Gulfstream Park ‘threatened legal action’ when city officials asked it to close
March Madness was canceled. The NBA was suspended. The Olympics were postponed. Gulfstream Park, apparently, hasn’t gotten the memo.
The horse track “threatened legal action” against the city of Hallandale Beach if government officials try to prevent Wednesday’s races and Saturday’s Florida Derby, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“They need to stop the racing,” Hallandale Beach Vice Mayor Sabrina Javellana told the Sun Sentinel on Tuesday. “We can’t just bend to their will just because they say they’re going to sue us or [take] whatever legal action They’re a powerful entity, but we can’t just allow that to go on.”
An executive order that closed all non-essential businesses in Broward County went into effect Monday morning. The track had already shut down its restaurants, casino as well as barred spectators before the mandate but denied the city’s request to suspend the races due to the coronavirus, the Sun Sentinel reported. Some essential businesses include hospitals, grocery stores, gas stations and banks.
As of Tuesday evening, Gulfstream Park’s website gave no indication of canceling Wednesday’s race and Saturday’s Florida Derby despite Broward having the second-highest number of positive cases in the state, according to the Florida Department of Health. Several of their upcoming concerts, however, had been postponed.
A Gulfstream Park representative had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Javellana told the newspaper that running the races requires at least 20 people. The county order limited gatherings to less than 10 people, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines.
Gulfstream Park wouldn’t be the only track that continued racing in the midst of the global pandemic. Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, continued racing after Gov. Gavin Newsom allowed it to defy his stay-at-home order, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported. Both Gulfstream and Santa Anita are owned by the same company, the Stronach Group.
The Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens, New York, also planned to race, but its meet was postponed after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus, according to The New York Times.
“There is literally no other reason for them to be racing other than keeping horse people happy, who are going to be watching and betting online, I assume,” Javellana told the Sun Sentinel.
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 7:30 PM.
