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Originally Posted by Honu
But do not pro football players and such get to make commercials endorsing products for a fee? I do believe they are employees of the owner of the football team they play for.
A solution I think would be to just put all jockeys under contract for owners like they do in Europe( where by the way standard losing jock mount no matter the purse is no less than 100.00) , then the owners could mandate what they can and cant do and they would be insured and protected.
Sure the owner without alot of money and good horses would get the bottum rung riders but then again they would only have to insure 1 or 2 jocks and they would be their employees. Racing is very diffirent from any other industry and its hard to find solutions when everyone has a "we against them" attitude , I do agree that the jockeys approach the horseman in a combative way and until they adjust their attitude it is most likely the jocks wont get any help at all.
Racetracks and horseman do have an obligation to make sure that riders have the help they need when they get in accidents on horseback otherwise they open themselves up to lawsuits and to be honest I wouldnt step a foot into the stirrup unless I knew I would be covered by accident insurance.
There are still racetracks that dont mandate the trainers have workmans comp. and how they get away with this I have know idea.
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I tend to agree with this idea.We could make it like baseball.But I think it would have huge drawbacks.If they did it like baseball or football,and had a league minimum for pay,it would drive out all the small stables,period.The small guys would not be able to afford the jock.And the small stables would not be able to afford all the insurance,etc,that would probably be required under league rules.
The Big shot jocks would still get all the good mounts,and the shitty jocks would still get the shitty mounts.In this scenario,On the plus side, when Johnny V comes up for free agency when his contract with Pletcher expires,The owners could have one hell of a bidding war.They could do it at Keeneland,like a sale,and put it on ESPN,and all of us could bet on who is going to get him.We could wager on how big his new contract will be,etc,etc...Then,all the new jocks from McCarron's school could get drafted in the same way.They could ride at OBS first,so everyone could see their skills.This would also be the end of Jockey agents,so there is one less person they would have to pay,putting more money back in their pockets.The possibilities could be endless
