Shared from the 5/30/2020 Albany Times Union eEdition

SARATOGA RACE COURSE

Oklahoma to open next week

Training track to permit horsemen on Tuesday and workouts begin Thursday

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Skip Dickstein / Times Union archive

Trainer Bill Mott said he was making arrangements on Friday to start sending horses by van from Florida to Saratoga.

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Skip dickstein / times union archive

trainer James Bond: “there is not a better track to train horses on in the country. it’s quiet here and horses really blossom.”

After nearly two months, the horses will return to Saratoga.

The Oklahoma Training Track is scheduled to open next week.

Under normal circumstances, the Oklahoma, located across the street from Saratoga Race Course, would be in operation in mid-April. The coronavirus pandemic has kept the gates shut.

The locks come off on Tuesday when horsemen will be permitted to be in the barn area. Training will officially begin on Thursday.

“Fantastic news,” trainer James Bond said by cellphone Friday. “I’ve been there for 30 years and there is not a better track to train horses on in the country. Most tracks are in the middle of cities and there are planes going over the horses’ heads and sirens going off. It’s quiet here and horses really blossom.”

Bond has his own private barn on Gridley Avenue, just down the street from Horseshoe Bar and Grill and a furlong or three from the Oklahoma. He plans on moving his horses in early next week. He has been keeping a lot of them, particularly his 2-year-olds, at his farm in Stillwater.

The Oklahoma and the Whitney Viewing Stand will be closed to horse owners as well as the public. Access will be restricted to licensed/approved personnel and they will be required to complete a daily health screening and temperature check which will be conducted by trained EMTs. Those deemed to be essential personnel will have been licensed by the New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC).

NYRA, after consultation with the NYSGC and state and local health officials, has implemented a comprehensive set of health and safety protocols designed to protect and mitigate risk for employees, horsemen, backstretch workers and the Saratoga community

All personnel working in the barn area must test negative for the coronavirus or test positive for the antibodies for COVID-19. This applies to local personnel and those coming from other regions.

In addition, face masks or coverings and social distancing will be mandatory at all times.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott is another who would normally have a full barn at the Oklahoma by now. He said Friday he has remained in Florida, where he has been all winter, training his horses to run at Gulfstream Park. After the championship meet at Gulfstream concluded at the end of March, he would normally ship horses to Belmont, Kentucky and Saratoga.

“We have been comfortable conducting business where we have been at,” Mott said by cellphone. “We have not suffered, but it’s almost June. I built a home (in Saratoga) based around the fact that we train up there every spring and into the fall. It’s a lifestyle.”

Mott said he was making arrangements on Friday to start sending horses to Saratoga by van. He will likely be in town by the time the track opens for training on Thursday.

twilkin@timesunion.com 518-454-5415 @tjwilkin

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