Horsing Around

The Santa Barbara Polo Club is delaying the start of its 109th season, which was scheduled to kick off on May 1, because of the coronavirus.

Instead, the hotly anticipated initial equestrian event, the Folded Hills Pope Challenge, has been rescheduled for May 15, with the 12-goal schedule continuing through July 5.

“The club is entirely at the mercy of the state of California and the coronavirus as much as anyone else,” says club manager David Sigman.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and recognize some things are out of our control. In the horse world we are sometimes afflicted with outbreaks of infectious diseases such as strangles and EHV, so we are following a similar protocol in our decision making while the world is under quarantine.”

Long may they rein…

Keeping Their Distance

Former TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey, 66, is sleeping in separate houses from her longtime partner Stedman Graham, 69, at her Montecito estate.

Oprah, who contracted pneumonia late last year, has announced on Instagram that Stedman is currently in quarantine in their guesthouse after he became a higher coronavirus risk after taking a number of flights on business.

In the video Oprah, who has been with Stedman since 1986, told her 18.2 million Instagram followers: “Stedman is in the guest house. You all know I had CC late last year and you still hear the raspiness in my throat sometimes.

“And I just got off antibiotics last week and so Stedman was late to the party. He didn’t drive from Chicago until Thursday and he was speaking in St. Louis on Saturday, and he’s been on planes.”

Oprah added: “Social distancing doesn’t mean you can go sleep in a bed with someone after you get off American Airlines. We cannot play those games.

“I leave food on the doorstep… He’s happy to have me safe. We just take him dinner and we take him breakfast.”

Food for thought, indeed.

Live from Carp

Carpinteria TV talk show host Conan O’Brien is broadcasting his popular TBS show from his home during the coronavirus pandemic.

He will be back on air via iPhones and Skype as of April, while his staff remain home.

“This will not be pretty, but feel free to laugh at our attempt,” he writes on Twitter.

Conan, 56, is the first TV host to try to remotely mount a full broadcast from his home.

“The quality of my work will not go down because technically that’s not possible,” he joked.

Just in Time

Santa Barbara warbler Katy Perry fled Australia after 24 hours in lockdown at a Sydney hotel.

The former Dos Pueblos High student, 35, abruptly cancelled all press interviews and caught a plane back to the U.S. to rejoin her British actor fiancé Orlando Bloom, who had also abruptly wrapped up filming of this new Amazon series Carnival Row in Prague, to meet President Trump‘s new coronavirus travel restrictions.

Hunkering Down

Montecito actress Gwyneth Paltrow and her TV producer husband Brad Falchuk are obviously taking the coronavirus warnings to heart.

The tony twosome were spotted at a farmers market in Los Angeles wearing large black face masks and blue disposable gloves.

“It’s time for nesting, reading, cleaning out closets, doing something you’ve always wanted to do (write a book, learn an instrument, learn to code online, draw or paint), going through photos, cooking and reconnecting on a deeper level with the people you love,” says the Oscar winner.

“We will get through this and I bet you our humanity will shine like never before.”

Positive thoughts…