JC / Railbird

Jockeys’ Insurance Archive

“Increasing Fiscal Neglect”

The Jockeys’ Guild released results of an internal investigation into the Guild’s financial condition on Thursday, and the news, as might be expected, was ugly: According to interim president Darrell Haire, nearly $2.1 million was inappropriately spent by former management, most of the Guild accounts were depleted by November 15 (when then president Wayne Gertmenian and most of the Guild’s management was fired), and a number of unpaid bills have been piling up for the past six months:

The Guild expects to file a lawsuit against Gertmenian in an effort to recoup some of the losses; the FBI and local police are also investigating. Gertmenian’s attorney, Mitchell Egers, said “his client did nothing irresponsible.”

Posted in Jockeys' Insurance on December 9, 2005

Guild Meets With Track Execs

The Jockeys’ Guild met with racetrack executives in a five hour meeting at Churchill Downs on Thursday. “It was an opportunity to sit down with the new guild leadership and representatives and to get together face-to-face and talk about some things,” said Churchill spokesman John Asher. No further details of the meeting were released. Another is planned for sometime in January 2006.
The Guild almost moved offices this week, in an effort to cut any remaining ties to fired president Wayne Gertmenian’s consulting company, Matrix Capital Associates. “Among the many self-serving things that Dr. Gertmenian did is negotiate an agreement that the Jockeys’ Guild would not only rent the space they occupied, but rent a separate space that Matrix occupied,” said Guild attorney Barry Broad. Rent on the old offices were $4,000 per month. The new offices are $1,706 plus utilities.
The recent shakeup at the Guild has left a lot of questions: How will the organization rebuild? What’s next for the Guild? Ask interim president Darrell Haire.

Posted in Jockeys' Insurance on December 2, 2005

Guild Owes Jockeys $440K

Every bit of news that comes out about the state of the Jockeys’ Guild post-Wayne Gertmenian points to an organization in a deepening crisis. This week, Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal reports that the Guild owes jockeys $440,000 because its former management used members’ savings accounts to fund operating expenses. Guild attorney Barry Broad, who has accused Gertmenian of leaving the Guild in “financial shambles,” said only $200,000 remains in the organization’s operating account as of last week, which means the Guild is in the red $240,000 just in money owed to riders. (Never mind the unpaid office rent and health insurance premiums or Gary Birzer’s lawsuit.) “The problem now is if everybody wanted their money back at once, the Guild would probably be bankrupt,” said Broad. [Thanks to Robert Colton for the pointer to Mullen’s article.]

Posted in Jockeys' Insurance on November 29, 2005

A Less Than Graceful Exit

The Jockeys’ Guild fired president Wayne Gertmenian following an emergency meeting of the Guild Senate on Tuesday, and the disgraced professor didn’t take his dismissal well. It was reported earlier this week that Gertmenian and similarly ousted Guild vice president Albert Fiss scuffled with jockeys at the Guild’s offices on Tuesday and now there are allegations that Gertmenian wrote checks totaling $217,000 to himself and other “employees” of his consulting company, Matrix Capital Associates, on the same day that he was fired, despite a hold that had been placed on checks larger than $200 drawn on the Guild account. No charges have been filed in Tuesday’s altercation, but police are investigating the checks. “It may be embezzlement or it may be something they were entitled to,” said Monrovia police lieutenant Richard Wagnon. Given that Gertmenian testified in the first congressional hearing on jockeys’ insurance held in October that he was the only employee of Matrix, which was contracted to manage the Guild, it’s difficult to imagine how the apparent money-grab could be construed as a legitimate business act.
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The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held its second hearing on jockeys’ insurance on Thursday and took testimony from racetrack operators and horsemen on the issue. Representative Ed Whitfield, who chaired the hearing, said federal legislation could be necessary to impose standard safety and insurance requirements across the industry. “A lot of interest groups do not want their turf touched, … [but] there are a lot of strong arguments for some uniformity and for some federal oversight and involvement,” said Whitfield. Racing executives disagree: “Trying to get a one-size-fits-all solution could be damaging,” said TRA vice president Christopher Scherf.

Posted in Jockeys' Insurance on November 18, 2005