Ron Moore, former Santa Anita track superintendent, dies at 80

Ron Moore, the longtime Santa Anita Park track superintendent whose work touched the dirt, turf and Olympic footing at Arcadia, died Friday morning at 80 from complications of a recent stroke. In a sport where surface quality can change the shape of a race day, Moore was one of the people responsible for making sure the track held up when horsemen, bettors and officials all had the same question: is it safe, and is it fair?

Moore’s name was tied to Southern California racing long before he took the top maintenance job. He began working on the track at 15 as a coachman, driving the carriages that carried racing officials to observation posts. His father, Royce Bob Moore, was the track foreman at Hollywood Park from 1953 through 1979, and the family connection ran deep enough that Ron, his father, his brother and his nephew became synonymous with the region’s racing infrastructure.

After a three-year Army stint that included two years in Germany, Moore returned to Southern California and joined the Santa Anita track crew. When Bill Quiggle retired in 1977, Moore was put in charge of conditioning both the main track and the training track at 30 years old. His first winter-spring stretch on the job brought more than 40 inches of rain to Arcadia, one of the wettest seasons in track history, and horsemen credited him with getting through it without losing control of the surface.

That earned respect from the people who know the track best. Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel was among the leading conditioners who praised Moore’s judgment and professionalism, a sign of how closely his work was watched by trainers whose horses depended on the footing every morning and every afternoon. Moore became Santa Anita’s track superintendent in 1981 and also oversaw the Camino Real turf course, extending his reach across the same surfaces that helped define the meet.

His work went beyond routine maintenance. Moore also helped oversee construction of the show-jumping and dressage arena for the 1984 Olympic Games at Santa Anita, a job that pushed his influence into a major international event. The family line is still active at the track: his brother Dennis now serves as 1/ST Racing’s track surfaces consultant, and his nephew Rob is Santa Anita’s current track superintendent.