NEW YORK — Officials have lifted a precautionary quarantine on a barn at Belmont Park after test results for Freudnme, 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.