The racing program provides a plethora of information for the bettors, fans, and horsemen. From the names of the connections to the stats and detailed information behind those people, the tiny print features everything including an extensive report of the last five lines down to the colors the driver wears. While the program provides such a comprehensive report, it misses one key piece of information: who is the caretaker? The grooms and caretakers of harness racing are unsung heroes, always working behind the scenes and rarely making it into the spotlight. Seldom are the names of these horsepeople announced with the exception of in the big races. Some tracks host a day out of the year dedicated to caretakers and some tracks honor one or two of them at the end of the year, but mostly these caretakers fall behind the shadows of the horses they care for and the trainers that employ them. Working in harness racing as a caretaker is a seven-day-a-week, 24-hours-a-day job where you’re always on call and aren’t likely to walk away financially rich. The horses become the priority and time revolves around paddock schedules and post times as well as morning barn chores and jogging. Some jobs require feeding, jogging and training, or shipping in addition to the usual workload. Some require a set number of horses while others work in a team system in the barn. And while there are many, many caretakers behind the scenes, the number decreases greatly over time. Shelly Grieco has been working for Linda Toscano for 21 years. She became involved in harness racing through her dad, Mike Grieco, scrubbing feed tubs and rolling bandages at his barn at Buffalo Raceway and Batavia Downs. Today, Grieco works at Gaitway Farms in Manalapan, New Jersey with a homebase of The Meadowlands in addition to shipping for stakes and Grand Circuit races. “It’s a seven-days-a-week job. I really don’t have a schedule,” Grieco explained. “I work until I’m done. Right now, the days are earlier because we are mainly a 2- and 3-year-old barn, so most are just jogging or jogging back with only a few racing. When we get fired up with racing stakes and traveling, there can be 20-plus-hour days a few times a week.” The Toscano Stable runs as part of the group that assigns horses to grooms. “I am responsible for everything pertaining to the [assigned horses] and their daily care – stalls, waters, feeds, harnessing, bathing, therapies, and putting them away. I also will go on the track if needed. I travel with mine when they race and many times will be the shipper, too.” As far as making a livable wage, Grieco believes that across the board caretakers don’t earn enough to match the cost of living today. “I guess maybe because New Jersey is so expensive to live,” she explained. “You can’t find a studio apartment for under $1,300 here. I guess I would say that caretakers pay hasn’t increased on the same scale as the cost of living.” Despite the long hours and amount of work each day, Grieco has no plans of changing career paths. She loves each and every one of her horses and says that every year she has one in her stall that grabs a bit more of her heart than others, but her forever heart horse is Market Share. “I went to college for elementary education, so I guess you could say I am teaching kids, just the four-legged kind. I love my horses. I just wish this business had more of a work/life balance,” Grieco concluded. Michelle Logothety has been a caretaker for Gary Messenger at Monticello Raceway for 20 years. The stable is made up of overnight horses as well as stakes horses that travel the New York Sire Stakes circuit. “I start at or before 6 a.m. and usually go home, depending on racing, around 5:30 to 6 p.m.,” Logothety said. “I do water buckets and set up feed, clean stalls and get the horses ready to jog, then put them away and everything in between, including getting the equipment ready for racing. I feel like I’m his second trainer.” Her favorites in the barn are Kj Hunter and Chip Chip Conway, and she resonates with other caretakers in the fact that the horses are the greatest reason for the job. “I do love the horses, but a job with days off would be nice,” she laughed. “I feel you do have to hustle to make a living. Doing paddocks is where the money is.” Catch paddocking is one of the most common ways a caretaker makes additional money on the side, including taking up feeding and cleaning stalls for other stables. Sonja Booth, the 2024 USHWA Caretaker of the Year, works for the 2024 Trainer of the Year Noel Daley. “When I was about 17 to 18 years old, I bought a ticket to Hamburg, Germany in hopes to find a job maybe cleaning horse stalls as horses had been my hobby growing up. I ended up helping a fellow Finn who had stabled there,” Booth said. “I ended up traveling with his horses to Belgium. It all lasted about three months before I returned to Finland.” Sonja later returned to Germany for two years, then met trainer Stephane Bouchard who convinced her to travel stateside for work in harness racing. Her first job was with Trond Smedshammer for five years before going on to work for Daley from 2003 to 2008. After time away to run her own farm, Booth returned to work for him in 2021. “I work anywhere from 5 to 7 a.m. to 12 to 3 p.m. In the winter we start later due to weather conditions on the track. In the summers we try to beat the heat. Noel is easy to work with as long as your job gets done,” Booth explained. “We follow a training and jogging list that Noel makes usually the day before. I clean stalls, turn out in the paddock, some on the walker, get them ready for jogging and training, and put them away afterwards, including brushing, going over their legs for swelling, cuts or bruises, and some horses need wraps. I also clean the equipment, set feed, hay, water, and I think that’s all just basic grooming. “I also like to do some facia work and sometimes massages and stretches,” she added. Her favorite horses include Primadonna Deo, Volume Eight, Captain Albano, and Sig Sauer. She says Captain Albano may be the winner of the group because of his funny attitude and laid-back personality. Booth’s hours extend into time spent on the road for the stakes and Grand Circuit races and this past year, she was seen everywhere from The Meadowlands to the Delaware County Fair. “I don’t think the wages are enough in New Jersey, especially if you would count hours as the cost of living in New Jersey is insane,” Booth said. “No benefits, but I’m one of the lucky ones that my husband has benefits through his work.” Despite the weight of the cost of living in today’s times, Sonja says horses and other animals will always be part of her life. Wendy Petrelli first started working at Bar-Lyn Farms for Bob and Dusty Flamme in Warwick, New York at the age of 18. She started working for Tommy Merton in 2009 and today, they stable at Golden Shoe in Bullville. “I am originally from Goshen which is how I got hooked,” Petrelli said. “I used to go to the Great American Weekends to watch the races as a kid. In high school, BOCES had the Horse Care and Training Course at the Historic Track and I took it. Jimi DeLucia was my instructor.” She holds a tight schedule with early mornings that extend through the workday to afternoon racing at Monticello. “I’m at the farm by 4:45-5:00 a.m. every day because I feed a lot of horses on the farm before I even get to my barn. On non-race days, I leave when we’re done in our barn. I go back at night around 5 p.m. to feed the same barns I feed for in the morning. I’m home by 7 p.m. usually. “My daily barn chores are feeding the horses, turning them out, stalls, making their feed, dressing them to jog or train, bathing them and putting them away,” Petrelli continued. “On race days I go up to Monticello to paddock them.” Petrelli agrees that she works as a caretaker because of the horses and says her favorite horse is Wink And Nod. “I always go for the underdogs. Winky could barely get out of his own way most of the time. I believe he only made $130,000 lifetime, but he was priceless to me and like a big dog. He’s retired to a farm upstate now and I miss him. Second favorite and honorable mention is David On Ice. I would sit in his stall and he would literally lay with his head in my lap and snore.” As a caretaker with the love and passion for horses, she said it is possible to make a livable wage with extra hard work. “You can make a livable wage but you have to hustle. This isn’t a job for people who are afraid to get dirty, or afraid of hard work. “I enjoy the horses so much,” she added. “I’m not getting any younger and someday I might have to find something a little less physical, but for now I can’t imagine a day without the horses.” Cheyanne Mandy is a caretaker from Saratoga Harness, working for trainer Robyn Mangiardi since 2022. With a stable that extends to two shedrows at the Spa oval, the team behind Mangiardi has a full platter of duties. “I work from 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. typically,” Mandy said. “On race days, we sometimes get done earlier since we don’t have many to jog. I personally get up earlier to feed for other barns as well. My daily jobs are to make sure the horses are fed, stalls, and get the horses ready to jog then bath them. Then put them away, feed lunch, and clean up. On race days, I paddock as well and get the equipment washed and put the horses away after they’re cooled out.” She echoes the sentiment that the love of the horses keeps her in the barn, including her favorite horse and former Mangiardi Stable resident, Miki De Vie. “I think I make a livable wage. I do pretty well between regular hours at the barn plus paddocks,” Mandy said. “I honestly love being at the barn with the horses.” Even after working a day in the barn at the track, Mandy returns home to 17 horses of her own to care for as well. All-in-all, caretakers look after multiple horses at a time and keep the stable together in many ways. They work many jobs and act as a Jack Of All Trades when it comes to racing. Job opportunities for caretakers are plentiful, but housing availability near tracks or farms is at a shortage. Coupled with no benefits as well as limited exposure, the career outlook of a caretaker seems less than desirable; however, the best of caretakers agree that they don’t do their job for money or notoriety, but for the horses. It truly takes a special kind of person to be a caretaker.