The devastating wildfires that have swept through Los Angeles and left countless families homeless are also impacting the horse racing community in the city.

Dan Blacker, the British-born Breeders’ Cup-winning trainer based at Santa Anita in Los Angeles, has spoken about how “dreadful” the situation is.

Blacker, the son of British former jockey turned sculptor Philip Blacker, was evacuated from his home on the Pasadena-Altadena border on Tuesday along with his wife, Christina, a presenter on the US racing channel FanDuel, and their children. The house remains intact but without power or water so they continue to be housed by friends.

Two-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Mario Gutierrez, who still rides, was not so lucky. Gutierrez, who won America’s most prestigious race at Churchill Downs on I’ll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist in 2016, was one of many thousands to lose his house in the Eaton fire, which burned 1,400 acres north of the Santa Anita track.

Remarkably, air quality remains well within the legal limits for racing and training resumed at the track, which has not been threatened so far, on Thursday, but racing was cancelled this weekend as the car parks are being used for the relief efforts by a local electricity company and various charities.

Aidan Butler, the former Birmingham bookmaker who is president of 1/ST, which owns Santa Anita, described it as a “basecamp” for those efforts.

“It was about six on Tuesday evening and I was having supper with the kids when I got a text from a neighbour saying the mountain was on fire,” said Blacker, who, 12 years after starting out at Santa Anita, won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint with the Johnny Velazquez-ridden Straight No Chaser at Del Mar in November.

“We live in the foothills. I went out into the backyard, saw that it really was on fire and told the children to pack their overnight bags. Some generous friends have put us up for the last few days.

“Thankfully our house is not affected but many in the area have burned down. It’s just chance. There are houses burned down but houses completely intact on either side. It’s cruel and random.

“It’s mostly been caused by the Santa Ana winds coming off the desert. We always get them at this time of year but this time they were something different, they were bringing down 100-year-old trees and knocking over power lines which sparked, which is generally how the fires started. Then the wind whipped up the embers, one would catch under a roof and the house would go up.”

He added: “We’ve been so lucky. So many have lost everything. It’s dreadful and everyone in the racing community is feeling that at the moment. For the time being the winds have died down and the fire department is gradually getting control, but the Eaton fire is still burning. It’s not over yet.”

Frankie Dettori, who moved to Pasadena in Los Angeles to continue his career in the US just over a year ago, was in Las Vegas when the fires started breaking out and flew back to LA on Thursday.

“There’s just devastation everywhere,” he told The Sun. “You can see it nearby and when you’re coming into the airport, so many houses have burned down.

“We consider ourselves lucky because we are on the south side of the freeway, so it never reached us. I’m just so sorry for the people that have lost their homes, it must have been terrifying.”

Up to 1,800 horses are stabled in the backstretch at Santa Anita. In 2017, a wildfire swept through the San Luis Rey Downs training centre near Bonsall in California, killing 46 of the 500 horses housed there. In trying to save her star horse, one trainer, Martine Bellocq, suffered third-degree burns to 60 per cent of her body.

Some 260 horses were evacuated to Del Mar racecourse 35 miles away, and another 60 to an equine rehoming centre. The centre has since reopened with a sprinkler installed.