In recognition of countless acts of heroism, bravery, and benevolence in the face of tragedy, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB) today announced that a Special Eclipse Award will be awarded to all responders who assisted in mitigating the year’s worst racehorse-related disasters – the wildfire that claimed 46 Thoroughbreds at Southern California’s San Luis Rey Training Center in December and a hurricane that left more than 800 Thoroughbreds stranded with limited food and clean water at Puerto Rico’s Hipódromo Camarero in September.
The Special Award honors extraordinary service, individual achievements in, or contributions to the sport of Thoroughbred racing.
Representatives of the Camarero and San Luis Rey relief efforts will be on hand at the 47th Annual Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. The Eclipse Awards are presented by Daily Racing Form, Breeders’ Cup and The Stronach Group, and produced by the NTRA.
CARIBBEAN THOROUGHBRED AFTERCARE
LED INDUSTRY-WIDE RESPONSE AFTER
HURRICANE MARIA
Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on Sept. 20 as a Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 118 miles per hour. All 3.4 million residents lost power and nearly all communications networks were knocked out of service. Storm surge and flash flooding left entire towns trapped until military relief could reach them as much as 24 hours later.
Maria laid waste to the island’s only sanctioned racetrack, Hipódromo Camarero, formerly known as El Comandante. The track has a history recognized in the United States. Bold Forbes debuted there in 1975 before winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness the following season. Puerto Rican natives Angel Cordero Jr. and John Velazquez rode there early in their Hall of Fame careers. The grandstand of the Canóvanas track was destroyed, and after the storm, the winner’s circle and clubhouse were “in ruins,” in the words of track administrator Jose A. Maymó Azize.
Azize estimated that 90 percent of the racehorse pens lost their roofs. There were 1,100 registered Thoroughbreds on the track grounds – more than half of which were bred in the U.S. – with limited access to food or clean water. Many of the horses were left without caretakers. But, incredibly, no horses died during the storm.
Into the aftermath stepped Kelley Stobie and Shelley Blodgett of Caribbean Thoroughbred Aftercare, a nonprofit organization with more than a decade of experience transitioning hundreds of racehorses from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to post-race track lives, both on the islands and back on the U.S. mainland.
Stobie is an equine therapist who works at Camarero.
“I got to the racetrack on the Friday after the storm and I was completely shocked at the devastation,” she said. “I had no idea those barns were going to collapse the way they did. I went barn to barn and broke locks, broke chains, climbed over fences. Some horses we couldn’t get to, so all I could do was climb over the rubble to give them water. A lot of them had gone two days without water. That day I must have given water to a hundred horses by myself.”
Stobie recruited help from the few grooms she could find that were still there tending to their horses.
“A lot of people couldn’t get to the track because they were trapped in their homes,” she said. “My husband owns a heavy equipment company, so we were able to move fallen trees and everything so we could get to the main highway.”
By Monday, five days after Maria made landfall, Stobie was still clearing access to horses who hadn’t been watered.
“We were just trying to keep the horses hydrated,” she said. “People didn’t realize how bad it was going to be. Nobody had stored anything, and those that did had their roofs ripped off. There was no hay to be found, so they would just give horses 10 pounds of grain with no water and no forage.”
Stobie was able to call her CTA co-founder Blodgett, a racing fan and recently retired clinical psychologist in Wellington, Fla. who had helped re-home several horses from Puerto Rico to the U.S.
“I just started messaging various industry organizations,” Blodgett said. “I wrote to Sue Finley (of Thoroughbred Daily News) and sent her pictures. When she published that letter it immediately got the attention of the industry, and then the response came.”
Major support and coordination throughout came from Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA), The Jockey Club, the American Association of Equine Practitioners, and Ranch Aid, a FEMA-appointed organization that assists with logistics and care for large animals during natural disasters.
Among many others that stepped up to answer Blodgett’s plea with donations of feed, veterinary supplies, aircraft, warehouse space, and other needs were: Bonnie Heath Farm, Brook Ledge Horse Transportation, Cargill Animal Nutrition, Eisaman Equine, Horse America, Heidel Hollow Farm, JetBlue, MWI Animal Health, Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company, Purina Animal Nutrition, Texas Equine Veterinary Association, TFB Equine, The Ark at JFK, Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, and U.S. Equestrian Federation. Terry Finley and Vince Viola, partners in Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, helped cut through bureaucratic red tape so relief flights to the island could be cleared more quickly.
On Oct. 3, a charter jet arrived in Puerto Rico with 20 tons of alfalfa, veterinary supplies including fluids and penicillin, and two satellite phones. It was the first of three planeloads that would come bearing donations from individuals and industry organizations.
“We would have lost a lot more horses to starvation if we hadn’t gotten the help that we did,” Blodgett said. “We got this plane in and it took Erin Crady of TCA and others moving heaven and earth to make it happen. It is a mini-miracle that this plane actually got in, and it is a credit to people in this industry who have a lot of influence.”
At least 98 horses from the Camarero backside have been euthanized, nearly all from colic or laminitis, with more likely to follow. Track veterinarian Dr. Ricardo Loinaz has worked nonstop at the on-site equine hospital caring for horses with serious injuries or requiring antibiotics. While nutritional needs have been addressed, most of the damaged barns remain unrepaired.
“Some trainers and owners have gone and made repairs, but others don’t have the means,” Blodgett said. “They’re dealing with their own devastation from the hurricane and disruption to their finances. Not having good shelter for these horses is making it so much worse.”
Said Stobie: “It was mostly colic to start, and then about a month after the storm they were foundering from standing in water and on cement for so long. That was when we had no choice but to start euthanizing horses. Not a lot of them have been euthanized for other ailments or fractures or anything.
“The euthanasia rate right now is the highest it’s been. We’re getting more horses than ever with laminitis now that the races are back up and running. I’m still begging the racetrack to rebuild the roofs.”
Stobie and Blodgett will attend the Eclipse Awards ceremony to accept the Special Eclipse Award on behalf of countless individuals that participated in the relief effort.
HORSEMEN RISKED LIVES AT SAN LUIS REY
It started as a minor brush fire, first spotted in the late morning of Dec. 7 in northwest San Diego County. Fanned by unusually strong Santa Ana winds, with gusts of more than 60 miles per hour, within 30 minutes the fire had consumed 50 acres. Within the next hour it spread to 500 acres. By early afternoon, the blaze had expanded westward to the San Luis Rey Training Center in Bonsall, Calif., where about 450 Thoroughbred racehorses were stabled.
As the Lilac Fire encroached, horsemen did what they could to protect their barns, dousing roofs with water from hoses. Training center staff smothered flames with dirt as spot fires popped up. Vans were summoned for emergency evacuation, but most found they either could not access the training center or could not make it in time. According to officials, the 2017 California wildfire season had been the worst on record, including five of the 20 most destructive fires in the state’s history. Drought conditions had left land prone to ignition. Between the wind and the dry fuels, the fire was gaining in size and strength by the minute.
Trainers, assistant trainers, foremen and grooms on the scene faced agonizing decisions as the fire moved across the property in scattershot fashion, from hillside to barn roof and sometimes by way of blazing palm trees, depending on where windswept sparks blew.
Decisions had to be made on the spot. Would it be best to leave horses in their stalls a little longer, in case help arrives, or let them free to fend for themselves. There was an obvious risk of allowing animals that had been contained and supervised their entire lives to run wild. And, given the risk of loss of life, how long should humans stay on site in the first place?
Most of the horsemen stayed, risking their own well-being in hopes of saving their charges. When no other options were left, stall doors were opened and horses were pulled out, let loose to find their own way on the training track, the infield, or the burning barn area. Horses still trapped could be heard screaming as they burned in their stalls.
Leo Tapia, a groom for trainer Peter Miller, broadcast live video on Facebook that showed the horror as it unfolded. The video showed Tapia run into one of his barns, unlatch stall guards and urge horses to flee while smoke consumed the shedrow and the 23-year-old Mexican choked for air.
“I was a little bit afraid, but I didn’t let myself think about it,” Tapia told Chelsea Hackbarth of Paulick Report. “I just felt like my heart wanted to get out of my chest. But I couldn’t leave without helping my horses, and those of my friends.”
Outside the barn, Tapia continued to document the scene as scores of frightened, loose horses ran in search of safety. The harrowing 10-minute video has more than 256,000 shares and 15 million views.
“I wanted people to realize the magnitude of the tragedy,” Tapia said.
As reported by Jeremy Balan of Blood-Horse this week, Martine Bellocq raced into her burning barn attempting to save an unraced 2-year-old, Wild Bill Hickory. The trainer suffered third-degree burns over 60 percent of her body and was unable to rescue the colt. Fellow trainer Manuel Cavario, stabled in the same barn with Bellocq, saw his neighbor engulfed in flames and snuffed them out with a blanket, perhaps saving her from an even worse fate.
Pierre Bellocq Jr., who had been loading another of their horses onto a van, returned to find his wife slumped on the ground, still burning and crying for Wild Bill Hickory. Martine was airlifted to UC San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest, and placed in a medically induced coma. She remains under significant sedation and can’t speak.
“As soon as they finish the skin grafts and all that, she may pick up some momentum,” Pierre told Balan. “She’s still on a respirator most of the time and there are tubes everywhere, but she can hear us. We’re going to keep talking to her and encouraging her.”
Two additional horsemen suffered serious injuries – trainer Joe Herrick sustained second- and third-degree burns on his face, neck, arms, and hands while pulling 2-year-old filly Lovely Finish from his burning barn, and outrider Les Baker broke nine ribs and suffered facial lacerations when trampled by a fleeing herd.
Forty-six horses died from the fire, according to the California Horse Racing Board. Nine of San Luis Rey’s 15 barns were destroyed.
A few days later, San Luis Rey general manager Kevin Habell gave Daily Racing Form executive columnist Jay Hovdey a tour of the aftermath, pointing out the skeletal remains of the barn of Scott Hansen, who lost 15 horses, as well as those of Herrick, Miller, and Cliff Sise, who each lost five. Sise has been lauded for freeing the horses of other trainers who weren’t present at the time.
“We collected eight dead out on the track or the infield, from shock, or smoke inhalation, or heart failure,” Habell told Hovdey. “The rest, my men removed from the barns. I think I’ll want to get them some counseling.”
About 250 horses from San Luis Rey were evacuated to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which provided sanctuary to more than 800 animals in all. Others from San Luis Rey were either walked or vanned to surrounding farms, many by locals who rushed to the scene to lend a hand.
Early the next morning, after the 4,100-acre fire was controlled and survivors had been relocated, hundreds of volunteers arrived at Del Mar before dawn to fill water buckets and watch for colic. Many came bearing supplies for horses and barn workers.
A GoFundMe site to raise money for the horsemen most severely impacted raised more than $650,000, led by $50,000 from the Spendthrift Farm of Southern California racing fixture B. Wayne Hughes. Hughes also sent veterinary supplies and volunteers on a private plane from Kentucky. Five-digit donations were made by several prominent horsemen and industry groups.
As San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Bryce Miller put it, after surveying a room packed wall to wall with donated supplies from around the globe: “A fire led to a heartwarming flood.”
About the Eclipse Awards
A complete list of past Eclipse Award winners, including the Special Award recipients, can be accessed online at http://ntra.com/en/eclipse-awards/history.
Tickets to The Eclipse Awards ceremony are on sale for $425 each or $4,000 for a table of 10. For reservations, please contact Casey Hamilton of the NTRA at chamilton@ntra.com, or call (859) 422-2627. For more information on The Eclipse Awards, visit ntra.com/eclipse-awards.
The Eclipse Awards are named after the great 18th-century racehorse and foundation sire Eclipse, who began racing at age five and was undefeated in 18 starts, including eight walkovers. Eclipse sired the winners of 344 races, including three Epsom Derbies. The Eclipse Awards are bestowed upon horses and individuals whose outstanding achievements in North America have earned them the title of Champion in their respective categories. Those awards are voted by NTRA, Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB). Eclipse Awards also are given to recognize members of the media for outstanding coverage of Thoroughbred racing.
Edited NTRA release
