NEW YORK — Officials have lifted a precautionary quarantine on a barn at Belmont Park after test results for a horse suspected of having equine herpesvirus Type 1 were negative.
The New York Racing Association said Sunday all horses in Barn 37 were found to not have fever and were asymptomatic. As a result, they can enter races and train among the general population.
The precautionary quarantine had been put in place a day earlier after a 4-year-old colt exhibited fever and neurological symptoms. Freudnme is being monitored by a private veterinarian. The colt last raced at Finger Lakes in upstate New York in June 2019.
EHV-1 can cause an upper respiratory infection in young horses. If a number of horses are housed together, they can become sick and then recover uneventfully. However, equine herpesvirus-1 can also cause a severe neurological disease that affects a horse’s brain and spinal cord, and may result in paralysis and death.
Belmont’s current meet ends July 12. It is racing without spectators because of the coronavirus pandemic.