Horse

Fauquier Times | www.fauquier.com | March 18, 2020 11 HORSE SPORTS By Betsy Burke Parker Special o he Times Postponing the Virginia Gold Cup was a no-brainer, race officials say. One of the nation’s most prestigious steeplechases and the region’s largest sporting event will now be June 20.

“This date allows other race meets to run before Gold Cup,” as on the normal spring circuit, said Virginia Gold Cup race chair and new president of the National Steeplechase Association, Al Griffin.

Though there are no known cases of the global pandemic COVID-19 in Virginia’s equestrian community, the horse world has been hard hit by cancellations of everything from the smallest practice events to the gigantic Gold Cup.

The Kentucky Derby, horse racing’s other first-Saturday-in-May touchstone, has been rescheduled for Sept. 5. Baltimore’s Preakness Stakes is probably going to be run two weeks later, and the third Triple Crown leg, the Belmont Stakes, will likely move to an early October date. The local point-to-point circuit has been fully abandoned after two races. Rappahannock Hunt races opened the series on March 7, followed by the Warrenton Hunt Point-to-Point run March 14 at Airlie with world-class entries overfilling a 10-race program. But the circuit’s four other hunt-sponsored races have been scrapped.

“These cancellations are unprecedented,” Virginia Point-to-Point Foundation president Don Yovanovich said, saying the March 21 Piedmont Foxhounds Point-to-Point he’s chaired for decades decided to cancel early on Monday, along with the Upperville club’s hunter pace.

The NSA spring calendar has been rescheduled into late May and June. The 100th running of the Middleburg Spring Races, originally set for April 18, will be May 30.

“This situation is very real and very serious. It is the risk that’s (especially) worrisome when among crowds,” said Yovanovich. “It’s a shame, everything for a great season was in front of us – great weather so far, good footing and lots of horses and new riders.

“We can only wait this situation out. It’s the only responsible thing to do.”

“It’s the horses, and fans, that are the big losers,” said Warrenton sporting photographer Douglas Lees, twotime Eclipse Award-winner. “The horses might (compete) next spring, but they’re a year older, and this kind of time off, you never know.”

Gold Cup executive director Diane Jones said the mass confusion has been a major disruption. “Never in my life have I seen this kind of behavior, except when there was a snowstorm,” Jones said. Gold Cup moved to June 20 as horse world reacts to pandemic

Phone: 540-788-9000 Fax: 540-788-4793 E-mail: fspca@fauquierspca.com www.fauquierspca.com March 12, 2020 P.O. Box 733 9350 Rogues Road Warrenton, VA 20188 Fauquier SPCA Marty Sunlight Rixie Kendra Sugar Anthony Fotia Marbles Spice March 12, 2020 Fauquier SPCA Marty Sunlight Rixie Kendra Sugar Anthony Fotia Marbles Spice Fauquier SPCA March 12, 2020 Fauquier SPCA Marty Sunlight Rixie Kendra Sugar Anthony

March 12, 2020

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Rixie Fotia

P.O. Box 733 9350 Rogues Road Warrenton, VA 20188 Kendra Marbles

Phone: 540-788-9000 Fax: 540-788 E-mail: fspca@fauquierspca.com www.fauquierspca.com Spice

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Opening Spring 2020 16001 Loves MiLL LAne GAinesviLLe, vA 20155 Fotia Marbles

Due to the Fauquier SPCA Adoption Center being closed, pets for adoption will be shown by appointment only. Anthony Phone: 540-788-9000 Fax: 540-788-4793 E-mail: fspca@fauquierspca.com www.fauquierspca.com

Spice Fauquier SPCA P.O. Box 733 9350 Rogues Road Warrenton, VA 20188 Phone: 540-788-9000 E-mail: fspca@fauquierspca.com Fax: 540-788-4793 www.fauquierspca.com