National Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association Conference Panel Addresses Racing’s Chronic Worker Shortage

Without any reference to numbers, allocations, locations or solutions the NHBPA conference conducted a panel discussion to outline the desperate shortage of grooms and backstretch employees affecting the operations of U.S. racing stables and horse farms. Most of the discussion addressed Oaklawn Park race course, a five-month thoroughbred race meet in Hot Spring, Arkansas Jan thru May 1st?annually. The fair-weather venue is one of America’s finest racing operations and attracts out of state competition.

The topic of grooms (historically Guineas??(European connotation) are an essential, specialized large animal, male and female work force employed by equine racing trainers and thoroughbred breeding farms in more than 40 states in America. Considered the low end of the pay scale in equine services, there is no formalized application in the trade. Although there are small subsidies and religious offerings through a chaplaincy group in some states the actual skill-set of grooms has continually been allowed to deteriorate in America, as the failing incentive to improve working conditions, education, safety and housing has followed the hollowing-out of infrastructure and economics in the sport/industry. The main workforce of the U.S. backstretch communities dedicated to daily horse care is fast becoming totally reliant on south and central American male and female immigrant workers. In part this change is a positive happening and follows the pattern of other important agricultural workforces.??Our problem is the lack of a formal or industry structure dedicated to equine husbandry. For those skeptics who claim that horse care is not rocket science I submit that properly done grooming can reach an art-level of equine deliverance.??The groom is the first team member to contact the animal at five o’clock in the morning and the last member of the team to see the animal at night.??The groom becomes the first love of the animal throughout his lifetime.??The groom provides the essential inspection of physical and dietary well-being throughout the day.??Generally, unusual heat in a limb, closure of an eyelid or bruise in a foot is determined far in advance of the daily training and racing regimen.

It is interesting that the horse-herd, as a product represents much of the $300 billion dollar investment and operates daily on the lowest dollar level of humane and psychological maintenance.

?The fact that a dozen or less top trainers control more than a 1000 horses in America, directly effects the socio-economics of the work-force. While the groom doesn’t necessarily anticipate the capital dynamics of the cash flow from purse prizes, he or she is directly affected by the narrowing of the opportunity scale and the horse power available to a broader scope of trainers who provide job opportunities. Presently those dozen or so trainers share the greatest percentage??calculated at 70% of the purse prizes. The grooming of a high-quality horse differs greatly from the potential of grooming an inferior member of the herd insofar as the economic future of the team. Groom recognition is impacted mainly by the ROI reality of the quality of the horse and not by the quality of the grooming.?

Grooming as a trade is impacted by quality of life restrictions including living abode; work-day conditions; caretaker prerequisites and hours of manual labor that begins at five a.m. on average and spans approximately 12 hours of daily labor.??Each animal demands a distinctly differing daily itinerary depending on its age, conditioning, diet, temperament, racing schedule and travel.??Women are adaptable to good grooming skills but are more or less susceptible to the intensity of the peculiar demands of manual labor, depending on the condition of each animal.??1000+ lb. horses allow no shortcuts nor utter many accolades. While “mucking stalls” is generally the demeaning nomenclature associated to the duties of grooms by those unfamiliar with the trade, it is an unfortunate label for both the product and the endeavor. Unfortunately only in America is this labor betrayed. "All labor that brings honest gain is honorable!"??

Horse racing has suffered miserably with regard to the necessities of human resources and the attraction to the trades.??The sellout to the slots has resulted in bigger buildings, a capital shift and focus toward off-track promotion, abandonment of on-track mid-week presentations, fashion and spectator appeal resulting in lesser on-track concentration. This significantly reduces the educational process and exposure to horses and horseracing and will subsequently shrink ownership and participation while impacting pedigree. It all affects the labor force.

NHBPA and its immigration lawyers discussed immigration laws and bills that no longer exist or matter.

The horse racing industry fails to realize the loss of opportunities as a result of major recent changes.

HHS Director Alejandro Mayorkus states that disbursing two million working age illegal and undocumented immigrants to flood cities and states of America is a direct cost of $90 billion dollars.

Now that we have the newly minted federal Horse Racing Industry Safety Act (HISA) under the Department of Commerce the potential to partner with HHS, ICE and other federal and cultural implications by creating jobs in the horse racing industry is feasible.??The structuring and authorizing of a bill for a departmental education program for assisted learning can and will create backstretch employment for undocumented immigrants in concert with the new immigration policy.??These changes directly affect foreign countries where horse racing is established and workers are available. Offices both inside and outside the participating countries and at the U.S. southern border and by utilizing unused U.S. racetrack properties we can supply educated grooms and backstretch workers estimated at the approximate rate of 1000 per month.??With these opportunities we can bring about a lasting solution to mutual ongoing problems of immigration and worker shortages utilizing Federal expenditures in concert with the policies of the Federal Government.??

According to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas over 2 million illegal migrants entered U.S.?in 2021-22

Yearly educational costs for illegals is 9 billion dollars!

The?total cost of immigration is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR?

Even before COVID hit the world, American horse trainers faced a chronic shortage of workers. Will Velie is one of horse racing’s pre-eminent immigrant attorneys. However, he emphasized the necessity of the industry to build a pipeline nationally to find, train and retain American employees. He said it’s vital to show the government the programs?and efforts that horse racing makes to recruit domestic workers before requesting visas to provide a supplementary workforce. (we suggest that solution here)

Oscar Gonzales, a member of the California Horse Racing Board who also is assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, echoed that the industry can’t bank on immigration reform coming to the rescue. But he offered a glimmer of hope through the Farm Workforce Modernization Act that has passed the U.S. House and is pending before the Senate. That bill would allow non-U.S. residents working in agriculture to receive Certified Agricultural Worker Status and put them on a path to being lawful, permanent residents. (but it already has)

“I try to remind people in the horse-racing industry there is tremendous upside to embracing our agricultural roots,” said Gonzales, who worked as a groom growing up and through college. “We’ve just got to figure out a way to get workers on racetracks … eligible for that.”(we can by establishing a comprehensive and viable change to current negligence. highlight value and respect for the art of grooming!)

The panelists encouraged trainers to learn about and utilize existing resources that could make a difference for employees’ quality of life. Those include access to education with programs such as Bellocq’s at BCTC, the Groom Elite courses offered at many tracks and English lessons.(boutique courses for women is not the answer) (short & concise courses can prove attractive)

Panelist Dr. Reid McLellan developed the Groom Elite program to improve the horsemanship skills of backstretch workers.

McLellan said that his team will take its training program to wherever there is a potential employment pool, such as correctional facilities. He said that also could include an area such as western Kentucky, where hundreds of chicken- and candle-factory workers are without jobs, homes or transportation in the wake of the devastating tornadoes in December.(the available pool of workers is available but needs to be marketed through HHS, ICE et al)

Gonzales noted there is a lot of grant money available if horsemen and their representatives develop partnerships with entities such as community colleges, chambers of commerce and health clinics.(tap into Federal dollars through ICE, HHS immigration allotments as outlined here)

?trainers, the owners, the farm managers who get that and understand that are the ones who are retaining their workers longer. The ones who refuse to change have a lot of turnover.(eliminate the monopolies on stall space; return to coupled entries of no more than two runners per race)

?(Panelist Julio Rubio, the Kentucky HBPA’s Hispanic and backside services coordinator who also works across the country as a consultant, said the No. 1 thing backstretch employees say they’d like is a day off a week.(limit 3 horses per groom or establish 2 person shifts per quota) (close main & training tracks 2 days per week)

Another thing facing today’s horsemen is the extensive paperwork both employees and employers must fill out to be in compliance with labor regulations. McLellan spelled out best practices in managing a stable’s workforce, recommending horsemen do a self-evaluation of their stable.(current immigration policies require only ICE or HHS documentation)