groom

The gates are scheduled to open at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. Post time for the first race is 11:35 and the first Breeders' Cup race goes off at 2:45. But long before those bright-eyed Breeders' Cup attendees begin filling the grandstands of Del Mar, the backside will have been awake for hours. For those back in the barns as Breeders' Cup morning dawns, in many ways it's just like any other day. It is the same routine of raking barn aisles, topping off water buckets, checking temps, preparing feed, wrapping...

"Zurdo" Estrada earned his nickname back when he was a kid in Mexico running up and down the soccer field. He would always kick the ball with his left foot so everyone called him Zurdo, the term word for left-handed. The nickname stuck and even still today, it's what everyone knows him as on the Santa Anita backside. Estrada began working as a hot walker at Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo, California in 1989. He instantly fell in love with the sport and after a few short months, made...

For many lifelong racetrackers, it's a natural ascent to start out as a hot walker, move up to becoming a groom and perhaps eventually, work your way towards exercise riding. That wasn't the case for Edgar Revolorio, groom of GI Breeders' Cup Classic hopeful Highland Falls (Curlin). Revolorio grew up around horses in his native Guatemala and when he moved to Texas to work with Quarter Horses, he started out there as an exercise rider. As he gained experience on the racetrack and learned more about the art of grooming,...

Byron López was 18 years old when he moved from Guatemala and began working for a talented new trainer named Todd Pletcher. He started out as a hot walker and soon moved up to becoming a groom. Twenty-four years later, he now cares for some of the best of the best among Pletcher's elite stable. López shared his story in Spanish, but the deep devotion he has for his equine charges surpassed any language barriers. "I am motivated by the horses," he said. "They are so affectionate and I get...

Goffs' Tommy Hayes was among recipients at the Irish Thoroughbred Industry Employee Award at Tuesday's ceremony held at the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge, Co Kildare and sponsored by Godolphin. Hayes joined Goffs in 1984, overseeing the facilities, stables, grounds and auditorium. "All of us at Goffs are so proud of our wonderful colleague Tommy Hayes and are thrilled that his hard work and dedication has been recognised by the industry in this way," said Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby. "This award is richly deserved as Tommy is the epitome...

Of all the pinhookers at this year's Keeneland September Sale, DeJuan Smith has definitely taken the most hands-on approach. While some sellers might watch anxiously from the back ring or in a seat in the sales pavilion, Smith will quite literally be on the shank of his own horse as it goes through the sales ring. Smith is a ringman for Keeneland and also a show person for Taylor Made Sales. On Thursday Hip 3452, his first pinhook project, will sell with Taylor Made. Could Smith be the first person...

Prominent owner/breeder Ivan Dalos will be presented with the E. P. Taylor Award of Merit during the 47th Sovereign Awards ceremony to be held Thursday, Apr. 14 in Vaughan, Ontario. The owner of the Ontario-based Tall Oaks Farm, Dalos has been involved with Thoroughbreds for 45 years and has bred the likes of Victory Gallop and Channel Maker, winning more than a dozen Sovereign Awards, including as outstanding breeder. He has raced the likes of homebreds Ami's Flatter, Ami's Mesa and Amis Gizmo to a variety of stakes successes both...

New federal legislation has been introduced that, if passed, could prove a fillip for trainers struggling to find and hold on to immigrant grooms, hotwalkers and exercise riders in a labor market already squeezed thin. The H-2B Returning Worker Exception Act of 2021, introduced Tuesday, is designed to "develop a long-term solution to permanently address" the annual H-2B visa cap. According to the bill as currently written, it amends the definition of "returning worker" to include anyone who has entered the U.S. on an H-2B visa in any one of...

Ricardo Ramirez, who was working at the Keeneland January sale for consignor James Herbener Jr., passed away Tuesday, dying of an apparent heart attack. He was 66. Herbener said that Ramirez was about to short bring a yearling into the sales ring when the incident occurred. "Yesterday, he was walking a yearling going up to the ring," Herbener explained. "He was in the back walking ring and he just collapsed. We think it was a heart attack. The coroner called me after that and asked some questions. He had apparently...

Martin Zapata, who spent the last two years working as a groom for trainer Tom Morley, died Tuesday due to complications from COVID-19, according to NYTHA. The 63-year-old Panama native tested positive Mar. 24 and was hospitalized Mar. 26. "Martin was a beloved member of our team for the past two years who always greeted you at the door with a huge smile. He'll be sorely missed by all those in the New York racing community and further afield as well as his family in Panama," said Morley, who started...