The role Santa Anita played in supporting those affected by the devastating Los Angeles fires

Words Ken Snyder

It began with a call from the Rose Bowl, the relief center for victims of the Los Angeles County fires rampaging through hills and neighborhoods. With that facility also serving as a command center for firefighters and first responders, it was quickly apparent it could not also accommodate victims. Which facility could?

A call to Pete Siberell, director of community service and special projects for Santa Anita, was the answer. 

Santa Anita was a racetrack one minute and the county’s largest relief center the next. Actually it took 60 minutes  to transform the venerable racetrack to a relief center… the biggest in Los Angeles County. 

The speed of this transformation was so incredible it may have come from an unseen hand behind the thousands of hands that volunteered to aid the fire victims. Three days from the beginning of the fires on Tuesday, January 7 to that Friday, Santa Anita had begun executing a crisis plan; erecting tents and stacking supplies of food, water, and clothing; and assembling and equipping a temporary medical center.

On Saturday, Los Angelinos came through the lot to get what they needed. One-hundred thousand Los Angelinos.

 “The cars were backed up from the main gate all the way onto the ‘two-ten’” [Interstate I-210],” said Jodie Vella-Gregory, vice-president of industry relations for 1/ST, the ownership entity of Santa Anita.

On Sunday the numbers were more than Saturday’s 100,000. From Monday through Friday the quantity of relief supplies required warehousing at the end of the week. An estimated 400,000 persons came through the gates at the racetrack.

The word “pivot” takes on a huge meaning applied to what Santa Anita achieved. “I don't think anyone is ever prepared to take on hundreds of thousands of people over the course of a couple of days, but there isn't a better team that could pivot and get that done like the team at Santa Anita,” said Vella-Gregory.

The first task was cancellation of that week’s racing after the fires began. “Yes, we could have raced that weekend. The air quality levels were good enough. There was nothing that was stopping us from racing, but it wasn't about a massive chunk of change to not race for an entire weekend. We had to take care of our horses, the people, the community, and that was the decision.” 

Wednesday, the teams at Santa Anita went into “crisis mode,” as Vella-Gregory termed it “We weren't sure the fires were contained. We were getting all of these alerts that they were spreading. We weren't sure if the fire was going to be coming towards Santa Anita.

“We were having hourly, half-hourly calls giving us the status on everything with all of our teams, our security teams, and everyone, monitoring the situation and how close the fire was to Santa Anita and if we needed to evacuate the horses and the backside workers.”

In addition to monitoring conditions threatening to the area, the teams developed a crisis management plan. “We started taking on food and water. We started saving water in the tankers (used to water the racetrack’s surface) because we heard there was probably going to not be a lot of drinking water.” 

Once forecasts indicated safety for the area, Santa Anita began taking care of nearby communities. With the help of the Allen G and Friends Foundation, there were more than enough donations by the next Friday afternoon, January 17.

“We were open from like seven [a.m] to eleven [p.m] every day,” said Vella-Gregory. The crowds were responding to social media as well as local Los Angeles media that came daily to cover relief center crowds and operations at the racetrack.

Vella-Gregory, like everyone with 1/ST and the racetrack, did whatever was needed. It’s a safe bet that most if not all executive offices at Santa Anita were dark with occupants outside in the south parking lot. “Everyone was so entrenched in what needed to be done. 

“Somehow, I became part of the hospitality team,” she said. “So I was serving food. I made sure that the meals were set up for the backstretch workers and then, I was just on the front lines, either handing out food, handing out drinks, handing out supplies, whatever was needed. I just made myself an available body.”

She credits the speed of transformation from racetrack to relief center to Santa Anita’s experience with big events, both racing and non-racing.

“We have an incredible events team. We have an incredible hospitality department. And we have an incredible racing team. All of those teams literally just pivoted, and we all came together. We said, ‘this is the plan’ and we executed it. 

“There was a ‘Yes, let's get it done’ mentality that took hold of Santa Anita personnel.

That extended to the following Saturday, January 18 when donations required warehousing because of both volume and future needs. “A lot of people are going to be displaced and not have a home for months. Who knows how long a rebuild will be,” said Vella-Gregory.

“We want to make sure that there's still supplies and things for people when they have a place to take it. We want to make sure this is a long-term sustainable setup for people, because obviously the need for things isn't just for a couple of weeks. It's going to be for months and years to come.” 

Santa Anita also served fire fighters and other first responders. “We took three hundred Santa Anita carved sandwiches that we’re known for to the Rose Bowl where the firefighters were stationed. And then we also went to Sierra Madre for National Guardsmen working at an emergency operating center.”

The tasks and time spent were actually beneficial in their own way, putting focus for Vella-Gregory on what to do next and not the overall catastrophe hitting the Los Angeles area.

“When I had a second and it started sinking in the first time, I got emotional and cried three or four days after,” she said.

She herself experienced the fire and the danger. “I could see the fire from my apartment in Pasadena. I evacuated the first two nights.

“I've never seen anything like it. It was like one-hundred mile-an-hour winds but with fire. I grabbed my passport, my grandmother's jewelry that I had, a change of clothes, and I just started driving to a friend's house. I didn't want to take up a hotel room that someone else might need.” 

She described driving as terrifying and what she saw as  “apocalyptic. “You're driving and there's like a fifteen-foot tree in the middle of the road--not a branch but a full-on tree. Massive gates and things had flown off of homes, just things that you never expect to encounter when you're driving on a highway.” 

Santa Anita as a relief center may have been a haven in more ways than physical safety for Vella-Gregory. The experience has given her more appreciation for those she works with.

“I don't think I'm biased because I've worked with a lot of different people. With the team here it's, ‘What do we need to do? How do we get it done?’ And it gets done. 

“There's just a lot of pride that goes into it, and it's like a duty, you know.”

“A lot of people from the racing industry have reached out and sent donations. Craig Bernick, president/CEO of Glen Hill Farm, has something called a ‘CC's wish list,’ and that is for donating new products and items in crisis situations. Glen Hill has sent about seven or eight pallets of supplies to California from Chicago,” said Vella-Gregory.

“We've had a lot of other people like Doug Cauthen of Three Chimneys in Kentucky raising  money for fire relief and this crisis. The thinking is, ‘You know, we could just donate to the Red Cross, and, of course, the Red Cross needs it, but ultimately, we would like to support the family unit that we all are a part of right now.” 

For those in racing in the East, it is difficult to know what Santa Anita did without putting it in the context of a persistent and ugly narrative of animal cruelty, much of it created from whole cloth. Golden Gate Fields was the first victim of this narrative and many have wondered can Santa Anita be far behind. 

There will always be those who look at horse racing with a jaundiced eye. But for 10 days or so they had to look with that smoke from horrible and ‘apocalyptic’ fire.

“We would do this a million times over,” said Vella-Gregory, adding that “there is pride in working for 1/ST because we’re doing what is right and are at the forefront of what is the best for safety and health of the horses and many other things. We put in the money, the time, the expertise, and we make great hires. 

“We have a standard to uphold.”

Recognition may come for what the people at Santa Anita Park did for its community and citizens. Accolades, “good press,” and even goodwill were not on the list of things to keep in mind when 16,000 homes (again, at time of writing) are gone. In fact, it was not on anyone’s mind at all. The job was caring for victims, many of whom came from  neighborhoods that no longer exist with nothing but the clothes on their back. 

Santa Anita racetrack chaplain Eli Hernandez, who ministers to backside workers, would tell you there is a principle in the Book of Luke in the New Testament: “give and it will be given back to you.”

May it be so for Santa Anita.

“Santa Anita opened up their gates, and they opened up their hearts,’ said racetrack chaplain Eli Hernandez of their role as a relief center in the Los Angeles County fires.

He knows the racetrack well after ten years of service. “Santa Anita is bigger than horse racing, bigger than just making money. Santa Anita is about caring, about helping, about when you're down and out, reaching out and helping you get back up.”  

Management at the racetrack works closely with Hernandez and his ministry. Most of his congregation—hotwalkers and grooms—live on the grounds and escaped the fires. Some exercise riders may not have had the same good fortune. “A  lot of the exercise riders live outside the gates.”

Hernandez has been responsible for marshaling resources like Helping Hands and the Foothill Unity Center (who are warehousing overflow donations brought to Santa Anita) as well as the racetrack.

“Helping Hands delivers the food, water, vegetables, eggs, bacon, lunch meats and things like that every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Foothill Unity Center comes mainly on Friday.

“We set out our tables, we set out chairs, we put our bags out there, and we just give out the vegetables and other food. But more than anything we are listening ears, letting them know that ‘Hey, we care.’ We really do care.” 

Santa Anita is a partner in other areas as well. “From a person that has a cold to somebody that has pain in their chest, we're going to do something about it. We're going to take you to the emergency room. We're going to make sure that you get picked up from there. We're going to follow up with you. We're going to take you to the pharmacy. We're going to do what it takes.”

“It’s not me, individually. It's not the corporate department that does it. We're a team together, from security to the chaplaincy to the hotwalkers and grooms.”

Hernandez is quick to point out that Santa Anita has a clinic on the grounds for workers. “We have a dentist. We have a night doctor. And it's here, here at Santa Anita on the grounds that's paid for by the racetrack.” 

There is also a continuous flow of donations aside from food. “We always have blankets. We always have clothes, and they're available all the time. It's for whosoever. And that's just to let them know, ‘You know what? We're here for. you. 

“There's a lot of new individuals that come in--‘You have any blankets? You have sleeping bags?’ And we say, ‘Yes, right here in my office’ I have tons of sleeping bags. They're good to start their game.”

Hernandez’ commitment to his ministry and serving the backside workers is set within a culture Santa Anita has developed over the years.

“If Santa Anita weren’t like it is, I wouldn't be working here. “