The track’s horses and trainers are typically located behind the tracks and are referred to as backstretch workers. At every racetrack in the nation, these workers are very similar. The tracks have acres and acres filled with hard-working men and women, mostly from Latin American countries like Mexico and Guatemala. The trainers and the owners are the bosses, the horses and the jockeys are the stars, but the labor and skill required to care for the horse population in the backstretch stables falls on the backs of these people.
Workdays often exceed 12 hours, whether under the blistering sun of Texas, or the freezing cold mornings of New York, or New Jersey. The cleaning of barns, walking mile after mile with the prized horses to cool them down after workouts, feeding, bathing, and caring for the health of each equine athlete requires a staff that has the right expertise. The racehorses are big, powerful, and often unpredictable; only experienced horse people can co-exist with the animals. Nearly every backstretch worker can tell stories of being bitten or kicked. The backstretch workers travel the circuit from racetrack to racetrack throughout the year, leading a nomadic life in often close to poverty conditions that bring their communities into very close friendships.
A top horse can be worth $5,000,000 or more, but even an above-average thoroughbred at a top track can earn $40,000 or more in prize money per year. The experienced and dependable grooms and workers can be just as important to the success of a fragile racehorse as the trainer, and the staff becomes emotionally attached to the fast, beautiful animals in their care twenty-four hours per day.
Luis traveled everywhere with Winning Colors. The short trips were easier; cross-country trips were more difficult. After their first flight from Santa Anita to the historic Saratoga racetrack in New York, Luis often stayed with Mamacita in the barn at night, even though he was off the clock. Although he was tending a beloved animal, Luis spent time thinking of his wife and children, 3,000 miles away and in their own beds.
The racing calendar has seasons, as the track circuit venues change about every three months. The biggest race meets of the entire year are held at the three spa tracks that are summer retreats for the wealthy: Del Mar racetrack in San Diego, California, Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington, Kentucky, and the famous Saratoga Racetrack, a three-hour drive north of New York City. The most expensive, best-bred horses in the country were all pointed to the top stakes races each summer at these exclusive venues. Winning Colors was ready to make her debut on the Saratoga stage, at the grandest of racetracks, against the best and most expensive young fillies in training.
August 13, 1987, Saratoga Racetrack, New York
Before he left California, Luis promised his wife he would stop betting on the horses. She’d noticed his meager take-home pay was often far less than it should be. He hoped Mariana wouldn’t look in the box in the closet where they kept their savings because he’d bet all they had on her on the day Mamacita was making her debut. He told all his fellow workers, “She is the one,” as he’d personally wagered $900.
The race wouldn’t be easy, as a full field of 11 top young fillies were competing against the tall gray filly. Despite not being the morning line favorite when printed in the race day program, the word was out on her ability, as she had opened in the Saratoga third race betting at 6-1 but was now bet down to the solid fan favorite at just under 2-1. Luis was smiling like a proud father as he led her under halter around the enormous infield paddock in the front of the Saratoga track. Winning Colors’ local jockey, Randy P. Romero, was shocked to see the size of the massive filly when he met her in the saddling area.
Luis told the jockey, “Just hold on and don’t fall off…she will do the rest, amigo, I promise…and if you fall off, you owe me $900.”
The other eight well-bred fillies were led to the starting gate for the one-turn, seven- furlong race (each furlong is one-eighth of a mile) adorned in their bright colored racing silks from the stables of other wealthy owners and their top ranked national trainers. Many of the other fillies were sweating in the August New York heat and humidity, but Winning Colors appeared cool and dry.
On the way to the post, Winning Colors lunged at two other competitors, a game she liked to play. The huge metal starting gate is a frightening beast to young racehorses, but Winning Colors, in her yellow and blue colors, calmly entered stall number three and stood rock still, as the other 10 fillies loaded. When the starting gate bell rang, the gates snapped opened, and Winning Colors nearly pulled Romero’s legs out of the saddle irons with her acceleration. In 10 strides, she was a half-length in front of the field while battling two other well-bred and well-bet fillies sprinting down the backstretch.
Thoroughbred horseraces are carefully timed into quarter-mile segments. As each quarter of a mile is completed, the elapsed time is posted on the television monitors and on the tote board, located in the center of the track, which also displays the horses’ current betting odds. Each quarter-mile segment is usually run in around 24 seconds, but the first quarter-mile is usually run faster than the later quarter-mile segments of the dirt races, as the horses become tired in the later stages of the race.
Races are usually run at distances from three-quarters-of-a-mile (one-turn sprints), up to one-and-one-quarter miles (two-turn routes) for races like the Kentucky Derby. Top racehorses can run nearly 40 mph, but don’t go full speed for an entire race as they must reserve their
