JC / Railbird - Jockeys’ Insurance

Jockeys’ Insurance Archive

Steve Dilbeck is on the side of the jockeys in the insurance dispute: “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 in 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 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?” (Lexington Herald-Leader)
More: “Jockeys’ boycott at Churchill Downs over insurance costs gives replacements such as Tammy Fox a chance to pursue a passion” (LA Times); “Little guys trampled in insurance dispute” (Star-Telegram); and Kevin Modesti says insurance issue is a test for the whole sport (LA Daily News).

“Jockeys have been named on all 247 of the horses that were entered today and Thursday at Churchill Downs, where track management dismissed 15 riders earlier this week after they said they wouldn’t ride.” (LA Times)

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced on Monday plans to form a panel to study the jockeys’ insurance issue, after the matter came to a crisis point at Churchill Downs this weekend. The track banned more than a dozen riders for the rest of the meet after the jockeys organized a boycott for this Wednesday in protest of inadequate insurance. (Courier-Journal)
More: “Health insurance pits Churchill, jockeys” (Lexington Herald-Leader) and “The agent for Rafael Bejarano, the leading jockey in the country, said Monday that he had dropped his rider because of the way Bejarano protested what some jockeys consider inadequate accident insurance at Churchill Downs” (LA Times).
Related: “Rafael Bejarano, the national wins leader and one of 15 jockeys banished by Churchill Downs management, is leaving the Kentucky circuit to ride in New York, possibly on a permanent basis, according to both his former and current agent.” (Daily Racing Form)

“Most of the top jockeys at Churchill Downs told their agents not to name them on horses for the Wednesday card, further inflaming a controversy that promises to have widespread ramifications over the national issue of sufficient insurance coverage for jockeys.” (Daily Racing Form)
More: The situation took an ugly turn Sunday afternoon. Jockey Shane Sellers, who left racing last month over insurance concerns, was handcuffed and escorted from the Churchill Downs’ jockeys room, where he was visiting with riders. Churchill officials also ejected Rafael Bejarano, Robby Albarado, Calvin Borel, Mark Guidry and Willie Martinez. All are barred from racing or even appearing at the track through the conclusion of the meet. (ESPN)
Sellers tells Bill Christine: “Now they do this to me. It was a real slap in the face. The fans saw me led away from there like that, and some of my fellow riders were crying about it. It was embarrassing, degrading, absurd — all those things. I gave up 13 years of my life to ride at Churchill Downs.” (LA Times)

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