Ce Ce lies in the eyes of Beholder Mile as Baffert doubtful about Kentucky Derby

Drayden Van Dyke hopped off Charlatan after winning the sixth race by 10 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita on Saturday and celebrated by trading elbow taps in the winner’s circle. No traditional post-race handshakes during the coronavirus pandemic.

The jockey, like all riders at the Southern California track where no fans were in attendance, had already had his temperature taken. The jockeys’ room has “hand sanitizer everywhere you look,” Van Dyke said.

Bugler Jay Cohen blew his horn to an empty grandstand, with only trainers, jockeys and those working directly with the horses on hand to hear.

Without fans yelling for their favorites, the sounds of jockeys chirping to their mounts and horses’ hooves pounding the dirt track as they flew toward the finish line were easily heard.

“It’s really scary what’s going on right now,” Van Dyke said. “I hope they get it under control.”

Even without fans around, workers could be seen cleaning various public areas of Santa Anita to defend against the coronavirus, which left horse racing as one of the few sports still going on in the US.

“It’s just weird what’s going on in the world,” Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said. “I never realized we’re so vulnerable. This is scary times.”

Baffert also said May’s 146th Kentucky Derby could be postponed as racing went behind closed doors at California’s Santa Anita track for the first time since it opened in 1934.

“Churchill Downs is saying they’re not going to run the Derby without the people there, so I’m hearing may be June or in September,” Baffert said.

Still, it was a good day for the two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer. He watched from afar as Nadal won the $1 million Rebel Stakes - a major Kentucky Derby prep - by 1 1/2 lengths at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

“That was a pretty impressive performance. He just laid it down,” Baffert said.

A short time later, Charlatan led all the way and blew away four rivals in the $57,000 allowance race for 3-year-olds.

Nadal, Charlatan and Authentic give Baffert yet another loaded hand for the Kentucky Derby, which is scheduled to be run May 2. Churchill Downs officials have yet to say whether the opening leg of the Triple Crown will go on or be postponed.

Meanwhile, jockey Victor Espinoza road Ce Ce to the Grade One $400,000 Beholder Mile glory.

At Turfway Park in Kentucky, Field Pass ran down Invader to win the $250,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks in the day’s other Derby prep.

Fonner Park in Grand Island, Nebraska, was one of the few sporting venues in the country open to fans Saturday, and 73-year-old Jerry Moritz wasn’t going to let concerns over coronavirus stop him from going.

“If we had a dozen people in the hospital here and two or three died, then I would probably back off,” said Moritz, who has been attending races regularly since 1970 and almost every day in recent years.

“I feel like some people probably got it and don’t even know it and are already over it.”

No cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Hall County, where Fonner Park is located, and that was part of the reason track CEO Chris Kotulak decided to allow fans for the weekend racing programs. He said he would have no problem with closing the races to spectators if advised to do so by health officials.

Kotulak said the clubhouse and other viewing areas are being cleaned with increased frequency. Leaflets reminding employees and guests to practice good hygiene were distributed. As an added precaution, Kotulak visited the jockeys’ room Saturday morning to make sure none of the riders was experiencing any symptoms associated with the virus.

Agencies