Former Santa Anita Park track superintendent Ron Moore passed away Friday morning at age 80 from complications of a recent stroke.
Moore, along with his father, brother and nephew, are synonymous with Southern California horse racing, their ties going back more than seven decades.
Moore was born in 1946, a native of South Gate, CA. His father Royce "Bob" Moore was the track foreman at Hollywood Park from 1953 until his retirement in 1979. Ron first worked on the track at age 15 as a coachman on the carriages used to transport racing officials to observation posts around the course. Not surprising for the 1950s, his favorite jockey was Bill Shoemaker saying, "during the races, I always wanted to get close to the rail and wait for Shoemaker to ride by so I could wave to him."
He began working for his father on the track crew at Hollywood Park when he was still a student at Bellflower High School. After a three-year stint in the United States Army that included a two-year tour in Germany, Moore returned to Southern California and began working on the Santa Anita track crew.
In 1977, when Bill Quiggle retired as Santa Anita track superintendent after more than 30 years on the job, Moore was put in charge of conditioning the main track and training track as the foreman of the operating engineers and truck drivers at age 30. His first Santa Anita winter-spring season saw more than 40 inches of rain fall on Arcadia, one of the wettest in the track's history. The horsemen lauded Moore's work, and the California division of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) honored him with a special award for the work that season.
"When people hire me as a trainer, I tell them they are hiring me as a professional to make decisions," said Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel at that time. "I think they hire Ron Moore the same way. Let him do his job."
Fellow Hall of Fame trainers Laz Barrera and Gary Jones were equally as effusive in their praise for Moore's work.
Moore was named track superintendent in early 1981, adding Santa Anita's fabled Camino Real turf course to his supervision. He continued to work on Santa Anita's track maintenance crew throughout the 1980s and was an integral part in the construction of the show jumping and dressage arena for the 1984 Olympic Games held at Santa Anita.
"Horse racing can provide (surface) protection by being diligent, consistent and experimenting to make it safer," said Ron in a 2024 interview in Trainer magazine.
Moore continued to work with track crews throughout the country until his retirement.
His brother Dennis currently serves as 1/ST Racing's track surfaces consultant, and his nephew Rob is Santa Anita Park's track superintendent.
In addition to Dennis and Rob, Ron Moore is survived by wife Susan, children Wendy, Jennifer and David, along with their children and grandchildren. Funeral services are pending.
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