Del Mar forced to cancel after Covid-19 outbreak among leading jockeys

Del Mar racecourse has been forced to halt racing due to an outbreak of Covid-19 among jockeys riding at the southern California track. Among the jockeys who have tested positive are American Pharoah’s rider Victor Espinoza, French-born 2019 Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Flavien Prat and dual Italian champion Umberto Rispoli.

The racetrack, home of the 2017 Breeders' Cup, opened its summer meeting behind closed doors only last Friday, July 10, and was scheduled to continue every weekend until September 7.

Victor Espinoza, the rider of triple crown winner American Pharoah, is among the jockeys to have tested positive for Covid-19Credit: Edward Whitaker

However, on Wednesday the course cancelled its racing programme this weekend (July 17-19) after 15 jockeys and seven other workers tested positive for Covid-19.

According to course officials, all but one of the jockeys and all the other workers had been at Los Alamitos racetrack in Orange County, California for the July 4 racing weekend or had been operating there more recently.

“All our jockeys and personnel who tested positive are showing no symptoms,” Del Mar's chief operating officer Josh Rubinstein said. “If they are asymptomatic, they will be eligible to ride after ten days.”

The ten days would end on July 23 and the track is planning to resume racing on Friday, July 24.

Espinoza sought a test after learning two riders he had contact with at Los Alamitos had tested positive last week. Prat tested positive after returning from riding on Saturday at Keeneland in Kentucky.

Under reporting guidelines, Del Mar did not name the jockeys but Prat and Espinoza announced their positive tests and Rispoli, who won seven races last weekend, tweeted he had tested positive.

Del Mar, dubbed the track "where the surf meets the turf", opened its summer meeting under a set of safety protocols that included testing for workers in the barn area, while workers on the backstretch have been isolated from jockeys.

The track, which has held its summer meeting continuously since World War II, has announced more safety measures will be taken before the season resumes.

These would include reconfiguring and expanding the jockeys’ quarters, and only jockeys based in California would be permitted to ride at Del Mar for the remainder of the summer season.

That means riders from the east coast would not be able to ride at the track's major summer meetings. Local jockeys who leave the track to ride at other venues, as Prat did last weekend, would not be allowed to return to Del Mar.

Read more from the US:

Top trainer Bob Baffert denies wrongdoing after 15-day ban for failed drug tests

Luis Saez and Victor Espinoza among jockeys to test positive for Covid-19

Under-fire Los Alamitos permitted to race on a ten-day trial period

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