he won the G1 Darley July Cup and G1 Prix de la Foret both in 2016. His minimum riding weight will be 118 pounds and prior to starting in Hong Kong, Bentley must complete a three-week hotel quarantine.

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Florent Geroux Making The Most Of Second Oaklawn Experience

Perhaps the surest bet this year at Oaklawn was that Florent Geroux would have a much bigger impact on the jockey standings than he did during his first stint as a regular in 2012 when he came to Hot Springs to ride primarily for powerful Midwest Thoroughbreds, which would threaten Dan Lasater's then-single-season record for victories by an owner (48).

Midwest finished with 42 victories, but Geroux didn't ride any of them after one its trainers at the meet, Jamie Ness, went in a different direction with riding assignments. Quietly, Geroux left Oaklawn after going winless in seven mounts.

Betting that Geroux would fare better in 2021, specifically because of his relationship with Brad Cox, Midwest's other trainer during the 2012 Oaklawn meet, has, as expected, been a financial windfall for the jockey's longtime agent, Doug Bredar.

Through Sunday, Day 23 of the now 51-day meeting, Geroux had ridden 23 winners from just 83 mounts and bankrolled $1,594,830 in purse earnings. He was tied for second in victories, No. 2 in purse earnings, first in stakes victories (five) and tied for first in graded stakes victories (two).

“Very happy,” Bredar said Thursday morning. “We were second-leading rider at Fair Grounds and a lot of people said to us: 'Are you nuts to leave there?' We're pretty much second-leading rider here now, so it's worked out really, really well.”

Geroux began building his relationship with Cox during the jockey's brief stay in Hot Springs almost a decade ago and has become the go-to rider for the 2020 Eclipse Award-winning trainer. Geroux, now among the country's most successful jockeys, normally winters at Fair Grounds, but decided to move his tack to Oaklawn after talking with Cox, who maintains large strings at both tracks. Purses are Oaklawn are the country's highest during the winter.

Geroux and Cox, through Sunday, were 10 for 32 together at this year's Oaklawn meet and had totaled $924,574 in purse earnings. They have teamed for three stakes victories – $150,000 Smarty Jones for 3-year-olds Jan. 22 (Caddo River), $250,000 Bayakoa (G3) for older fillies and mares Feb. 28 (Monomoy Girl) and last Saturday's $350,000 Azeri (G2) for older fillies and mares (Shedaresthedevil). Geroux also won the $150,000 American Beauty Stakes for older female sprinters Jan. 30 aboard Frank's Rockette for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and last Saturday's $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes for older sprinters aboard C Z Rocket for trainer Peter Miller.

“It's been special, very special,” Bredar said. “You hope when you make these plans that things turn out the way you want them to. We're tickled to death. Like I said, we're very, very excited. It's been a great year. I think we're fourth in North America in earnings. That's one of the highest numbers we've ever had. We've enjoyed our stay here. Everybody's treated us really, really well.”

Bredar said Geroux, 34, will “kind of finish up through the end of the month” at Oaklawn before Keeneland opens April 2, but “definitely come back” April 10 and April 17. Oaklawn's April 10 card will include four stakes races – $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) for 3-year-olds, $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) for older sprinters, $400,000 Oaklawn Mile for older horses and the $250,000 Carousel for older female sprinters – while Monomoy Girl is scheduled to run April 17 at Oaklawn in the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares. The $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses is also April 17. Geroux is the regular rider of Monomoy Girl, a two-time Eclipse Award winner.

“It's gone better than whatever that year was,” Bredar said, referring to 2012. “It didn't work out real well. We're very thrilled that it turned out a lot better this year.”

Bredar also represents Martin Garcia and said Oaklawn's co-second-leading jockey in 2020 will ride regularly until the meeting ends May 1. Geroux and Garcia will both ride March 27 at Turfway Park, Bredar said.

Geroux, through Thursday, had 34 victories, including 10 stakes, in his Oaklawn career. His mounts had earned $3,599,825. Geroux is scheduled to ride the Cox-trained Warrior's Charge in his 2021 debut Thursday at Oaklawn. Geroux won the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses last year at Oaklawn aboard Warrior's Charge.

Geroux's wife, Kasey, is the daughter of the late jockey Louis Spindler, who rode 27 winners at the 1973 Oaklawn meeting. That bulk of Spindler's victories were for Lasater, who won a then-record 48 races at the 1974 Oaklawn meet.

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DeShawn Parker Honored With 2021 George Woolf Memorial Award

DeShawn Parker, the five foot, 10 inch jockey who in 2010 became the first African American rider since 1895 to lead all American jockeys in races won, can now add another coveted achievement to what has been an incredible career, as he has been selected by a vote of jockeys nationwide as the winner of the 2021 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

Presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950, the Woolf Award can only be won once. One of the most prestigious awards in all of racing and named for the legendary late Hall of Fame jockey who gained national fame when an estimated radio audience of 40 million tuned in as he piloted Seabiscuit to victory over Triple Crown Champ War Admiral in a match race at Pimlico Race Course on Nov. 1, 1938, the Woolf Award recognizes those riders whose careers and personal character garner esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing.

The Woolf Trophy is a replica of the life-sized statue of the legendary George Woolf which adorns Santa Anita's Paddock Gardens area.

A Cincinnati, Ohio native, Parker, 50, outpolled four other Woolf finalists, Alex Birzer, Jorge Martin Bourdieu, Kendrick Carmouche and Aaron Gryder, all of whom have plied their trade with notable distinction at tracks throughout North America.

The 2021 Woolf Award win comes on the heels of the passing of Parker's mentor and father, Daryl Parker. A longtime highly respected Ohio racing steward, Parker passed away from cancer in Cincinnati on March 4.

“My idol, my best friend and a great father!” Parker tweeted on March 5. “He meant so much to my life and my career. I can only hope to be as great as he was. I'm going to miss my Dad so much, but I know he's in a better place with no pain and living his life to the fullest up there, hanging with friends and family and talking up a storm!”

In a sport comprised of much smaller athletes, Parker has long “stood out,” but his character, ability and work ethic are factors that have far out-run initial perceptions that perhaps he was too big to be a jockey. America's leading rider with 377 wins in 2010, he came back to lead all jockeys again in 2011 with 400 trips to the Winner's Circle.

Born Jan. 8, 1971, Parker was a perennial leading rider at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia for more than 20 years. Parker, who through March 16, had 5,841 career wins, has also enjoyed considerable success at Indiana Grand, leading all riders in 2020 and at Sam Houston Race Park, where he was their leading rider in 2015.

Married with two children, Parker lives in East Liverpool, Ohio. The 2020 Woolf Award was won by Luis M. Quinones and DeShawn Parker will thus become the 72nd jockey, dating back to Gordon Glisson in 1950, to be so honored.

Due to uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 restrictions, the 2021 Woolf Award ceremony will be conducted at a date to-be-determined.

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