NOW IS TIME TO ENSURE JOCKEYS ARE INSURED.Byline: STEVE DILBECK The world of thoroughbred racing is about to be sucked into a black hole of its own creation. It's embarrassing, shameful even, but track owners ride on with blinkers blinkers 1. rigid pieces of leather fitted to a head harness at a point where they will obstruct the horse's lateral vision. 2. a more sophisticated piece of harness worn by expensive horses consisting of a canvas head-covering with holes for the ears to protrude and two firmly in place. How it ever came to this flies beyond logic and simple decency, and settles onto the familiar landing strip of greed. As in, the rich can never be too rich. The debate that threatens to drag thoroughbred racing down begins with simple agreement and then diverges into complete opposite worlds. Everyone at least claims to agree jockeys need accident insurance. After that, it's everyone for themselves. Particularly the jockeys. Those would be the ones who put their lives at jeopardy with every mount. Who are guaranteed to be injured several times a year. Phenomenal athletes who risk serious head and neck injuries. And without them, there's no show. Track owners should send limos to get them every day. Should bathe them in luxury. Should boast about the lavish insurance they're provided. Instead, they want jockeys to pay for it themselves. Or back a state workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. program that's supported by already overburdened horse owners and trainers. Or they want to talk about it some more. This is 2004 ... and they still want to talk? They need to ante up now. Find some smidgen from their lucrative off- track wagering and offer every jockey complete catastrophic accident insurance. Instead there is Churchill Downs Churchill Downs, Ky.: see Louisville. having veteran jockey Shane Sellers Shane Sellers (born September 24, 1966 in Erath, Louisiana) is a retired American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age eleven, he began working around horses and in 1983 rode his first winner at Evangeline Downs. taken off the grounds in handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. , banning jockeys from the meet because they would dare protest their insurance situation. It's disgraceful. It should be beneath them. Unthinkable. ``I think they have caused a tidal wave tidal wave, term properly applied to the crest of a tide as it moves around the earth. The wavelike upstream rush of water caused by the incoming tide in some locations is known as a tidal bore. ,'' jockey Gary Stevens
For all the whining track owners typically offer about how the general public doesn't understand the hardships jockeys go through, what great athletes they are, how unappreciated they are, it's now those on the inside who refuse to recognize and take care of the jockeys. The public is going to side with the riders after having read the book and seeing the movie, ``Seabiscuit.'' Track owners must have missed it, what with it actually being about horsemen. Remember when legendary jockey George Woolf George Monroe Woolf (May 10, 1910 – January 4, 1946) was a Canadian-born thoroughbred race horse jockey and the namesake of the annual jockey's award given by the United States Jockeys' Guild. is at the hospital bed of Red Pollard, because Pollard's body is so ravaged rav·age v. rav·aged, rav·ag·ing, rav·ages v.tr. 1. To bring heavy destruction on; devastate: A tornado ravaged the town. 2. by a fall he can't ride in the match race with War Admiral Noun 1. War Admiral - thoroughbred that won the triple crown in 1937 ? Woolf died eight years later in a fall at Santa Anita. It's an incredibly dangerous business. Yet only five states - including California - of the 38 that have tracks offer workers' compensation for jockeys. They don't offer it in Texas, site of this year's Breeders' Cup. They don't offer it in Kentucky, home of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby. And they don't offer it in West Virginia, where last summer jockey Gary Birzer fell at Mountaineer Park, suffering spinal cord injuries Spinal Cord Injury Definition Spinal cord injury is damage to the spinal cord that causes loss of sensation and motor control. Description Approximately 10,000 new spinal cord injuries (SCIs) occur each year in the United States. that left him paralyzed par·a·lyze tr.v. par·a·lyzed, par·a·lyz·ing, par·a·lyz·es 1. To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic. 2. To make unable to move or act: paralyzed by fear. from the neck down. Birzer, 29, was stunned to learn the Jockeys' Guild catastrophic insurance policy had lapsed in 2002. Tracks offer $100,000 in accident insurance. Within months, Birzer's bills were over $600,000. Jockeys are left to obtain the expensive insurance on their own, and for most riders who do not get the primo mounts, the $10,000-plus premiums are out of reach. ``I do very well and I'm willing to put up my fair share of whatever it may be,'' said Stevens, who played Woolf in ``Seabiscuit.'' ``But the fellow who only rides the 90-1 shots five days a week, he can't afford to pay the same thing I pay. ``But he probably deserves to have better insurance, because he's taking more risks riding lesser horses in cheaper races.'' Stevens turned down mounts at the Breeders' Cup because Texas did not have workers' comp for jockeys. Concerned his lead would be followed, sponsors boosted insurance to $500,000 for the event. If the powers that be can buy insurance for a single day, they can do in nationally until an agreement is reached. The sport of kings, indeed. Stevens, on vacation in Idaho, said he was driving through Boise when his wife spotted a window washer hanging on the side of tall building in a sling. ``She said, 'Look at that crazy guy out there,' '' Stevens recalled. ``And I thought to myself, 'Yeah, but I bet he's got insurance for the job he's doing. And I guarantee you he's not paying for it.' '' |
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