Santa Anita stable workers warn of 'human cost' to ending racing

A multitude of stable workers at Santa Anita Park served as a backdrop Thursday afternoon at Santa Anita Park, where speakers stepped up to a podium with a simple goal.

“We don’t want welfare. We don’t want unemployment. We just want to keep our jobs right here at Santa Anita racetrack,” said Oscar de la Torre, who organized a press conference aimed to provide grooms, hotwalkers and other employees a voice in a continuing conversation.

Paperwork distributed by the group indicates horse racing in California directly employs 77,000 people, and that the industry measures $13.3 billion in total economic impact. But a spate of equine fatalities this season at Santa Anita Park, where racing runs through Sunday, has prompted safety reforms and potential government intervention.

“We do not like to lose one, single animal,” said Leandro Mora, assistant to leading Santa Anita trainer Doug O’Neill. “We love them all. Those are our kids.”

Mora cited employee services on site ranging from medical and dental help to contributions from the Edwin J. Gregson Foundation that allowed his children to attend college.

“Everything will disappear if we lose all this,” he said.

De la Torre cited a “human cost” to closing Santa Anita, noting that more than 50,000 people are homeless within LA County, where the track is located.

“The most important to understand is there are consequences for extreme measures,” he said. “To close a place down like this, it would have a tremendous negative impact on many of the workers and their families.”

De la Torre also said stable workers “support the reform effort,” naming California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has issued statements in recent weeks saying he’s “troubled by the horse deaths at Santa Anita Park.” The Stronach Group, which owns and operates Santa Anita, instituted more stringent safety protocols in March after a temporary halt to racing and training in Arcadia, Calif.

“We want to modernize the horse racing industry,” de la Torre said. “We all support that, because we all understand that by supporting and protecting our horses, we will protect our jobs and our livelihoods.”

A statement issued Thursday by The Stronach Group, which owns and operates Santa Anita, said: “Backstretch workers comprise the backbone of the racing industry and have been a willing partner in implementing the reforms we have proposed at Santa Anita Park— and the California Horse Racing Board implemented — during the course of this meeting. Support from these backstretch workers is a testament to the commitment from within the industry to modernize our sport.

“We look forward to working with the hundreds of backstretch workers at Santa Anita Park as we continue to move the industry forward and educate Californians on how impactful horse racing is to the state.”