NYRA, horsemen engage in 'productive' Zoom conversation

More than 100 New York-based horsemen and New York Racing Association officials joined in the coronavirus craze of Zoom video conferencing on Thursday, discussing topics related to plans and procedures for the resumption of live racing in the state.

While no breaking news was shared or specified dates set forth, the video chat offered the opportunity for horsemen to hear directly from track officials on what's expected in the coming weeks.

Racing at Aqueduct was halted March 15 because of a positive coronavirus case on the Belmont Park backstretch, where training has been based on the NYRA circuit since Jan. 1.

At last update, NYRA canceled the remainder of the Aqueduct meet and postponed the start of racing at Belmont. Now, progress is being made toward running meets at Belmont and later this summer at Saratoga behind closed doors.

Applebaum said Thursday's video conference was "a chance for the NYRA management team to talk through a bunch of operational issues and strategic issues about how we hope to reopen."

Normally, horsemen and track officials naturally come into contact while going about their business on a daily basis. With social distancing protocols in place, that chain of communication has broken down in recent weeks.

“The informal ways that we communicate at the race track -- hanging out in the racing office, seeing the racing secretary at the rail during training, etc. are very difficult to do these days,” Applebaum said. “People are scattered all over the country still.

"We are really encouraging people to stay apart. That sort of centralized communication has been difficult to maintain.”

Applebaum said the conversation was anything but one-sided as NYRA officials heard immediate concerns of trainers.

“The horsemen have a lot of suggestions which we centralized and communicated to NYRA, both verbally and by writing," Applebaum said. “They have a lot of helpful suggestions as to ways they think racing should commence once it restarts.”

While there's no official word on a date for racing to resume in New York, some jockeys and trainers will go to work next week as racing resumes May 16 at Churchill Downs. Jockeys such as Irad Ortiz Jr., John Velazquez and Javier Castellano are listed in the Churchill condition book, while trainers such as Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher will maintain strings in Kentucky -- at least until their normal spring and summer home tracks resume operations.