Monmouth Park<\/a> announced that its simulcasting center and sportsbook will close at 8 p.m. ET Monday night. In addition, live racing will not take place at the Oceanport track now until May 23.<\/p>\nThe track\u2019s opening day was supposed to be May 2.<\/p>\n
While Keeneland\u2019s canceled and Monmouth Park is pushing back its start, Aqueduct plans to continue racing at this time, according to a statement from the New York Racing Association (NYRA).<\/p>\n
It will, though, continue to prohibit fans from attending the races, as it did this past weekend.<\/p>\n
“Now that we have experienced racing under these conditions for three days, we remain confident in our ability to safely conduct racing operations behind closed doors, and with only the staff that are required under the rules of racing in New York,\u201d NYRA President and CEO Dave O\u2019Rourke said in a statement. \u201cOf course, we will constantly evaluate this situation over the coming days in advance of Friday, and make further adjustments as necessary.”<\/p>\n
Betting Mostly Consistent With Last Year<\/h2>\n
Aqueduct wasn\u2019t the only one to run fan-free last week, as tracks across the nation made the decision to continue racing, but still took steps to help control the spread of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n
All in all, the betting numbers at some of the major tracks indicated similar wagering levels from the same weekend in 2019.<\/p>\n
Aqueduct\u2019s Sunday handle of $5.8 million was about $150,000 better than the corresponding date last year, and the Saturday handle of $6.1 million was off just about $25,000.<\/p>\n
Laurel Park in Maryland reported a $3.5 million handle for its Saturday card, down nearly 10 percent from last year.<\/p>\n
\n
The one outlier was Oaklawn Racing and Gaming. The Arkansas track reported a handle of $10.1 million on Saturday, when it held the Grade II Rebel Stakes. That was down by 27.3 percent, but that was due mainly to last year\u2019s Rebel running in two divisions because oflast year\u2019s closure at Santa Anita.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
On Sunday, Oaklawn\u2019s handle rebounded, with $4 million in wagering. That was up 25.6 percent from last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keeneland announced Monday that its annual spring meet would be canceled this year because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lexington, Ky., track was to run from April 2-24. It comes a day after the Red Mile, a Lexington harness track that partners with Keeneland to operate a historical horse racing (HHR) parlor, announced the closure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":130182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Keeneland Cancels Spring Meet Due to COVID-19, Aqueduct to Stay Open<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n