They say that there’s no place like home for the holidays, but when you work at the racetrack, going home—wherever that may be—isn’t always an option. The difficulty of taking time away and of making small paychecks stretch can make this season not quite like the jolly, lavish scenes that we see splashed across televisions…
More than 15 years ago, folklorist Ellen McHale was asked by the National Museum of Racing to do a short-term consulting project on the life of backstretch workers at Saratoga Race Course. “The education department wanted more information about the people who worked on the backstretch,” said McHale recently from her office at the New…
Panelists at the Saratoga Institute on Racing and Gaming Law Aug. 12 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. painted a picture of increased compliance in the wake of a 2008 investigation into wage practices by the state of New York. Titled “Labor and Immigration Law in the Racing Industries,” the panel featured anecdotes of backstretch life by…
Brooklyn Backstretch 