CALIFORNIA, USA – Jockey Drayden Van Dyke hopped off Charlatan after winning the sixth race by 1 01 /4 lengths at Santa Anita on Saturday (March 14) and celebrated by trading elbow taps in the winners’ 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 sanitiser 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.

“It’s a little strange looking up there and not seeing anybody,” Cohen said before playing the traditional “Call to the Post” that greets runners as they hit the track.

The usual scent of hand-carved sandwiches — turkey, corned beef, and prime rib — wasn’t wafting through the air. The food stands were shut down. There was no one manning the admission gates, selling programmes and Daily Racing Forms or operating the elevators or gift shop, and no mutual clerks to sell and cash tickets.

Without fans yelling for their favourites, 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 realised we’re so vulnerable. This is scary times.”

Baffert cancelled plans to attend a horse sale in Florida because of the virus. He recently returned from races in Saudi Arabia, where he kept his distance from people and constantly wiped down surfaces.

“I have allergies, so I always touch my eyes,” he said. “I think I’m going to put Tabasco sauce on my fingers just to remind myself not to touch.”

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 didn’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 programmes. 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 practise 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.

Joe Brown, who was sitting at a table in the enclosed grandstand doing some handicapping with a friend, said he wasn’t overly concerned about getting sick even though he’s 63 and has underlying health issues.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover from the virus.

“I’m that part of the population that wants to worry about it,” Brown said. “But I figured I haven’t heard of anything around Grand Island yet, so maybe now will be the last time we get out in a group like this and have some fun.”