Picking Up the
Pieces
Trainers and backstretch workers struggle to move forward after thirty-two
horses perish in the most devastating fire in Woodbine’s history.
By: Jennifer Morrison-Learn
Earl Barnett went
to bed early on the night of August 3, exhausted from a full day with
his horses at Woodbine and at his farm.
It hadn’t
been a successful racing season for Barnett - he had saddled only
two winners from his 43 starters - but his best horse, Saratoga Prince,
was coming up to top form in time for his stakes engagements.
Barnett couldn’t
know that things would get so much worse in a matter of hours.
The shrill ring
of the telephone just before 3 a.m. startled Barnett and his wife,
Susan. Grant McGill, the Barnett’s main farm and racetrack employee,
was screaming that Barnett’s Woodbine barn was on fire.
McGill and exercise
rider Joe Niemirowski, who lived in one of the tack rooms between
Barns 7 and 7A on the southwest side of Woodbine, raced through the
blazing, smoke-filled barn, throwing open stall doors and coaxing
terrified horses out of their homes.
“I had told
him to just turn them loose on the road, just get them out,”
said Barnett. “They turned them out into the centre of the barns
but some of them wouldn’t leave. All of the horses were out at
some point but a lot of them ran around to the other side and back
into the barn.”
In the aftermath
of the worst barn fire in Woodbine’s history, the charred remains
of thirty thoroughbreds were found underneath the rubble of Barn 7,
some near the back of their stalls and many scattered about the shedrow.
A total of thirty-two
horses, trained by four different men and owned and cared for by dozens
of track employees, were lost in the fire.
Four of Barnett’s
horses perished, including Saratoga Prince, Peter Sorokolit’s
popular stakes placed sprinter who had banked close to $400,000.
Steve Owens, one
of Woodbine’s highest percentage trainers, lost all fourteen
of his horses, Danny O’Callaghan lost thirteen, almost half of
his stable including some owned by fellow trainer Maggie Couse. Mixed
Blessing, trained by Cliff Hopmans, was entered to race on the day
of the fire but was also found dead.
The cause of the
fire, which began at approximately 2:50 a.m. on the east end of Barn
7 and whipped through the H-shaped formation through to 7A, is believed
to be cigarette smoking, although the official report from Bill Hiscott,
an investigator with the Toronto Fire Marshall’s office, is not
expected until late fall.
Firefighters were
on the tragic scene within minutes but the 30-foot flames were a battle,
especially with the weak water pressure from the backstretch hydrants.
Horses who escaped the fire ran loose on the Woodbine property and
more than a dozen ran down the main road and out onto Highway 27 with
police cruisers in hot pursuit.
Those who arrived
at the track after 4 a.m. were not allowed into the barn area, so
Barnett and most of the other trainers affected were hopelessly locked
out and had to wait for the fire to be put out.
“It was horrible,”
said Barnett. “I knew that my horses were turned out, I just
didn’t know where they were.”
Just after 6 a.m.
, the flames were out and racetrackers were allowed in - some ran
to the barns, others were too afraid of what they would see.
“The fire
was intense,” said Owens. “All I could do was stand and
watch. I drove around the track to find any way in. I did, and when
I got to my barn, it was devastation.”
Owens and his
workers, some of whom lived in the barn’s tack rooms, hopped
in the pickup and drove around the backstretch and to the receiving
barn on the other side of the property, looking for any of their horses.
But like a bad movie, as the hours dragged on, Owens never found one
of his runners.
“It’s
a catastrophe, it’s devastating,” said Owens, who owned
several of his deceased horses with his wife Beverly and her mother
Mildred.
Tragically, the
horse that put Owens in the headlines last fall, the champion two-year-old
Highland Legacy, also died in the fire. Only six of his horses were
insured.
“Our horses
are our lives, you can’t put a price on them,” said Owens.
“Every morning at 6 a.m. we go down the shedrow and talk to each
horse individually. The owners and grooms bond with them, and I bond
with them.”
Barnett’s
first memory was that of Saratoga Prince, lying dead several feet
from the entrance of the barn.
“The ones
they turned out in the wing, they came back in and they didn’t
see them,” said Barnett. “Some went around to the other
side of the barn and came back in. The horses, they were just mesmerized.
The kids were lucky they weren’t trapped, their eyes were burning,
the smoke was so bad.”
Dr. Grey Taylor,
one of several veterinarians scrambling around the Woodbine backstretch
that morning, attempted to help with the identification of the horses
alive and dead but most of the horses were too badly burned.
“It was the
worst day since I started here,” he said. “To see what it
was like was pretty bad. We had a list of the horses that were missing
and we couldn’t identify any of the horses except for one.”
In the days following
the fire, emotions ran high, not only within those directly affected
by the fire, but also among all members of the industry. Television
and print media types swarmed the closed racetrack community and stories
of the fire filled the wires for days.
“I was in
a bit of shock, emotional shock I guess,” said Hugh Mitchell,
the senior vice president of racing for Woodbine. “My worst moment
was walking through the smouldering rubble the day after, seeing the
horses the way they were. I can honestly say that I needed some quiet
time and space to deal with that. It’s an image I will never
forget and one that I pray will never see again.”
What followed
in the weeks after the fire were stories of heroism and generosity
as owners, trainers and horsepeople began to start over again.
Trainers Mac Benson,
Stanley Baresich, Jerry Meyer lost equipment and keepsakes but had
no shortage of donations of tack and buckets from fellow horsemen.
“I used to
think the track needed more heart,” said Barnett. “But I’d
go out to my truck and I’d find cards and gift baskets with martingales
and girths in there. All kinds of people phoned me, owners and other
trainers, offering me horses to train.”
The struggle continues
for Barnett, Owens and O’Callaghan - vet bills for horses recovering
from leg injuries, burns and smoke inhalation are in the thousands
of dollars.
The Horsemen’s
Benevolent and Protective Association, Woodbine and the Ontario Harness
Horsemen’s Association formed the Barn 7 Recovery Fund and by
September 19, more than $400,000 had been raised. The H.B.P.A. also
paid for accommodations for more than twenty grooms and hotwalkers
who were left homeless because of the fire.
“The money
will go to those directly affected by the fire - the trainers are
being given money for a loss of wages for a four to five month period,
and for lost tack and equipment,” said Nick Coukos, the executive
director for the Ontario H.B.P.A..
Coukos, like most
of the racing community, is anxious to know the cause of the fire
and help Woodbine improve its fire and safety policies.
“We want
to know what caused the fire, it will help us sleep better,”
said Coukos.
Mitchell put together
a fire prevention task force immediately after the fire and has had
meetings with members of the Toronto Fire Department to “review
policies and procedures, training and communication practices, building
and equipment requirements.”
Mitchell said
the track has a three- to four-year plan to upgrade electrical systems
and power supplies in all the barns, especially those, like the ones
that burned down, that were built in 1955.
“We want
to set a new standard and we will be forwarding some recommendations
for higher standards than we’ve ever seen before,” said
Mitchell.
What was left
of the barns has been demolished and new ones will be in place by
next spring.
Collin Adams,
the head of security, hired Robert Webb, a former fire prevention
chief for the city of Etobicoke , as a fire prevention officer for
Woodbine, and his security team have had a crackdown on reducing and
eliminating smoking in the barns, old electrical appliances and gas
barbeques.
None of these
measures can erase the memories of losing a racehorse and most of
those that died were homebreds, raised by some of Woodbine’s
most dedicated horsepeople.
Owens and one
of his owners, Nancy Guest, decided to go into partnership together
at the September yearling sale and plan to claim horses.
“It was really
emotional for Nancy ,” said Owens. “It was heartwarming
for her to see the new horses, she cried a bit. Nothing will ever
take the places of the horses we owned, but it’s a new challenge.”
Barnett was back
at the races in early September - his first runner, Delray Sam, sported
black braids and the groom wore a black armband.
The trainer cherishes
a new lead shank with his name engraved on it, given to him by fellow
trainer Mort Hardy.
“It’s
very symbolic, it means quite a lot to me,” said Barnett.
“It’s
been hard to have any ambition to do anything or go anywhere. I walk
past the fire area and I just shudder. It’s still a shock.”
Republished with
permission from Canadian Thoroughbred
Archives
