Horse Racing / Bill Christine : INS Carries Its Fight to Pomona

United States immigration officials aren’t letting up in their campaign to rid California race tracks of illegal aliens working on the backstretch.

Since the opening of the 18-day meeting at the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, about 50 grooms and hot-walkers have been taken into custody, according to Hal Ezell, regional commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

This action is a follow-up to an early-morning raid at Del Mar last month that netted 123 illegal aliens working for trainers. Only the method has differed at Pomona, where the illegals have been seized by plainclothes agents from the Border Patrol in Riverside.

“We’re not going to go away until this problem is solved,” Ezell said. “At Pomona, there’s been a cooperative attitude from management and the security force, but there’s not a great deal of difference in the attitude of the trainers, who are still hooked on using these illegal people as they have been for so many years.”

Desnee Flakes is one former groom who has welcomed the raids. “As long as the illegal aliens continue to work, the trainers will continue to abuse their American help,” she said.

Flakes has worked local tracks since 1974. She said that she went to Del Mar this summer to work as a hot-walker, then was told that she wouldn’t be needed because the barn’s illegal help “got through.”

Flakes said that when she applied for a license through the California Horse Racing Board, she was required to show a driver’s license as proof of citizenship. Ezell said that the board, which has had to deal with counterfeit credentials on many occasions, has promised immigration authorities that it will be stricter in its licensing procedure.

“The real reason trainers hire the illegals is profit,” Flakes said. “They don’t want people like me working for them, because I’ve got a command of the English language. They assume everybody working for them is ignorant.

“They even think that we Americans are stupid and can’t see what’s going on. I worked with a Mexican groom who didn’t know how to bandage a horse, so I showed him. I bridled the horse for him, too. Then the trainer gave him a raise so that he was making as much as I was.”

Flakes said many trainers have slave-master mentalities. “I’ve heard them complain about the quality of the American help, but they fail to realize that this quality only mimics the quality of management.”

Hajji’s Treasure is coming home.

The colt who won this year’s California Derby, then broke down in the Preakness Stakes, will be flown from New York to LAX today. From Los Angeles he’ll be vanned to Blooming Hills, a farm in Clements, Calif., where he’ll begin a stud career next year.

Hajji’s Treasure was a success story that turned to disaster in the Preakness May 18. A $9,200 yearling purchase by Stan Hodge of Pleasanton, the horse was trying to duplicate his upset win in the California Derby when he shattered both sesamoids, small ankle bones, in his right front leg coming out of the first turn at Pimlico.

Hajji’s Treasure was taken to the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center near Philadelphia, where he remained until this week. A plate was inserted in his leg to fuse the ankle and later a cast was added. His condition had been described as guarded throughout the recuperation period.

“There were no guarantees that the horse would make it until the cast was taken off a few weeks ago,” Hodge said. “The mending process was awfully slow. I saw the horse last week, and he’s lost about 150 pounds, weight he needs to gain back. We hope to be able to remove the plate by next summer.”

Hodge said he’s been told that Hajji’s Treasure’s patched-up leg should not prevent him from handling a full book of about 40 mares next year. The owner plans to breed 5 to 10 mares of his own to Hajji’s Treasure and sell breeding rights for the others.

Hodge was in tears by the time the Preakness ended, with trainer Wayne Lukas’ Tank’s Prospect winning the race. “Don’t worry, they can do amazing things in fixing horses these days,” Lukas told Hodge at the stake barn.

At the time, the distraught Hodge barely heard what Lukas was saying. Now, he must be a believer.

Racing Notes A Breeders’ Cup source said that Oak Tree at Santa Anita has been offered a contract to be the host track for the seven multimillion-dollar races in the fall of 1986. Hollywood Park, which had the inaugural Breeders’ Cup races in ‘84, had also applied for the ’86 date. This year’s Breeders’ Cup races, worth $10 million, will be held at Aqueduct on Nov. 2. . . . A training injury to Kings Island made room for Noble Fighter to run in the Turf Classic at Belmont Park last Saturday, and the French colt won the $700,000 race as a 55-1 longshot. Noble Fighter, who had never raced in the United States and who had won only one race in Europe, also had to be supplemented at a cost of $30,000.

Mom’s Command’s seemingly unshakable hold on this year’s 3-year-old filly championship is being challenged by Lady’s Secret, who won the Ruffian Handicap at Belmont last Sunday for her seventh straight stakes victory. The rivals, who have each won a race in direct competition, are expected to meet Oct. 5 in the Rare Perfume Stakes at Belmont. . . . Apollo Flight, who won the Phil D. Shepherd Stakes at Pomona Sept. 14, has been assigned top weight of 120 pounds for Sunday’s Pomona Invitational Handicap, first $100,000 race in track history. . . . Keeneland, which has never offered anything but win, place, show and daily-double wagering, will have two exactas when its meeting opens Oct. 5. Next thing you know, the Lexington, Ky., facility will add a track announcer. It’s the only track in the country without one.