Racing returns to Belmont Park in New York with a horse named Fauci as coronavirus restrictions ease

Racing returns to Belmont Park in New York with a horse named Fauci as coronavirus restrictions ease

2-year-old Fauci falls short on the opening day of racing as jokeys pay tribute to coronavirus victims and peaceful protesters

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT SHOWS: ELMONT, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 3, 2020) (NYRA-BROADCAST: MUST COURTESY NYRA.

DIGITAL: MUST COURTESY NYRA) 1.

HORSES WORKING OUT ON RACETRACK WITH WORKERS IN MASKS 2.

HORSE BEING WASHED 3.

GLOVES AND DISINFECTANT BEING USE TO CLEAN AREAS OF THE TRACK 4.

WORKER HAVING HIM TEMPERATURE TAKEN 5.

BELMONT JOCKEYS TAKING A KNEE IN MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR CORONAVIRUS VICTIMS AND PEACEFUL PROTESTERS 6.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE THIRD RACE AS "FAUCI" BATTLES WITH "PRISONER" DOWN THE STRETCH AND FINISHES IN THE MONEY BUT HAS TO SETTLE FOR SECOND PLACE.

STORY: Bettors looking to ride a hunch when horse racing returned to New York's Belmont Park on Wednesday (June 3) hoped to find a winner in Fauci.

Unfortunately for them, the 2-year-old lost in a stretch run to co-favorite Prisoner and finished in second place.

Prior to the start of racing, Belmonts jockeys took a knee in a moment of silence for coronavirus victims and peaceful protesters calling for police reforms around the country.

Named after Doctor Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert at the center of U.S. efforts to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak, Fauci has been installed as the 4-5 favorite in the third race.

The action at Belmont Park is the first live sporting event held in New York in nearly three months as restrictions put in place by the COVID-19 outbreak begin to ease.

"It would be fitting if Fauci won, to give the whole thing a bit of closure," the horse's owner Philip Antonacci told the New York Post before the start.

Antonacci bought the two-year-old for $175,000 dollars last year, according to a report in the Post and three months ago applied to give the horse the name Fauci to honor his family's Italian-American heritage and the doctor who was a neighbor in Brooklyn.

(Production: Peter Bullock)