Subpoenas Issued
The US House of Representatives issued two subpoenas to Jockeys’ Guild president Wayne Gertmenian on Tuesday, demanding that management and financial documents from the Guild and Matrix Capital Associates, the consulting firm owned by Gertmenian that has managed the organization since 2001, be turned over to a congressional committee investigating the issue of jockeys’ insurance (Blood-Horse). The documents sought by the committee, headed by Kentucky representative Ed Whitfield, are the same records that Whitfield requested in letters to the Guild and Gertmenian in April and then again in August. “It was pretty clear to us that they were not really being responsive in providing us with documents that we had requested,” said Whitfield. “We think it’s essential we get a complete analysis of how the [Jockeys’ Guild] money’s coming, how it’s being spent” (Lexington Herald-Leader).
Neither Gertmenian nor any Guild representatives have commented on the subpoenas. In response to Whitfield’s August letter to the Guild, counsel Lloyd Ownbey wrote that the committee investigation was “misdirected” and stated that the Guild had provided “huge volumes of documents relevant to this investigation,” specifically, “in excess of one and a half business boxes of documents (covering the past six-plus years of Guild operations).”
Comment: Forget Weightgate. A far bigger scandal is brewing in the Jockeys’ Guild. The apparent unwillingness or inability of the Guild and Gertmenian to provide the documents Whitfield has requested is not only strange, but alarming. At the very least, it suggests that both the Guild and Matrix are afflicted with a case of poor record keeping. At the very worst, it suggests mismanagement. Either is a shame for jockeys, who deserve competent and trustworthy leaders representing their interests.
