On Saturday (April 10) Woodbine Entertainment and Ontario Racing issued a notice to Ontario's horsepeople regarding COVID-19 vaccination information.

The release is as follows:

The Government of Ontario has now moved to Phase 2 of its COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Plan which provides eligibility to essential frontline workers who cannot work from home, which includes agriculture and farm workers.

Moreover, the vaccination plan is also now prioritizing residents living in hot spots, which includes Woodbine Racetrack. To see if you live in a hot spot, please click here.

We encourage everyone to please educate yourself on the vaccines and the vaccination roll-out plan. By booking an appointment to become vaccinated NOW, you protect yourself, your family, our Horse People communities, and our collective ability to conduct live racing without further interruptions due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

Once live racing resumes, continuing to race without further interruptions is dependent on limiting any spread of the virus throughout our industry. Whether in horse racing or other industries, vaccines are an important safety to measure to further protect yourself and others from COVID-19. As mentioned on the Government of Ontario’s website, “When a large percentage of the population becomes immune to COVID-19, the spread of the virus will slow down or stop.”

Horse people and racetracks throughout Ontario did a tremendous job of minimizing the on-site spread of COVID-19 in 2020. Together, with the aid of vaccines and by continuing to follow all safety measures, let’s make 2021 even safer so we can all continue to do what we love.

Thank you and be safe.

(Woodbine / Ontario Racing)