On Friday, May 10 it was announced that due to the recent outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus Type 1 (EHV-1) at Vernon Downs, New York Sire Stakes action will be halted for the month of May.
The notice was sent out Friday by the Harness Horse Breeders of New York State.
The alert states that efforts are being made to reschedule all the NYSS events in a 28-day quarantine window, and that the NYSS hopes to have a revised schedule approved by the Agriculture and NYS Horse Breeding Development Fund very soon.
The contents of the Harness Horse Breeders of New York State release on the issue appears below.
Update On NYSS Schedule Changes
Dear Horsemen,
We have received a large volume of calls concerning the health issue at Vernon Downs.
The Harness Horse Breeders of NYS are working with the Agriculture and NYS Horse Breeding Development Fund to find the best solution for the NYSS program.
There will be no NYSS events in the month of May.
Efforts are being made to reschedule all the NYSS events in the 28 day quarantine window.
The shipping of horses into the quarantined locations is problematic; but the shipping of NYSS eligible horses out to race is of more immediate concern.
The horse owner’s paid into the program and we want to give them every opportunity to race their horses.
Naturally, HHBNYS wants to protect the health of all NYSS eligible horses and we feel that delaying the start of the NYSS season will help us achieve that goal.
We hope to have a revised schedule approved by the Agriculture and NYS Horse Breeding Development Fund very soon.
Please pass this information along to all horsemen. We will post a revised schedule on the nysirestakes.com and hhbnys.com websites when we have more news.
We understand the confusion and are trying to acquire a solution as quickly as possible.
(Harness Horse Breeders of NYS)
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• Vernon Shut Down With Equine Herpes Case