Rumors began to swirl on social media today about Del Mar shutting down due to several jockeys testing positive for Covid-19. Los Alamitos has been already linked to several jockeys testing positive over the last week. Luis Saez, Victor Espinoza, Martin Garcia, Eduard Rojas Fernandez, Flavien Prat, Umberto Rispoli.
It has been largely speculated that Los Alamitos had very lax restrictions and guidelines and thus we are now seeing the outcome. According to several people they did not follow the same protocols and guidelines that The Stronach group had set for the Santa Anita meet and this now has put California summer racing in a tailspin at the moment.
The idea that is currently being presented by Del Mar is that racing could resume on July 24th which is just one week away from now. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that happening as we have seen a minimum down time after testing of two weeks unilaterally. If we were to shoot for that timeline this could put the meet starting back on July 31st if this is the path that is taken.
Much in the way of how each racetrack handles their day to day business on absolutely nothing being uniform, California racing finds itself on the ropes again because nobody can work together on many common denominators.
History repeats itself, maybe Del Mar can make a phone call over to Santa Anita and ask them how they were able to race without having positives. A call that Los Alamitos should of made weeks ago but never did which is why the aforementioned became a cesspool for Covid-19 positives. We wish all that are infected and affected by this latest happening a speedy recovery and the all the best!
