ALTOONA, IA – Prairie Meadows announced an update to their jockey travel policy that takes effect today which could have a grave impact on the remainder of the Canterbury Quarter Horse meet.

In an earlier announcement from Canterbury Park, an isolated jockeys’ room was set aside for visiting jockeys with distancing and masks mandated in order to allow for transient jockeys to ride at Canterbury. Additionally, Canterbury moved to a single day Quarter Horse model in order to allow for horsemen to take advantage of running in both locations.

Several jockeys, both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse, make the trip between Altoona and Shakopee to ride at both tracks given the two jurisdictions relatively complimentary schedules. While unclear how this will play out, it’s hard to envision how the Quarter Horse season at Canterbury can continue if jocks are unable to move between the two racetracks.

“Due to the latest development we are assessing the jockey situation over the next few days to try and come up with a solution to this issue,” said Corey Wilmes, President of the Minnesota Quarter Horse Racing Association. “This is another hurdle to jump over due to covid-19 and we will be weighing out our options.”

This is the text of the new policy at Prairie Meadows that goes into effect Friday, July 17, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

The following restrictions will be implemented:

No new jockeys will be allowed into the current jockey colony at Prairie Meadows. Anyone in the current jockey colony that accepts a mount at another track must self-quarantine for a 14-day period. The quarantine period will start the day following the jockey’s most recent mount outside of Prairie Meadows. Once the self-quarantine period is over, the jockey must provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test within 5 days to be allowed to ride again at Prairie Meadows. This protocol is in effect until further notice.