JC / Railbird

Jockeys’ Insurance Archive

Charles Town Insurance Max $50,000

Matt Hegarty reports in the Daily Racing Form today that Charles Town’s jockey accident insurance is capped at $50,000, not the more standard $100,000 or $1 million found at most tracks. Apprentice rider Shannon Campbell was paralyzed in an accident at Charles Town last Saturday. A fundrasier is being planned to help with her medical bills. Jockeys’ Guild vice-president Albert Fiss, reacting to the news that Campbell’s coverage is limited to $50,000, said, “You would think that West Virginia of all places, with what happened last year and the money coming from slots, would do the morally right thing.” The Jockeys’ Guild allowed its catastrophic insurance to lapse in 2002, ostensibly because of the cost (in 2002, the Guild paid $466,000 for $1 million of coverage). Fiss acknowledged that the plan “would have covered Campbell if it had been in place last week.”
Related: At a forum on the jockey insurance issue held in Kentucky on Thursday, an insurance executive called the situation a “powder keg” (MSNBC).

Posted in Jockeys' Insurance on July 15, 2005

House Committee Opens Inquiry

Jockeys’ Guild officials have dodged questions since last fall over everything from the organization’s finances to its insurance policies to Guild president Wayne Gertmenian’s resume. Finally, some answers may be forthcoming:

Whitfield was named chairman of the Oversight and Investigations subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in January and is investigating the issue of insurance for jockeys and backstretch workers. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Whitfield hopes to hold hearings in three months and is entertaining the possibility of federal legislation to solve the insurance problem.
Related: The Jockeys’ Guild agreed that members would not boycott at Churchill Downs-owned tracks in exchange for Churchill dropping its injunction against the organization; Churchill also announced that it secured $1 million in insurance for riders at its tracks. (Blood-Horse)

Posted in Jockeys' Insurance on April 21, 2005

A Job for Matt Hegarty

According to a report on Blood-Horse, the Jockeys’ Guild paid Matrix Capital Associates, the consulting firm owned by Guild president Dr. L. Wayne Gertmenian, $412,000 in consulting fees in 2003, an increase of 12% over 2002 when Matrix was paid $375,903. Matrix took over management of the Guild in 2001, and the organization has been the subject of much criticism since last fall for letting its catastrophic insurance policy for members lapse. The question I keep coming back to when I read these articles about Guild finances and Matrix is this: What is Matrix Capital Associates? It’s been a registered corporation in the state of California since 1982, but prior to 2001, the only mention I can find of it online, in Lexis-Nexis, or in any other database, is on Dr. Gertmenian’s curriculum vitae as the publisher of his “Economath Primer.” After 2001, the only company or organization that it appears in connection with is the Jockeys’ Guild. So, I wonder: In its 20+ years, what other organizations has Matrix Capital Associates done consulting work for? And what exactly is the consulting work it’s doing for the Jockeys’ Guild now?

Posted in Jockeys' Insurance on March 1, 2005