Del mar Cancels Race Card After INS Sweep of Track : 100 Seized in Raid at Dawn

Officials at the Del Mar Race Track canceled the Saturday race card after 160 U.S. Border Patrol agents raided the track early today, arresting about 100 illegal aliens working as stable hands.

The card had been in jeopardy because of a boycott by horse trainers and the exodus of hundreds of undocumented aliens working in the backstretch.

Trainers said only 25 horses had been entered for Saturday’s nine races. A minimum of 54 horses were needed.

After a meeting of trainers and track officials today, John Fulton, a spokesman for the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn., said it was left to individual trainers whether to enter horses for Saturday’s races.

Unable to Train

“A great number of people cannot properly train their horses anymore,” Fulton said. “It’s the raid that shut down the track, not the trainers.”

About 160 Border Patrol agents executed a search warrant just before 6 a.m. today, said John Belluardo of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Border Patrol spokesman Ed Pyeatt said agents expected to arrest up to 300 illegal aliens at the track, but when the sweep ended at about 7:45 a.m., only about 100 had been arrested.

Patrol officials said one unidentified man tried to drive a car full of suspected undocumented aliens through the gate, but the man was arrested after a brief chase.

Jockeys working with their horses in preparation for today’s races said they were angered by the raid.

Shoemaker Complains

“It’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” jockey Bill Shoemaker told the San Diego Tribune.

Shoemaker said he was about to let his horse into a gallop when a Border Patrol truck came at him along the rail--going the wrong way.

“It was lucky for me I saw him,” Shoemaker said. “I pulled up and got off the track. A horse could have run into a truck.”

Alan Eliason, chief of the San Diego Border Patrol Sector, said after the raid that agents understood horses were not on the track before dawn. He said the Border Patrol’s intent was not to close the track.

By Thursday, so many stable hands anticipating the raid had fled that trainers said they couldn’t find enough help to fill the gap.

Trainers Walk Horses

“Trainers are walking their own horses or trying to get other people to do it,” said Joseph Harper, executive vice president and general manager of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

Representatives of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn. and immigration officials began negotiating Monday in an effort to solve the problem, which has left the future of the Del Mar racing season in jeopardy.

On Wednesday, however, talks broke down. Immigration officials guaranteed a raid would occur and announced they had obtained a federal search warrant, which was served on a track security guard at 5:45 a.m. today.

Pyeatt said an estimated one-third to one-half of the 3,000 workers on Del Mar’s backstretch are illegal aliens, the largest concentration of undocumented workers in San Diego County.

Cancellation of Saturday’s race card is a heavy financial blow to the track and the state. The Del Mar meet, scheduled to end Sept. 11, generates about $10 million in the betting handle on a typical weekend, with an average of $600,000 going to the state in parimutuel commissions.

In addition, the track has a daily staff payroll of about $400,000 for 2,000 office and concession stand workers.

Trainers threaten boycott, Part III, Page 1.