Santa Anita backstretch workers fear losing their jobs, call press conference
The backstretch workers, the people behind the scenes at Santa Anita who take care of the horses for a living, will have a chance to have their voices heard at the track’s Clockers’ Corner on Thursday.
A press conference, featuring “all stable area personnel, trainers and employees” has been scheduled, beginning at 11:45 a.m., because, according to a press release produced by the event’s organizers, “the public needs to know about the care and love we have for our horses.”
The statement continues: “We also want to strengthen protections for our horses and our jobs.”
Oscar de la Torre, the main organizer of the event and a self-proclaimed activist for workers’ rights, said he knew he had to get involved after meeting with several of the backstretch workers fearful of losing their jobs.
“I was contacted by (Santa Anita) employees and friends who are very familiar with the backstretch,” he said Tuesday. “It reminded me of family members that lost their jobs when Hollywood Park closed (2013). So I came and met with some of the backstretch workers and heard their stories and realized there was more to the story. There was a human impact and real consequences for these people losing their jobs.”
It’s been one of the toughest meets in Santa Anita’s long history. Twenty-nine horses have died since the track opened Dec. 26, causing a suspension of racing for most of March and calls by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and animal rights groups for the track to close until measures could be taken to halt the rash of fatalities.
Enter de la Torre, trainer Doug O’Neill and California Thoroughbred Trainers executive director Alan F. Balch, the latter two of whom helped de la Torre organize the event billed as “Strength in Unity.”
On March 31, Arms Runner became the 23rd fatality of the meet when he broke down during a race over Santa Anita’s hillside turf course and had to be euthanized. A stretch of 46 days followed before the 24th horse died on May 17.
De la Torre said backstretch workers were frustrated that the deaths grabbed all the headlines. He said they wanted to get out the news about how they loved the horses they cared for and felt worse than anyone.
“Unfortunately, the media reports sensational, controversial stories,” de la Torre said. “Horses living and (news about) no fatalities doesn’t make the news. And these are unfortunate, accidental deaths. No one wants to see a horse break down, and definitely not the people whose livelihood depends on horses surviving and thriving.”
O’Neill, Santa Anita’s leading trainer, believes Thursday’s event is the best chance yet for the backstretch workers to be heard.
“It’s been such a disastrous go of it (this meeting),” he said. “To me, it’s been almost like being on a bumpy plane ride and not knowing what’s going on. There’s no intercom from the cockpit. That’s kind of been what it’s felt like, so many people of mine and some of the employees, some of the employees from other barns, asking questions of what’s going on. They’re scared to death. We’re all scared to death.”
O’Neill said he loved de la Torre’s passion from the minute he met him through a friend of a friend.
“He wanted to help, be the voice of a lot of people that are really the hard working people in our sport who really haven’t had a voice,” he said.
De la Torre said the backstretch workers not only want their horses to be safe, but also fear for their jobs.
“They want to protect their jobs that allow them to provide for their families,” he said. “We hope to protect both, the horses and the people that take care of the horses.
“We have a homeless crisis in Los Angeles of 59,000 people and counting. We don’t want to contribute to that social problem by taking jobs away from a vulnerable population.”