Amid ICE crackdown, feds release more visas for horse racing workers

Show Caption Hide Caption Kentucky Derby trainers support reforms for immigrant workforce "If we couldn't have an immigrant workforce on the backside, I don't know how horse racing exists," trainer Dale Romans said at Churchill Downs two days before the 2025 Kentucky Derby. With the white twin spires looming in the distance on an overcast day last May, a handful of grooms and hot walkers stood beside a barn in jeans, work boots and University of Kentucky ballcaps. A group of journalists asked questions about the backstretch labor force of horseracing tracks, where few Americans and many immigrants live within steps of more than a thousand thoroughbred horses. Backstretch immigrants work on...