Are the dorms at a racetrack for just the grooms or are they for any of the horsemen??

Question

Just wanting to know b/c it is expensive and all to stay at hotels and some of the horsemen are not the richest... So are all the horsemen able too stay at the racetrack dorm??? OH YEAH, is it free to stay there???

Answer 1

Only grooms, exercise riders, and hot walkers are allowed to stay in the dorms.  Trainers, assistant trainers, and jockeys  are not allowed to stay in the dorms.  I've actually witnessed track security make a trainer ( who tried to stay in the dorms) vacate a dorm room.  No it is not free.  Most tracks require a deposit fee of $150 up front  which is returned at the end of the race meet if the room is clean and undamaged upon inspection.

Answer 2

I'm Not 100% sure but i think the trainers, drivers,and jockeys also stay free

Answer 3

Yes, it is free for the horses and for the grooms, hot walkers and the exercisers. That deposit thing in the second answer must be somewhat new, it has been 20 years since I been on the backside of a racetrack.

Really, it depends on the track, but for the most part they are for the grooms and hot walkers and some ex. riders. Some of the smaller tracks, I have seen trainers stay in their tack rooms, which are right there by their horses, because they are broke or just wanna watch out for their horses. it is usually one or the other. Now the olden days it was not so frowned upon for a trainer to live with his horses. And even looked upon as being a true and committed horseman, but that was then and this is now. and I am speaking about in the U.S. Across big pond I have been to yards where the trainer lives right there with his horses, but his accommodations are a far cry from a tack room. it was a beautiful stone house with a grand patio that overlooked his yard.

Oh, yeah I have seen some of the busted out jockeys sleep at the track. As the first answer stated.