Stable shutdown at Caymanas as trainer tests positive for COVID

With a two-day race meet at Caymanas Park set for today and Sunday, Chairman of the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Clovis Metcalfe said that despite the lockdown of a stable of a veteran trainer who tested positive for COVID-19, racing would still get under way as planned.

Metcalfe confirmed that the stable which is located at Caymanas Park is shut down and grooms at the facility have since been tested and are now awaiting their results.

Caymanas Park is located at Gregory Park in St Catherine.

However, in an interview with The Gleaner last month, Metcalfe said that his organisation was closely monitoring the coronavirus pandemic in Jamaica and that a positive test at Caymanas Park could lead to the suspension of racing in the country.

“Yes, we are paying close attention to it especially because St Catherine was a hotspot initially and so we are keeping a daily watch on it,” Metcalfe told The Gleaner last month.

“We are absolutely not taking anything for granted because if there is a spike in the virus at the racetrack, then we can forget about racing until next year or until the vaccination is found,” the JRC chairman had said.

Racing restarted at Caymanas Park on June 20 following an almost three-month shutdown of the industry, as the Government battled to control the spread of the virus.

Efforts to get a comment from Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton proved futile as several calls to his cell phone went to voicemail.