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Originally Posted by brianwspencer
Point #4 is actually very valid and very important. The average "salary" for jockeys is usually quoted as somewhere around $26,000. That even includes the top jockeys and their inflated earnings. Median income is a better look at it, at which point I am sure the original point #4 is closer to the truth, but I thought I'd try to throw you a bone.
Could you utilize one of your plethora of degrees and inform us (ballpark figure is fine) how much you think it would cost a jockey to insure his or herself out of pocket? Of course I only wonder this because I know how much MY insurance is monthly and the huge number it translates to yearly -- and I sit at a desk for work which means (think i might have to spell things out here it seems.....) that I am unlikely to get trampled by a horse, tossed from my chair when it breaks down, or suffer any of the broken bones or punctured lungs or various other bodily injuries that insurance companies would see could happen to jockeys.
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There is a perfectly logical and simple way for the jockey's insurance needs to be covered. You have to first accept the premise that the founding tenet of the jockey's guild is JOCKEYS HELPING JOCKEYS meaning the more successful riders helping their less fortunate bretheren. That being said the logical way to fund their insurance needs is as follows. Instead of them being paid TEN percent of the winner's share of the purse, give them NINE percent. Allow the horseman's bookeeper of each track to automatically withold one percent to be paid into an independent(seperate from the guild) administered fund to pay for their insurance policies. ONE percent of the purse money across the United States is enough to fund every jockey's insurance needs a thousand times over.
You know why they won't agree to it? Because they would rather extort the rest of the industry than be responsible for themselves. The primadonna riders at the top don't really give a damm about any other riders, they would just rather mouth off, and let the industry support them.