The "Backside" of the Track: Race, Recognition, and Labor Shifts in Thoroughbred Horse Racing

Born and raised in the area where a racetrack was" in 1943, John Lee Robertson started walking Thoroughbred racehorses at the age of eight. At sixteen, after dropping out of high school, he began working as a groom and traveling with the horses as they raced at different tracks throughout the year. Robertson went on to become an assistant horse trainer and procured his trainer's license in 1984. In a 1995 interview, he reflected on his lifetime experiences as an African American horseman. When asked what contributed to his success, he answered, "Care…and I had a lot of good teachers…you gotta watch your horse, and your grooms have a lot to do with it." Yet, in a discussion about the experiences of African Americans working at the racetrack, Robertson stated, "You don't get the credit you deserve for what you do." He went on: "I paid my dues. I been with horses forty years.… I should know something." Expressing frustration with the discrimination he had experienced, he said black horseman are "as good as whites, and some of them better [but]…never get a chance." His emotions reflect the experiences of many African Americans who worked in the Thoroughbred horse racing industry in the twentieth century.¹

Work at the racetrack follows a steady rhythm. The early morning hours are full of bustling activity in and around the barns, an area of the racetrack called the "backside." Every morning, equine workers rise before dawn to begin caring for Thoroughbred racehorses, lined up in stalls in barns. Grooms work rhythmically as they adhere to a schedule of tasks. After grooms prep horses with the proper equipment, exercise riders mount the horses and ride to the track with the trainers' instructions in mind. They whiz by in laps, dirt flying from the horses' hooves. Grooms muck out the stalls with pitchforks, loading wheelbarrows full of dirty straw to be carted off to the muck bins. As horses come back from their exercise, hotwalkers lead them in counterclockwise circles around the insides of the barns, cooling them down. Grooms then bathe each horse with sponges of soapy water, brush the horses' coats until they are shining, distribute the feed and water in buckets in the stalls, and pick dirt from the horses' hooves. These various jobs comprise the work of people known as equine workers. Foremen, who act as barn supervisors, oversee the equine workers, as do trainers and assistant trainers. Trainers are the bosses or business owners in the labor hierarchy. They interact " with the horse owners, manage the equine workers (who are their employees), and dictate the training and racing regime of each horse under their care. Horse owners provide the capital to finance the care and training of the racehorses and may own single racehorses, several racehorses, or shares of a horse in partnership with other owners. Once the owner pays a trainer to manage the care and training of their horse, that horse becomes a part of the trainer's barn. Jockeys are paid per "mount," hired by trainers to ride in particular races.

Grooms bathing horses (2016). megan lenahan

The spectacle of racing relies on this system of mostly behind-the-scenes labor. Historians such as James Nicholson, Pellom McDaniels III, Katherine Mooney, and Maryjean Wall have identified the sport's labor roots in American slavery, arguing that from its beginnings the industry was built on a racialized labor structure. They show that throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, enslaved equine workers were responsible for the care and training of the racehorses of wealthy southern owners. Following emancipation, freedmen continued to work in the industry at racetracks and at farms. Prior to the 1920s, African Americans were not only the majority of equine workers but the top jockeys, a highly visible and status-laden role. Scholars have documented the fame, success, and fortune of legendary black jockeys such as Isaac Murphy and Jimmy Winkfield but also have shown how racism pushed these athletes out of the industry...