Winning a Place to Call Home

Words By Elisabeth Hower | March 16 2021

I want to do whatever is necessary for these horses to have the best life possible, even though it’s overwhelming.

It’s eight o’clock in the morning at a quiet barn in Canyon Country, California. Thoroughbred racehorses, once flying down the tracks in Santa Anita and Del Mar, now graze on flakes of timothy and alfalfa at Win Place Home, the aftercare charity where they’ve landed before finding forever homes. CJ Marinaccio, founder and trainer, carries two grooming boxes, one in each hand. She’s got a lunge line flung over her shoulder, a couple halters over the other. She can’t remember the time she took a day off. “Last spring?” she asks herself genuinely. But she doesn’t look weighed down, nor does she seem tired. There’s a perennial twinkle in her eye that comes from her clarity of vision. “I went to school for animation, and was actually getting some traction,” she says, “but then I realized I didn’t want to spend a single day without the horses… I called up Disney and asked for my portfolio back before they even reviewed it.”

Without looking back, Marinaccio, a California native, dove headlong into carving out her place within the world of the animals she loves so much. At first she managed show barns; eventually her made way to the racetrack. She quickly worked her way up in what is still a man’s world to become an assistant trainer at Santa Anita Race Track, where Seabiscuit’s staged his famous comeback. After that, she became a vet tech on the track for several years. It was during this time she realized she could do a lot more for these athletes off the track than on, which led her to found Win Place Home, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to rehabbing, retraining, and rehoming retired racehorses in the winter of 2015. “They’re very well taken care of while they’re racing,” she explains, “But once they retire, there’s a lot less support.” Support is an understatement, considering the lifespan of most of these horses is between 25 and 30 years. And considering the slew of bad press the sport has attracted the last few years, wouldn’t it be better to ban the sport altogether? “That would be catastrophic,” Marinaccio says without hesitation. “So many more horses would die.” She’s not the only one that thinks so.

“You can’t ban racing… That would be harmful [for the horses],” explains Madeline Auerbach, owner of M. Auerbach Racing here in Southern California. She’s responding to the growing number calling for its end, evidenced by the protesters stationed outside tracks across the country. Auerbach’s given it plenty of thought. So much so, she founded the non-profit CARMA, or, the California Retirement Management Account, to raise money for retired racehorses. Dr. April Mauro, DVM, who worked at Santa Anita Racetrack for years agrees with her. “Sure, these horses are being used for sport, people are gambling on them, but they’re treated better than 90% of horses in the world. Travel almost anywhere outside of the U.S., you’ll see.” Plus, as Monty Roberts, the original horse whisperer himself, reflected in a recent demonstration “Horses love to run. You see them in the wild, they’re racing each other. It’s instinct.”

And yet, despite being centuries old, the future of horse racing is at risk. Especially following the spike in serious injuries, or breakdowns, that took place in 2019 at Santa Anita Race Track, during which nearly two dozen horses were euthanized by March. However, outlawing racing might not result in stopping it. “People are going to race horses,” says Auerbach bluntly. “So how do you want it to happen? In the shadows where it’s not regulated? Or do you want it out in the open, where everybody can see what goes on and there are regulations and a level of protection for these animals?” Marty Irby, executive director for Animal Wellness Action, a public policy organization, concurs: “It would go underground. Look at cockfighting. It’s rampant in the United States. There’s a tremendous amount in California… None of that is regulated.”

For the moment, racing continues, and thousands for horses leave the track each year due to injury or because they simply weren’t fast enough; some retire as young as two years old. That’s where aftercare charities like Win Place Home step in. “Our aim is to teach them confidence and trust, to set them up for success wherever they go next,” she explains as she leads a petite bay mare named Misty. That training includes desensitization exercises, positive reinforcement, and a light, kind touch.

It took a full year for the charity’s first horse to be adopted. But since then, “we’ve grown exponentially,” Marinaccio explains excitedly. Win Place Home now cares for 20 horses, and has successfully adopted out another 23. “There’s a job for every horse,” she says. “Just this week I have one going to be a therapy horse at a drug rehabilitation center, and it’s perfect for him. He’s going to do great.” And with a recent partnership with the Monty Roberts’ Mustang and Transition Horse Program, she’s poised to be able to help a great deal more.

But what did happen at Santa Anita in 2019— and was it avoidable? Patrick Battuello, founder and president of the non-profit Horseracing Wrongs, which is headquartered in New York, but is active in California, believes regulations are not enough: his organization is dedicated to the complete eradication of horse racing in the United States. “I use the word ‘carnage’ a lot, because that’s what it is,” he says. PETA’s stance is equally clear.

CJ Marinaccio, photo by Glenn Nutley

“We don’t support the cruelty of horse racing,” says Kathy Guillermo, the organization’s Senior VP. And while Irby isn’t aiming for a ban, he’s observed an increase in calls to ban across the mainstream sector of animal advocacy. The deaths, the bad press, the whips… “None of it looks good,” he says.

With high-overhead costs and no way to earn their keep, many of the horses could end up on a truck bound for a much more tragic fate. Horse slaughter is illegal in the United States, but there are auctions where horses can be sold and sent to Canada or Mexico, where it is still very much legal. Irby explains that not many owners would keep their horses; they wouldn’t be able to feed them. “Probably about 90% of horses out there would be sent to slaughter.” Counters Guillermo, “That’s not a reason to continue horse racing.”

Still, those within the industry have been responding to the concerns. The Stronach Group, who owns Santa Anita, and matches all purse contributions to CARMA, has long supported the yet-tobe-passed Horse Racing Integrity Act —something Churchill Downs has yet to do. Over the past two years, Santa Anita has added regulatory vets to oversee the track. The result? The strictest regulations of any track in the country. “What’s happening there now was unheard of before,” Mauro explains, “People are flying in from Europe to learn the system.” Why? Santa Anita currently has one of the lowest breakdown percentages out there. “But nobody’s reporting on that,” Marinaccio laments.

In the meantime, aftercare programs like Marinaccio’s are making a difference. “If we had more, we’d have no problem placing all [the horses],” says Sarah Birch, another racetrack vet. She herself has adopted a gelding she met on the track, and donates her time, expertise and many medical supplies as the resident vet at Win Place Home. But due to Covid-19 restrictions preventing live fundraising events, CARMA and Win Place Home have each raised only a third of their previous years funding.

It may never be a perfect system. But at the heart of most who weigh in on these issues is a love for the horses. Of the animal advocates she’s spoken to, Auerbach says their hearts “are in the right place.”However, “They’ll often say, ‘They don’t need to be taken care of, just turn ‘em all loose. Put them all out on the infield in Santa Anita, take them out to the mountains and let them run wild.’ And then you show them the charts. About 50% of horses born in the wild don’t make it to their first birthday.”

While the great racing debate will continue to rage, you’ll find Marinaccio at the barn every morning, greeting the horses one by one, with equally and deeply felt affection for each one of them. “Hi Galadriel! You’re so beautiful, mama!” To another, “Sting! I see you, I love you.” If those names sound familiar, it’s because they’re all endearingly taken from places or people in Lord of the Rings. Bilbo was adopted just before Christmas, and Shire will soon be departing. Why the namesakes? “Usually I say I’m a bit of a Tolkien nerd,” she laughs, “but it’s a little deeper than that.” She explains, “I want to do whatever is necessary for these horses to have the best life possible, even though it’s overwhelming.” Saving them is a little like trying to save Gondor, she explains. “There are so many in need and the funding is so limited.” But she’s not giving up. The love Marinaccio has for these animals is as clear the vibrant blue eyes responsible for the certainty of vision that’s created a track record these horses can trust.

To learn more about Win Place Home, or if you’d like to learn how you can help, go to www.winplacehome.org.

CJ Marinaccio, photo by Glenn Nutley