The life of most racehorses, despite popular perception in the non-racing world, is THE life. They are pampered with the best feed, bathed each morning, rubbed with brushes to stimulate circulation and cultivate natural oils in the skin, and more. Their life and wellbeing is the source for the livelihood, if not wealth, of jockeys and trainers, and owners in some cases; they are, for the most part, treated accordingly.
The life of those who care for them is not so pampered.
Until just recently, the home of Aníbal Aguilar and his son Fernando was a ten-foot by ten-foot converted tack room in Barn M at the Trackside Training Center in Louisville, Kentucky. They are Thoroughbred grooms and their room opened directly onto the shed row circling the barn. They slept no more than ten feet from the stall of the nearest horse.
Proximity to horses was only the beginning for the Aguilars. “The grooms are with the horses when they have fevers, when they have colic at night and a vet needs to be called, you name it,” said Frank Agrinsoni, a 30-year racetrack veteran who worked alongside the Aguilars for trainer Cheri DeVaux at Trackside. This facility serves as overflow stabling for nearby Churchill Downs.
Proximity from home — Nueva Santa Rosa, Guatemala — is another matter entirely for the Aguilars. Aníbal, 64, came to this country in 2001, when Fernando was just four. He has never been back to his homeland. He reunited with Fernando only when his son joined him in the United States in 2015.
Left behind in Guatemala is a daughter and three grandchildren. Aníbal said he video-chats with his daughter daily, “but it’s not the same.”
In the world Aníbal and Fernando inhabit, they have what Americans would term, at best, extreme ‘first-world problems’: Their day may begin as early as 4.30 to 5 am, and end as late as 11 pm if a horse in their care races at night. Weekly income averages $500 to $600 - for 60 to 70 hours of work. More often than not, those hours are spread through a seven-day work week, with only an occasional day off.
The response and attitude towards what any American would look at as grueling, grinding hardship and relative poverty, however, is from a Third World perspective. “I thank God and this country for letting me work here,” said Aníbal.
Guatemalans like Fernando and Aníbal are part of the most recent wave of immigrants comprising the labor pool for hotwalkers and grooms on American racetracks. They have replaced Mexicans in the Midwest and Puerto Rican and Panamanian grooms in New York and other areas of the North East.
The reason for an influx of Guatemalans is twofold. “Guatemala is all rural. Kids ride horses to school there. You have to farm your land with a horse, so it’s part of the culture,” said Agrinsoni, who is the son of a Puerto Rican father who immigrated to New York and New York racetracks in the 60s.
There is also, according to Agrinsoni, an economic reason outweighing the long hours and meager pay. Guatemalans are the poorest of the poor in Central America. “A Mexican looks down on somebody working for $5 an hour. A Guatemalan thinks he’s hit the jackpot,” said Agrinsoni.
“There is a poverty line even among the poor. You have people that are dirt poor and you have people that are poor but who eat three meals a day. You have more of a middle class in Mexico than in Guatemala. Guatemala is completely poor.”
Good vibe
DeVaux’s Barn M, in one respect, is maybe one of the better ones as racetrack stables go. Standing rail-side with one’s back to the barn, you can hear laughter accompanying chatter and even some singing, virtually all in Spanish. It accompanies the routine duties - holding a horse getting new shoes from a blacksmith, walking a ‘hot’ horse just off the track after a workout to cool them out, raking wayward straw in the shed row. At least in this barn there is a good vibe and everyone seems to get along.
The atmosphere belies the hard job of a groom that is both learned and earned. “Nobody is going to walk in off the street and start in on this job with a 90-day training period,” said Agrinsoni. “There’s no nepotism or hiring somebody you know who needs a job.”
Grooms almost always begin as hotwalkers who watch and learn the duties of grooms.
Learning and earning, however, are two different things. Grooms begin their day walking into a horse’s stall, securing the horse’s bridle to a hook in the rear of the stall, and then mucking out the straw bedding. They push the horse to one side to muck, and then push the horse to the other side to finish the task. It isn’t as easy as it sounds. The groom must have no fear of an animal that can be fractious to the point of dangerous, which weighs around 1,100lbs, and which has four legs that can kick. Also, Agrinsoni added, a horse, like other animals, can “smell fear” in a human. The job, in sum, takes no small amount of courage and a large amount of ability to bond with a horse.
“The groom and horse become one,” added Agrinsoni. The importance of a good groom and magnitude of the job cannot be underestimated.
Outside the barn, once a groom passes the rail with a horse on its way to the paddock for a race, things are different. Past that rail and into the public eye, grooms become faceless and voiceless appendages to a bucket and a shank. No - more, maybe even less. Never mind that they spend the most time with the horse, become familiar with his or her personalities, are the first to know when a horse is off its feed, detect before a vet or trainer if something is wrong, and yes, in the vast majority of cases, bond with and even love the horses under their care.
They are, in short, virtually invisible to the public and the sport, speaking a different language, and working and living together on the backsides of racetracks, remaining mute to the outside world.
The invisibility and even what Agrinsoni calls “disrespect” exists also in 95 percent of the barns, excluding DeVaux’s. “Out of 100 trainers, five might really appreciate their help, treating them like family, giving them birthday and Christmas bonuses,” he said.
The Aguilars represented the best of the best in DeVaux’s barn. After stabling at Palm Meadows in Florida this past winter, she sent the Aguilars to Louisville and Trackside ahead of the horses and other stable help coming north for spring racing. “They’re workers. They’re going to put in a good hard day’s work,” said Agrinsoni. Also, obviously, they don’t require supervision to get the work done.
Increased workload
They also take on a load that has steadily increased over the years. They groomed or ‘rubbed’, as it is referred to in the vernacular in America, five horses for DeVaux. “Usually you’re rubbing four, but that’s a lot of work,” said Agrinsoni.
“Back in the day, it was three, but then I’m sure one guy must have said, ‘I’ll rub four for this price,’ and then somebody else said, “I’ll rub five for this price.’”
Money, as in most any endeavor, dictates everything. Agrinsoni said most Hispanic barn workers would work for ‘a screamer’ as long as the paycheck at the end of the week is bigger than what can be earned from a kind and respectful trainer.
Agrinsoni, who translated for this article, said that the Aguilars are representative of the majority of Guatemalan grooms and hotwalkers in racetracks barns. “It’s safe to say that 90 percent are dedicated and professional. They enjoy their life.”
Prosperous men
Aníbal related that he has a 24-acre farm in Guatemala, which his daughter tends to, raising chickens and selling eggs. Fernando has bought 12 acres of property on which he raises cattle and other animals. “And coffee,” he added with a smile. “Guatemalan coffee is a big deal.”
They are, in a Guatemalan economy, very prosperous and successful men, all due to money sent home that was earned in U.S. racing. This is the source of Aníbal’s gratitude for his job in America.
They are making real a hybrid Guatemalan/American dream of success back home achieved through what would be lowly circumstances in this country. “They will go back to their country. But they will go with money in the bank and property,” said Agrinsoni.
They will have created in the United States what is unattainable in Guatemala.
Agrinsoni recalled a board member of the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs offending other board members when she remarked how living in a tack room for Hispanics from a poor nation like Guatemala is an upgrade from dirt floors for many Guatemalans. “It’s true,” said Agrinsoni, shaking his head ruefully at the truth of the statement and the ignorance of some Americans more concerned with political correctness than reality.
Looking after Maximum Security
Interestingly, the Aguilars groomed Maximum Security, first Fernando at Monmouth Park when the horse first came on to the racetrack, and then Aníbal at Gulfstream Park. The horse was a ‘nightmare’ for hotwalkers in the shedrow, to use Fernando’s word. Later, at Gulfstream, the horse was unwanted by any groom, coming under the care of Aníbal by default. For those who know this genial, polite man with a reputation for enlivening things with chatter and warmth in any stable, it was, perhaps, inevitable, that a bond developed between Aníbal and Maximum Security at Gulfstream. “I miss him. I miss his cockiness,” he said with a smile.
Shortly after interviewing the Aguilars for this story, they left Louisville for the barn of James Bond, a trainer at Saratoga for whom they had both worked previously. Bond, according to Agrinsoni, is a trainer who falls into that small minority that treat the barn help extremely well, surprising them with occasional trays of fried chicken or lasagna.
Bond is also known for loyalty. “The Aguilars will always have a job with that guy. They can leave for ten years, but when they come back, Jimmy Bond will hire them,” said Agrinsoni. The father and son, in fact, have worked for Bond in the past.
Income and a future good life back home await the Aguilars in years to come. But how they are regarded in the United States doesn’t escape notice. “No one has ever talked to us,” said Aníbal, referring to media and others in the racing industry. He adds with a naiveté painful to hear, “Maybe there would be more fans if there was more information, if they knew who really does the work.”