Carmen Barrera, director of horsemen's relations at NYRA, dies at age 60

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Laz Barrera won the 1978 Triple Crown with Affirmed, a feat that went unmatched for 37 years. That same year, Laz’s niece, Carmen Barrera, went to work at the New York Racing Association. For the better part of four decades, her impact on New York racing has been similarly unparalleled.

That’s why many people walked around Saratoga Race Course in stunned disbelief and sadness Thursday when word got out that Carmen Barrera died unexpectedly overnight. She was 60.'Barrera, who began her NYRA career in guest services, worked in NYRA’s horsemen’s relations department for several decades. She was the department’s director for at least the last 20 years. Carmen Barrera is the daughter of Luis Barrera, who won the 1981 Belmont Stakes with Summing, an accomplishment fondly remembered by Carmen Barrera in an interview with NYRA last year.

“I was so proud of my dad that day; Summing ended Pleasant Colony’s Triple Crown bid and George Martens rode a great race,” she said. “The Belmont was the Triple Crown race my father had wanted to win because it was our home track.”

NYRA’s three tracks - Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga - are like home to New York-based horse owner Mike Repole, who said he was devastated to learn of Barrera’s passing.

"For someone who hasn’t saddled a horse, or won a race as a jockey or trainer, her impact on racing is legendary,” Repole said. “She was a New York Racing Association icon. She was the perfect person for the position that she does; she had an incredible balance of being the sweetest lady in the world and being super tough when she had to be. She was entertaining and liked to laugh. I’m in a fog today. We lost a NYRA legend. This place just won’t be the same.”

Repole said he was notified about Barrera’s passing by Alysse Jacobs, who for the last 10 years worked as Barrera’s assistant. She was inundated with visitors, messages, and phone calls Thursday.

“I always knew how much she meant to people, but seeing everybody coming in here and calling ,it went well beyond the scope of what I knew,” Jacobs said.

Michael Del Guidice, the chairman of NYRA’s Board of Directors, in a press release, said: “Carmen Barrera was a helping hand and guiding light for countless horsemen, guests, and employees for the last four decades. Carmen was a special part of the fabric of racing in New York, and she will be missed deeply.”

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, headed by Aron Wellman, wrote in a tweet: “The Eclipse family is devastated to learn of the sudden passing of Carmen Barrera @TheNYRA. Carmen set the bar for horseman’s relations in the industry, a bar every person in every racing dept in the country should strive to match, but there will never be anyone better.”