Lesson Two: Backstage at the Racetrack!
May 12, 2007
OK. Now that you've become familiar with Thoroughbreds themselves—and they are, after all, the reason why we're here—now it's time to become a bit familiar with the environment in which they live and train, and the people who get them to that moment when you see them explode out of the starting gate, and hurdle into history.
(For our purposes, we'll use our beloved Saratoga Race Course as the example. There are hundreds of racetracks around the world: most are uniform in the placement and use of several aspects. The people who work in the back with the horses are pretty much the same around the world.)
Let's start in the backstretch(also called the backside). The backstretch is the barn and training area on the opposite side of the oval (the track, itself). This is the "backstage" area, bursting with life and preparations, as the stars of tomorrow are loved and taught how to find their inner hero. The backstretch is usually off-limits to those not professionally involved in racing, unless you can snag a visitor's pass through a backstretch pro. This isn't to keep out good-hearted folks who just love horses, but it's a work environment, and interlopers could upset the balance of work, and the horses themselves.
But I love introducing newbies to the horses, and to racing. Newbies who experience the backstretch become fans for life, even before the races begin—for this is the most intimate, natural place to experience Thoroughbreds before the show goes on later in the afternoon.
The backstretch is usually green and verdant, and far more quiet than the frontside. The morning air is cool and crisp; the relative silence is punctuated by the sounds of horses neighing, nickering and greeting theirpeople. The barn area is as close to Heaven-on-Earth as it gets.
So you've scored a visitor's pass through, say, your friends at Alpha Mare Media. We arrive at the backstretch gate, and head straight to the picnic area closest to the rail (the metal fence enclosing the racetrack itself). This area is a social and professional gathering place for those involved with the day-to-day care of the horses: picnic tables, a snackbar (called "the lemonade stand," in Saratoga), betting windows, nice washrooms and TVs to monitor the finish of every race. Tall, ancient trees provide shade in even the most sweltering of summer days. This is a good place.
Taking your mind-numbingly strong lemonade stand-coffee, you stroll to the rail, where you see, up-close-and-personally, the horses working out. The horses are ridden by exercise riders, women and men, often jockeys or simply-brilliant horsepeople. Theirs is not an easy job, but it's emotionally very rewarding! A rider may get a two-year-old, full of herself, who needs to be calmed and taught manners. Or a rambunctious teenager who just doesn't want to workout that day. (Horses do have emotions, and they have very strong opinions!)
Exercise riders are buddies to their equine charges, and brilliant, physically strong, experienced riders: it's OK to admire them when you see them out there, and it's OK to say "Hi" if they initiate the conversation!
And what kinds of horses will you see working out on a Saratoga morning? You'll see famous, "rock star" Thoroughbreds, but also those two-year-old babies, just learning their way around the excitement of it all. Listen to bystanders' conversations and mutterings: you'll hear things like, "That's Curlin, isn't it?" and "Better Talk Now—I love him!" It's a great way, as a new race fan, to realize that--while at first blush all horses may look alike—their facial markings, personality traits and body structure (conformation) make every one unique.
As the horses workout, many of them are being timed: distances are noted, times measured to hundredths of a second. Stopwatch in hand, the people who have the responsibility of accurately timing a horse are known as the clockers.
And down there, at the chute at the left end of the track—who are those guys? Several men, all dressed alike, may look like they're "just standing around" by the starting gate in the chute. (A straightaway in the back, used for particular race distances. At Saratoga, the chute is the start of the seven-furlong races. (Furlong: a unit of measurement of distance, one-eighth of a mile, 660 feet.)
They're not lingering, or otherwise wasting time: they're called assistant starters, and they're the unsung heroes of every racetrack in the world.
Every single one of these people love horses with an unbridled passion—or they wouldn't be here. Assistant Starters are the cowboys of Thoroughbred racing. They're the unsung heroes you sort-of see at the beginning of every race, urging all the horses into the gate in a timely manner. They have X amount of time to get every horse settled in, and ready to blast out when the gate opens at the sound of the bell. They stand in the tiny gate stall with the horse and jockey. An incredibly dangerous job—but for those who love horses, a thrilling and rewarding gig.
After watching the "gate guys" teach new racehorses gate etiquette and timing, we wander back to the rail. This is the most sacred point of your day: the early-morning mist, horses' hooves pounding as they workout alone, or in groups of two or three—and your own heart learning a new rhythm, as you fall more in love with these critters, and this sport, than you ever imagined.
After 10:30, when workouts are over for the day and our equine athletes have gone back to their stalls, you walk directly behind the lemonade stand, to get a glimpse of the action in the barn area. There you'll see rows and rows of gorgeous, old, historic barns in various shades of green. This is the summer home of the horses: their historic, old barns give you a sense of the 140+ years of racing history in this most-beautiful of places. Reverie begins to set in, then you realize that there's a lot of hustle and bustle back here—more motion than perhaps even in the jam-packed grandstand!
Now the work begins:
Horses who'll race that day are being prepped for their big debut or next major win. (Horses don't workout the day they race.)
The horses who just stepped off the practice track are immediately delivered into the hands of their hotwalkers. (This term is rather self-explanatory: people are hired to "walk hots," which means a hot horse. After a race or workout, they must be walked in a large oval space until their body temperature; blood pressure and heart rate all lower.)
(Note: My friend, Ronnie, recently started a job as a hotwalker here in Saratoga. She's a brilliant horsewoman with many years' experience--but she's smart and knows that no one starts "at the top." If you want to become an exercise rider, trainer or other professional in the sport—you have to be willing to walk hots and work your way up the ranks.)
After the hots are walked, they're bathed, brushed and groomed by…their groom. Grooms are the horses' best friends: many grooms are with a Thoroughbred her entire life and career. Most of the grooms I've met love their horses, taking care of them with all the motherlove and nurturing that the horses need and deserve. They're the first ones to notice if a horse is off(not feeling well); they feed the horse at 5AM every morning; administer their medications; bathe them after workouts and races; rub their legs and give them kisses on the nose. Grooming a horse is often the first step toward becoming a trainer (assistant trainer is the step in-between), but many grooms stay with the job for their entire lives, and with a particular horse for its entire life.
(Note: Eddie Sweat was groom to Secretariat for many years: the day Secretariat died in 1989, Eddie was inconsolable. When Penny Chenery commissioned a statue of Secretariat for the Secretariat Center at the Kentucky Horse Park, she insisted that Eddie Sweat be part of the statue. The relationship between Eddie and the great Champion was so intimate that it was a given, as far as Penny was concerned, that Eddie, too, should be so memorialized.)
[Grooms, and all those who work with Thoroughbreds, deserve fair pay; comfortable living conditions; and health and other benefits. Hopefully, our worldwide community of women will be able to work together to ensure that, in the future, all grooms will reap great rewards and perks for their devotion to their equine charges.]
As you linger near the barns, you'll come to realize that this is a symphony, of horses and humans, smells, sights and sounds:
- hotwalkers, grooms, assistants and trainers, who give their horses the best care on Earth. - Thoroughbreds, learning their role as the world's most magnificent athletes.
- Neighing and nickering; instructions shouted out in Spanish, Creole, Irish and so many other languages. Music that rejuvenates the souls of both the horses and their human connections. (Connections: owners, trainers, all those associated with a particular racehorse.)
- Breakfast being prepared in the backstretchkitchen, and the hot-sweet scents of the most authentic Mexican food you'll ever taste—all these things contribute to the lively, jumpin', nurturing culture of the backstretch.
And the visuals! Once you've seen a Thoroughbred being bathed, the water spraying everywhere from a regal, shiny Thoroughbred tossing her head—you'll want to live here, with these gorgeous people and animals, forever. Tall trees, create a respite from the summer heat. Beautiful people of every color and origin, smile and welcome you to their world. World-renowned trainers, riding their ponies, as they inspect their charges. (Ponies in this world are not a breed of small horse! A pony is the horse, either a retired Thoroughbred or other breed, who's ridden by the trainer, outrider, exercise rider or other pro. A pony has great job and emotional security. And an outrider is an experienced horsewoman or –man who has many jobs on the track: They're the riders who escort the Thoroughbreds and their jockeys from the paddock to the starting gate. They also wrangle a horse who gets loose, perhaps from throwing her jockey at the starting gate. Outriders do their jobs with such efficiency and quietude that you may never have realized their presence.)
The backstretch, from the lemonade stand, workouts and morning rituals—is my favorite place, and time, in all of Thoroughbred racing. Come, let me show you this side of the races: once you've experienced our world backstage, you'll be addicted to this sport, forever. And a healthier, more spiritually-healing addiction, I cannot imagine.
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