Counselors Minister to Alcohol, Drug Abusers on Backstretch

For the race track groom who died of alcoholism, there was no one at Santa Anita Park to help.

For any other worker from now on, there are a priest and a jockey to help.

The Rev. Jerre Parks came to the track from St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church in San Marino after preaching for more than 17 years. Jose Martinez came from the backstretch, an admitted former abuser of drugs and alcohol.

The pairing may seem unusual, but so is the world of horse racing, where people live a kind of traveling circus life, closely tied and protective of one another--so protective that they would keep a groom’s alcoholism a secret right up to the day it killed him.

Winners Foundation

Parks, 46, an outsider, is still trying to penetrate that close community. After years of counseling in the ministry, he is now executive director and counselor for the Winners Foundation, a nonprofit organization that was established in August with grants of $75,000 from the Oak Tree Racing Assn. and $25,000 from the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn.

The foundation is based at Santa Anita Race Track and also serves the Oak Tree meeting, Hollywood Park, Del Mar Race Track and San Luis Rey Downs near San Diego. It hired Parks and Martinez to give free drug and alcohol counseling services to anyone connected with the tracks, in the same way that many large businesses offer assistance programs to their employes. It is the only such counseling service for Southern California race tracks.

The incidence of substance abuse at tracks, Parks and Martinez say, is probably the same as in society at large, but no statistics are available. Abusers are victims of stress and the disease of alcoholism, as is the case with people everywhere, and their numbers are increasing, Parks said.

Jockeys’ Guild

The men said drug and alcohol abuse among jockeys is handled almost exclusively by the Jockeys’ Guild, which imposes strict regulations on its members. Despite the guild’s efforts, several jockeys have been suspended for drug use at tracks in other parts of the country. There have been no cases of drug abuse among jockeys at Santa Anita, but last July, after a series of mishaps at Hollywood Park, jockey Kenny Black tested positively for cocaine use and volunteered for a rehabilitation program.

Some racing officials say substance abuse is greater than suspected, but is well-hidden.

Two years ago, Cliff Wickman, president of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, a private investigative agency that serves about 50 tracks, including Santa Anita and Del Mar, called drug use at the tracks “a serious problem.” Chick Lang, general manager at Pimlico, said drug use by jockeys and backstretch workers is “part of a national tragedy.”

There are an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people in the race track industry in Southern California, ranging from grooms and trainers to administrators and office personnel, most of them shifting from place to place with the seasons.

‘A Different World’

“It seems like a different world here at first,” Parks said of the Santa Anita backstretch, or “backside,” where his office is located.

“People have been trying to deal with their addiction in their own individual ways, and they are very grateful that we’re here now.

Martinez, 43, knows the backstretch and its problems intimately. He said that during his riding career he controlled his weight and moods with amphetamines, meanwhile succumbing to the disease of alcoholism. Suspended from racing frequently and once ruled off all tracks for several months, he stopped drinking in 1975 and stopped riding in 1978. He is now a professional counselor.

The counselors get most of their clients as referrals from employers and friends of the addicts. First they determine what treatment is needed and “if the desire and motivation are there,” Parks said. “We provide love and support.”

The good news is the program is working, as evidenced by the dozen or more referrals they have received each month. Some of their first clients have stayed sober for several months, they said.

The bad news is a trend Parks has observed in recent years.

“We’ve been saying that cocaine and amphetamines are the most widely used drugs, but I’m beginning to get a sense that heroin is more of a problem than one might expect.