Kentucky Derby to be held without spectators
Matt HegartyAug 21, 2020
The Kentucky Derby will be run without fans this year for the first time in its history.
On Friday, Churchill Downs announced that it had canceled its plans to allow a limited number of ticketholders into the track on Derby Day, taking place this year on Sept. 5 because of the disruption caused by the coronavirus. The cancellation comes at a time when Kentucky has failed to show any meaningful progress in slowing the spread of the coronavirus, and at a time of general unrest in Churchill’s city, Louisville.
“Churchill Downs and all of our team members feel strongly that it is our collective responsibility as citizens of Louisville to do all we responsibly can to protect the health, safety, and security of our community in these challenging times and believe that running the Derby without spectators is the best way to do that,” the company said in a statement.
Spectators will also not be allowed to attend the races on the four days leading up to the Derby card, including the Kentucky Oaks card on Sept. 4.
Churchill first announced in April that it would delay the Derby until Sept. 5, in the hopes that measures to contain the spread of coronavirus would prove effective. In late June, the track announced that it was planning to allow as many as 60,000 spectators into the track, but it pared those plans to approximately 24,000 fans on Aug. 12. At the time of that announcement, track officials said they would make “adjustments” to the new plan in response to any developments regarding the pandemic.
Opening Churchill to spectators would have likely meant allowing people into the track from other areas of the country. Louisville is currently considered a “red zone” in the U.S., and Jefferson County, where Louisville is located, has had more than 2,300 new cases in the last week, according to the office of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
“I applaud Churchill Downs for continuing to monitor the virus and for making the right and responsible decision,” said Beshear, in a release distributed by Churchill. “I am asking all Kentuckians to take action to stop the spread of the virus so we can get back to the many traditions we enjoy.”
Groups seeking to highlight the mistreatment of black people have announced plans to stage protests at Churchill during Derby week, and several racing officials with ties to horsemen traveling to the track for Derby week have said that Churchill officials had brought up their concerns about the protests in communications with those arriving at the track.
Louisville has been a center of the Black Lives Matter protests because of the shooting death in March of Breonna Taylor by city police. Taylor, an emergency medical technician, was shot eight times by plainclothes officers executing a “no-knock” search warrant.
Churchill said its decision was based in part on the “rapid escalation” of positivity rates in the Louisville area for coronavirus in the last two months. The release quoted the chief executive officer of Norton Healthcare as saying that the rate has gone from 2 percent in June to 10 percent in “recent days.”
All ticketholders for the Derby and other race cards planned by Churchill will be issued refunds.
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