HALLANDALE BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Gulfstream Park has announced the venue will continue to host horse races at the Hallandale Beach track, but they will do so without any fans in the stands due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Amid the pandemic, horse racing has joined the list of sporting venues that will continue to operate without the general public.
“It’s a different world, a different time,” jockey Joey Bravo said. “Through the years, they’ve been through some viruses but nothing has spread this fast. I mean, everybody is going step-by-step to do the precautionary measures. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.”
With cases of those being affected by COVID-19 growing by the day, the venue announced it is temporarily shutting down the track to racing fans.
“It really is important,” Gulfstream Park Chief Strategy Officer Aiden Butler said. “I mean, these guys and girls take their life in their hands. It really is, you know, it’s not for the faint of heart being a jockey or a rider, so we gotta make sure they’re in tip-top condition, and it’s not just necessarily for themselves. It’s for everybody else. This virus seems to have the ability to spread pretty quickly. We want to make sure that if people are going out there to do their jobs, they’ve got all the protection we can afford that we can give them.”
“When I signed in, they said, ‘Joey, you got to go down and take your temperature,'” Bravo said. “I said, ‘So, all the jocks today, they’re not just doing temperature. They’re doing your heart rate and your vitals to make sure you’re clean.’ I went in there very nervous myself. I was like, ‘Oh, shoot, what’s going to happen?’ And it was a great, big sign, like, ‘I would never get checked out. I feel great.'”
Luckily for horse racing fans looking to watch the horse races and legally make a bet, they can still do so, as Gulfstream and other tracks across the country will continue live racing as scheduled with only licensed personnel in attendance.
“In horse racing with a lot of the visibility and the customers don’t necessarily always come to the track,” Butler said. “They watch it online and stream it, so we’ve still got a really good, viable product, and it’s really bizarre to walk around the race track and see no customers.”
Although it is strange for the jockeys not to see patrons in attendance, they said they understand why the precautions were taken.
“It’s going to be weird not seeing any attendees coming to the races, but everything is for safety,” jockey Javier Castellanos said.
As of Friday, The Florida Derby, which is the preparation race for The Kentucky Derby, will take place at Gulfstream Park on March 28. However, no spectators will be allowed.
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