SARATOGA SPRINGS — Caring for Thoroughbred racehorses is an almost 24 hour per day job that leaves those who do it little time for personal care. And, since English is foreign to a great number of the caregivers, many of them ignore medical annoyances until they become catastrophic illnesses.
A cooperative venture to provide primary care for workers on the Saratoga backstretch became a reality Tuesday morning when dignitaries and backstretch workers cut the ribbon on a new Saratoga Backstretch Clinic that is a joint effort of BEST (Backstretch Employees Service Team) and Saratoga Hospital with a whole lot of help from John Hendrickson and the late Marylou Whitney.
Mrs. Whitney began the Backstretch Appreciation Program in 2006 that offered many recreational and social programs for the workers on the side of the track that many racing fans never see. One of those functions was a health care clinic that was operated out of a double-wide trailer that still sits on the North side of Union Avenue just inside the horse crossing gate.
After Mrs. Whitney’s death in 2019, Hendrickson not only continued their work with BEST, he became even more dedicated toward it.
The drive to replace the old double wide came about in 2021 when a charity auction raised $400,000. Hendrickson put up the rest of the $1.2 million total cost while saying “I really don’t like to discuss money.” Ground was broken last summer two days before Saratoga’s opening day.
The all-white structure has become known to many backstretch workers as “My little hospital.” Right now, it contains five rooms for examinations and treatment and a full-scale medical laboratory for performing almost all tests involving blood and urine.
However, anyone engaged in conversation with Dr. Alex Cardiel, the Backstretch Medical Director, will come away with an attitude that this is “just the beginning.” He reports the…
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