EHV scare leads to brief quarantine of Delaware Park

  • userThe Biz
  • dateAugust 10, 2022

All tests at Delaware Park for equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) came back clear Wednesday, which was good news for the track, which briefly was essentially quarantined pending the outcome of those tests.

The Maryland Jockey Club and other tracks had announced they would not permit Delaware horses on their grounds earlier Wednesday morning.

But by mid-afternoon at 2:20 p.m., the Delaware racing office was able to inform horsemen via text message that “All tests for EHV-1 at Del Park are NEGATIVE!” Three minutes later, the racing office followed up with a message that there “NO EHV-1” at Delaware Park. And about 20 minutes after that, the Laurel racing office said it would again permit Delaware horse in MJC facilities.

So, no harm, no foul, but in between, the brief lockdown did wreak some havoc with Delaware’s Wednesday card. The quarantine, plus the two turf racing being moved to the main track, led to 26 scratches on the day. That decimated the featured sixth and seventh races, with the former losing four of its seven betting interests and the latter losing four of eight.

On a separate matter, Delaware Park announced during the day a donation to Meals on Wheels. It issued the following press release:

Many Delawareans 60 years and older live alone, are unable to shop for themselves and live on a fixed income. To assist this population, Delaware Park Casino & Racing recently provided donation boxes in their facility to collect unused vouchers from their guests.  During the months of June and July, Delaware Park’s charitable guests contributed to the grand total of $10,000 for Meals on Wheels Delaware.

“It is an unfortunate reality that many homebound seniors don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Thanks to the generosity of our guests, we can help those who may be struggling,” said Ron Baumann, Delaware Park’s President & General Manager.

This is the first monetary donation presentation stemming from a new, community initiative that will feature a different organization each month.  Please visit our website for upcoming beneficiaries and other community partnership information.

Meals on Wheels Delaware’s (MOWD) mission is to raise funds, other resources, and awareness to support meal delivery programs to homebound seniors in Delaware. MOWD supports five meal-delivery programs/locations statewide. In 2021, 898,509 hot and nutritious meals were delivered to over 6,600 seniors statewide with the help of over 1,000 volunteers.

LATEST NEWS