Risks for race riders . . .

[Shammy_Davis]

. . . much greater than rewards. This is not a new conversation, but it is important to keep in mind. There is a stark contrast on how racing looks after its riders compared to other major league sports. For decades racing has turned a blind eye to the welfare of the majority of its riders and other backside workers.

http://www.horseracingbusiness.com/14247-14247.htm

While other sports pay highly inflated salaries for human talent, horse racing pays highly inflated prices for equine talent. The difference is that most of horse racing money is wasted before its talent ever makes an appearance before the fan. If racing reinvested in itself in facilities and it’s people racing might survive. As it looks now, that is less and less likely. The first Saturday in May might soon be billed as “race horses get to see dressed up weirdos. on NBC.”

[Palm_Beach]

It’s not an apples to apples comparison. You’d be better off comparing jockeys to other professional riders/horsemen. Some golfers get paid a lot, and the don’t get hurt much.

[Shammy_Davis]

Golfers, predominately, have lucrative sponsorships to keep them afloat when tournament purses are alusive. Same for tennis, bicycle racing, car racing, and other infividual partcipant sports.

Comparisons to other sports are very difficult. The point is that if a race rider is injured or disabled, the industry moves on and the rider and his or her family don’t.

[Where_sMyWhite]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;8739709]
Golfers, predominately, have lucrative sponsorships to keep them afloat when tournament purses are alusive. Same for tennis, bicycle racing, car racing, and other infividual partcipant sports…[/QUOTE]

Which bicycle racing you thinking of? In pro road racing (UCI), which is a team sport, very few riders make “a lot” money in their contract. Yes a few do, but not many. The teams themselves do have team sponsors but get no revenue from TV (a current hot button in pro racing). Individual riders rarely get individual sponsor dollars. A world level pro team may have 28 riders and yet only 9 get to race at Tour de France. Of those 9, usually 8 are riding in support of 1. Those 8 are rarely household names (yes, a few are but of the 198 riders that started the Tour this year, I suspect in the US very few people would recognize more than 5 names; yes, Europe would probably recognize more but still not all 198).

And world level riders crash a fair amount. Their most common injury is broken collar bones but yes, they do face plants and get major scrapes. A good description I recently heard was put on spandex shorts and top and throw yourself out of a car going 40mph.

So, IMO, saying bike riders have lucrative sponsorships is a bit misleading. At least 2 teams are leaving the world tour at the end of this year and probably two more at the end of next year because of the lack of revenue compared to expense. The most highly paid rider gets 5M Euro/year and the majority make far less than that. Compare that to other sports…

Oh, and car racing isn’t an individual sport either Those guys, whether Indy or F1 or NASCAR, are team all the way with drivers under contract to a team.

[Shammy_Davis]

Race car driving, off road and tour bycycling, motorcycle racing, etc are team sports but the driver rider athlete is normally a private contractor, alone in a car or on a bike, who may change teams, similar to other sports. I really think you miss the point of the article and these athletes do get sizeable, some lucrative, sponsorships. You can pick and choose all you like, but Shanklin in this short article makes a good point that I shouldn’t have to defend to any racing fan.

When was the last time you have seen a jockey on TV or in print or in social media, outside the horse racing media, promoting a non-equine product or service?

[danceronice]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;8739865]

When was the last time you have seen a jockey on TV or in print or in social media, outside the horse racing media, promoting a non-equine product or service?[/QUOTE]

Why would they be? Endorsement deals have nothing to do with risks of a sport or even talent, achievement or winnings. They have to do with marketability. The person has to have name recognition on a meaningful scale to the general public. Right now just about the only jockey the average non-racing-fan person MIGHT have a remote chance of naming is Victor Espinoza, because of the Triple Crown and because he was briefly on Dancing With The Stars. And even there most can’t. Gary Stevens took a flyer on acting, but beyond “Seabiscuit” it never went anywhere. The reality show “Jockeys” apparently didn’t have the ratings. Probably because unlike athletes in other sports, they don’t belong to a team or compete for a country or have a ‘regular’ event–they get hired to ride horses X, Y, Z, and Q on today’s card, they put on whomever’s silks they’re handed, they go out and ride. Even the ones at the top of the game can get off their top mount and turn around and ride a $35,000 claimer the next race. They’re closer to contract employees than typical sports figures.

[spotted_draft_x_fill]

How would a jockey be paid salary when they work for multiple stables all over the world? Don’t they get paid for sitting on the horse (jockey fee) and percentage of the purse? Also isn’t there a disabled jockeys fund? Don’t a whole bunch of them get paid to show up for meet and greets? Don’t they also get paid for their expertise and opinions of horses and other things? Don’t they get sponsorships and that’s why there’s a products name on their pants? I have seen ads on TV for products that have nothing to do with racing that jockeys are in.

There’s a lot of things available to them now that can help them financially then there was many years ago.

[Palm_Beach]

I will throw out a guess that there are more foreign born jockeys who did not achieve a high school education than there are foreign born athletes in other sports who did not achieve a high school education.

WRT sponsorship, there are not very many racing fans, so why would a big business sponsor a jockey?

And jockeys in most states are covered up to $1,000,000 for catastrophic injuries so the industry does not “move on” without them. MD, NY and NJ actually cover them under work comp as employees. Although it’s not a perfect system, it’s better than nothing.

http://www.theracingbiz.com/2014/04/04/midlantic-tracks-among-leaders-jockey-insurance/

And Shammy I’m sure you’ve been to as many fund raisers or been hit for donations as many times as I have for the PDJF. After all, you and I are part of the industry.

[Shammy_Davis]

Okay, I give up.

[Where_sMyWhite]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;8739709]
CGolfers, predominately, have lucrative sponsorships to keep them afloat when tournament purses are alusive. Same for tennis, bicycle racing, car racing, and other infividual partcipant sports.[/QUOTE]

The article really only talked about the 3 public-popular sports in this country.

You referenced a few individual sports (tennis, golf) and two ten sports (bicycle and auto racing).

Yes, football, basketball and baseball players I am sure have lucrative sponsorships. Yes, a player is free to change teams, but a jock is free to ride for whomever they wish (assuming the trainer/owner wants to hire them).

Yes, being a jockey is risky but so are other sports (as the article noted), “one of the most” vs “the most”.

As with any pro athlete, the good ones get compensated well. The less “good” ones are not compensated as well.

In reading and re-reading the article, I guess I wasn’t sure of the point of it other than pointing out the obvious… NFL, NBA, MLB players get paid a crap ton of money (IMO, much more than I think they are worth) and jocks aren’t compensated near that well.

Is the “problem” with race riding or the overly inflated salaries offered by those huge pro league machines?

[spotted_draft_x_fill]

But that writer and shammy forget that people in the NBA for example are under contract. Say a player gets $25 million for playing for a team. That money is for 5 years. If the player has a minor injury that’s only leaves them out a short time isn’t going to hurt the team owners investment. Now if a player gets severely injured and can’t play anymore and the contract isn’t up yet, you better believe that player isn’t going to keep the money he’s owed in that contract.

So comparing the racing industry to other sports especially ones that operate on contracts is just plain dumb. They don’t operate the same.

[Palm_Beach]

Shammy, in case you did not see this one -

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/stabling-issues-quarter-horse-drug-testing-rules-among-topics-latest-chrb-meeting/

“Safety officials reported on a recent emergency drill at Del Mar that had multiple agencies, including a medevac unit, responding to a scenario that involved five jockeys injured in a major racing accident. They said they learned things from the drill that will help them better prepare and respond to any real accident. The Board will consider making such drills a requirement at all racetracks as part of the license application process.”

I know it’s a little off topic, but I’m glad they are doing these types of drills.

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8750280]
Shammy, in case you did not see this one -

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/stabling-issues-quarter-horse-drug-testing-rules-among-topics-latest-chrb-meeting/

“Safety officials reported on a recent emergency drill at Del Mar that had multiple agencies, including a medevac unit, responding to a scenario that involved five jockeys injured in a major racing accident. They said they learned things from the drill that will help them better prepare and respond to any real accident. The Board will consider making such drills a requirement at all racetracks as part of the license application process.”

I know it’s a little off topic, but I’m glad they are doing these types of drills.[/QUOTE]

What a great idea. You would think all the tracks would be doing this routinely. As a former EMT for our volunteer unit, I know that preparation, training, and certification are the keys to saving lives.

It appears that Bugboy, in the nice day thread, might agree.

My point, of course, by posting this thread was a reminder of the serious risks both flat and chaser riders take for small rewards. Very few riders earn a reasonable annual wage with or without workmen’s compensation.

Thanks for posting this.

[Where_sMyWhite]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;8750371]
What a great idea. You would think all the tracks would be doing this routinely. As a former EMT for our volunteer unit, I know that preparation, training, and certification are the keys to saving lives.[/QUOTE]

This yes. Law enforcement, schools, hospitals, etc all typically hold “joint” exercises to not only practice but it also helps uncover holes when you have multiple agencies (say, EMT, vet, track, in this) working together.

Often also these exercises employ the use of moulage which is the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training Emergency Response Teams and other medical and military personnel. Having life-life injuries does put additional stress on the various “players” in the exercise which is what you want.

Good reminder, agreed, about how dangerous working the track is; whether working in the morning or afternoon or backside… sitting on the racehorses’ back or leading them or loading them into the gate. I have developed a respect for the assistant starters responsible for getting the horses in the gate and then safely away. So glad they also wear helmets and flack jackets.