TDN Writers’ Room for March 26, With TSG’s Craig Fravel
03.26.20
Santa Anita and Gulfstream are only two of the six tracks still racing in the U.S. This week, we check in with Craig Fravel from the Stronach Group to talk about the precautions they’re taking. Also, the writers talk about the latest developments in horse racing with the coronavirus, and the challenges horsemen face
Writes TDN
As the overseer of two of the biggest tracks still running races in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, The Stronach Group’s CEO Craig Fravel has a lot of responsibility right now. As Saturday’s GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream nears and the GI Santa Anita Derby follows next weekend, Fravel stopped by the TDN Writers’ Room podcast, presented by Keeneland, to talk with Bill Finley about this tumultuous time. He was our Green Group Guest of the Week.
“Things seem to change on an hourly basis,” Fravel said. “I think I was in Florida a week and a half ago when some of the first governmental orders started coming out, and things have changed literally hour by hour, day by day on those things. So I can’t make any longterm predictions any more than anyone else can. I think we’re all learning more about the situation. We’re learning how to implement best practices and trying to do those consistently across our properties. We’re obviously very concerned for the workers.”
Fravel went on to make a similar point about why Gulfstream is staying open that other racetrack officials have made: hundreds of horses that need to be attended to. He also said that Gulfstream is operating with as few workers as possible to keep races going while trying to contain the spread of COVID-19.
—