Los Angeles Wildfires: As Threats To Santa Anita Recede, Reality Bites

[Wandering Eyes]

Santa Anita opened its track Thursday morning to limited training–just joggers and gallopers for most of the morning. For the Santa Anita backstretch community, it was a slice of normality as the extent of the damage caused by the wildfires that have ripped across Los Angeles this week began to set in.

“I've lived there half my life, almost. My daughter was born there. It's where she grew up. All of our memories together. I was just telling her, 'all of your medals and trophies for all the years you danced, everything's gone,'” said Deedee Anderson, whose home in Altadena–one of the communities in the San Gabriel Mountain foothills most affected by the fires–was destroyed.

Anderson is a long-time staple of the Santa Anita backstretch. She's a former exercise rider and now the owner of a successful equine therapy business, whose clients include trainers like Michael McCarthy.

“We got out and the cats out, except one,” Anderson said, of her husband, 16-year-old daughter and pets. “I'm between despair and utter devastation and sadness and guilt and regret. Why didn't I load up this? Why didn't I load up that? Honestly? I thought at the worst we'd have some smoke damage. It would be no biggie. I grabbed a few things. My laptop. My machines–my equipment so I can continue to have a business.”

Anderson said she and her neighbors were evacuated Tuesday night. She listened into the police scanner in the early hours of Wednesday morning as the fire worked its way through the community, street by street, towards her home.

“I want to be stoic about it and reflect and be philosophical. Like, what's the silver lining? Well, I did have too much stuff. I did have a cluttered house from all the years I've lived there and raised a kid there,” she Anderson.

“My house was very charming. It was in a beautiful area,” she added. “I loved it. I don't know if we'll ever go back. We'll see. But it means a lot that so many people have checked in. It means a lot that people like Michael [McCarthy] have reached out and gone, 'take all the time you need for you and your daughter.' It's good to know that I have support.”

By Thursday afternoon, several fires continued to burn in the Los Angeles region. The Eaton Fire is the wildfire that has most impacted the communities surrounding Santa Anita Park. It has so far claimed at least five lives, and has spread to more than 10,600 acres, according to Cal Fire.

Tuesday night and on into Wednesday, the Eaton Fire licked across foothill communities like North Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre where many of the backstretch workers live, causing mass evacuations. Unusually strong Santa Ana winds coupled with tinder-dry conditions have made this particular event especially treacherous.

Because of the high winds and the smoke, training at Santa Anita was cancelled Wednesday morning. There was also some damage to the backstretch property. Trainer Leonard Powell reported that a portion of his barn roof had partially blown off.

As the winds dropped slightly Thursday, compromised air quality from the heavy smoke has become the main obstacle to operations at Santa Anita.

With that in mind, Santa Anita has been distributing N-95 masks and protective eyewear to backstretch and frontstretch personnel. Track management have also told the horsemen and women that, if anyone chose, it would assist them in evacuating horses to other licensed facilities.

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) has developed a protocol for what activities are permitted at its facilities when the air quality is compromised, an ultimate decision on which is determined by the track's general manager and the state's equine medical director.

The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a numerical standard developed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At 2:00 pm PT Thursday afternoon, the AQI for Arcadia was 198, which is considered unhealthy.

When the AQI is more than 175, the options are to cancel live racing, cancel official workouts, and to prohibit galloping, breezing, and anything more strenuous than a jog.

On Thursday afternoon, track management announced that it had postponed Friday's racing program until next Thursday, Jan. 16. due to the forecast of poor air quality in the region.

“We also want to respect the impact that this tragedy has had on many of our community, including our horsemen and women and our own Santa Anita team, who have been devastated by these fires. By proactively moving the races, it gives our horsemen and women, horseplayers, fans and our team the opportunity to plan accordingly,” wrote Santa Anita general manager, Nate Newby.

A decision on this weekend's racing program, which includes Saturday's 11-race California Cup program, will be made on Friday.

The racing office also alerted trainers Thursday that there will be no official workers Friday morning, and that a decision about what training activities will be allowed (like jogging or galloping) will be made at 4:30 am PT Friday morning.

In the meantime, many in the backstretch community have been finding out whether they still have homes to go back to.

Eoin Harty | Horsephotos

California Thoroughbred Trainers president Eoin Harty was evacuated from his north Sierra Madre community late Tuesday night.

Harty returned to his house midway Wednesday morning. It was still standing. But a tree at the end of his garden was ablaze. He doused it with a hose and stayed on into the night to stub out any other potential fires and to protect the property from looters combing the fire-stricken area.

“I've been sat up there trying to protect the porch, basically,” said Harty, Thursday morning.

Emergency services had cordoned off his street but there was no other police presence keeping an eye on the homes last night, he said.

“I think I might have been the only person on my street last night. It was eerily quiet and pitch dark. I left this morning when it was dark, and so, haven't really surveyed what has happened or is happening today,” he said.

“You've got the fallout from the wind, so you've got the tree limbs and crap everywhere. Then you've got the smoke and ash falling on top of that,” he said.

“I think I'm in a state of shock today. Yesterday, it was just reacting to the facts and the situation. But today it's starting to sink in just what the f@#* is going on here,” said Harty, who added that he'll once again stand guard outside his home tonight.

“I'll be wielding my little league baseball bat at them,” he said, of any looters. “It'll be like Pee-wee Herman chasing down a villain.”

 

Phil D'Amato | Horsephotos

For trainer Phil D'Amato, his is more a sense of relief.

“We've averted disaster, thanks to the fire department and the forestry service. They acted quickly and I'm extremely grateful,” said D'Amato.

D'Amato lives in a home abutting the mountainside north of Santa Anita. He said he was evacuated Tuesday night but returned to his home yesterday to see if it was still standing.

When he arrived, he said, the flames were perilously near creeping down the hillside towards him home (see the video above). The emergency services arrived just in the nick of time, he added.

“The cut down all the trees and all the potential fuel to the fire, knocked out anything that got into my backyard,” said D'Amato. Had they not, his home would likely have been lost, he said.

“I think so–it was getting really hot, fast and furious there,” said D'Amato. “It was a surreal experience.”

8am pic.twitter.com/XeZ6UqXwlm

— John W. Sadler (@johnwsadler) January 9, 2025

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