Eli Hernandez endured his own heartbreak before seeing a broader path to help others
Chaplain Eli Hernandez serves food during a backside BBQ for backstretch workers at Del Mar racetrack on Tuesday. Eli Hernandez was 35 and working as a drug and alcohol counselor in east Los Angeles, trying to help the homeless and those with mental health issues untangle lives that had become suffocating, bear-hugging kids from loveless homes being drawn into gangs, when he got the call.“He’s dead, he’s gone,” Hernandez quietly recalled. “They found him on the street.
The path he diligently has walked since that gutting call, including his last six years as chaplain at the seaside track, has made him irreplaceable glue for so many rolling up sleeves in the morning darkness to make this place run before the horses do. This is the side of horse racing the public rarely sees. Money and fame populate the front porch of the sport. Animal-rights activists circle the entrance gates. The spotlight tightens there.
Trainer Anthony Saavedra tells the story of one of his workers, Cesar. He began drinking heavily, trying to drown relentless demons.“Cesar got into some bad times,” Saavedra said. “Before he knew it, he was a full-blown alcoholic. In the rigors of life, a lot of people think tequila is the only solution.”The chaplain heard. The two connected. Healing began.
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