Quote:
Originally Posted by Dahoss
Per Dave Grening on Twitter, NYRA mandating that if you ride at Saratoga starting Thursday and go to another track to ride you will not be allowed to return and ride at Saratoga. Also, if you ride at another track on Thursday, you will not be allowed to ride the entire meet at Saratoga.
Very smart IMO.
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Thanks for sharing. This is a brilliant move by NYRA on many fronts to create a NYRA sandbox.
First, this edict prevents the jockeys themselves from being lured to another track (by an owner or trainer) and bringing the virus back with them. They are creating a jockey bubble effective now. Is it enough to guarantee safety? We will know over the next 14 days. I would like to see this go further and require the same for large scale trainers where if they cannot commit to NYRA safety protocols in their entirety, turn over local operations to someone who can.
Second, NYRA is signaling that it will do anything necessary to avoid a shutdown for any reason during the Saratoga meeting. Can you imagine their leaving Belmont Park behind for the Summer to go to an empty Spa in order to generate additional handle only to have the whole plan implode? This is going to be a very long 8 weeks if there is an outbreak and you can be sure that the Governor will close things down in a heartbeat.
Third, in a period where purse money is strained, this keeps the money circulating with the locals. This does avoid the west coast contingent (Baffert, Smith et al.) from coming in on big weekends to potentially scoop a big purse.