The pandemic is sitting there waiting to explode and ruin the Kentucky Derby this year.
The great race is due to be run next week on 5 September.
Already in unrelated racing news, protesters are demanding their cause become more important than the race itself, and this morning their desires received a bit of a boost in the arm when Covid testing last week of Churchill Downs’ backstretch workers came out.
Of 1,823 COVID-19 tests administered to workers at Churchill Downs, 47 were positive in the first round of testing administered by the track.
According to a press release from Churchill Downs, the tests were given between Wednesday Aug. 19 and Monday Aug. 24 in preparation for the G1 Kentucky Derby.
The positivity rate for the tests was 2.58%, putting Churchill Down’s rate lower than the state of Kentucky’s, which was 4.6% as of Wednesday.
But it is high enough to concern the Governor and he must be uneasy in his seat re allowing the Run For The Roses go ahead in eight days.
On top of that, these continuing protests over the death of an unarmed woman called Breonna Taylor is gathering momentum.
Activists have held demonstrations in Louisville since late May to call for the arrest of the officers who shot Taylor. The 26-year-old woman was fatally shot in her home during a narcotics raid by police on March 13. And in order to gain a national platform, the protesters have moved their march to the gates of Churchill Downs on the eve of the Derby to get their message across.
Protesters on Tuesday walked along a major avenue near the famed track. Huge signs were brought out and placed over the existing Churchill Downs signs. Many activists sat down to block traffic.
Police had already blocked off the street and redirected traffic and then they just got sick of the protest and arrested 68.
Only time will tell if that swells the activists numbers.
Earlier this month, the Governor banned spectators from attending the Gr 1 Derby this year.
