Plight Of West Virginia Jockey Leads To Outcry For Workers Comp
By Vicki Smith, Associated Press Writer - January 23, 2006Life as Gary Birzer knew it ended July 20, 2004, when a thoroughbred called Lil Bit of Rouge made her move in the first turn at West Virginia's Mountaineer Racetrack. In an instant, the 110-pound jockey was thrown headfirst into the dirt at 40 mph, his neck broken, his body paralyzed from the chest down.
Today, Birzer lives in a Cincinnati apartment, unable to roll over in bed or hold his 2-year-old daughter. He battles depression, infection and bed sores.
He and wife Amy get by on Medicaid and charity. Neither is enough to pay for therapy.
"Jockeys are a whole class of workers who have just kind of fallen through the cracks," said Birzer's attorney, Paul Koczkur. "Nobody wants to be responsible for them."
Birzer thought the California-based Jockeys Guild was responsible, but found out too late that a $1 million insurance policy he'd bought for $10 per race was inexplicably allowed to lapse.
MTR Gaming, parent company of the Chester racetrack, took responsibility. But its policy stopped at $100,000. That left the Birzers with more than $600,000 in unpaid bills, most racked up in the first month.
Beyond that, there was no safety net. Workers' compensation, which provides lifetime medical coverage for on-the-job injuries, was never an option.
Only four of the 38 states that allow horse racing have workers' compensation coverage for jockeys and exercise riders: California, Maryland, New York and New Jersey. Whether by legislative oversight or choice, West Virginia is among those that don't, states where riders, groomers and the other unseen handlers behind a $26 billion industry often must fend for themselves after a catastrophic injury.
West Virginia Delegate John Doyle aims to change that but acknowledges the bill he will soon introduce faces an uphill fight.
"People are looking to decrease the burden on workers' comp, not increase it," said Doyle, a Democrat whose Eastern Panhandle district includes the state's other horse track, Charles Town Races.
Birzer's accident drew national attention: A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel has already held two hearings on jockey health and safety. Rep. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., has proposed a federal solution, perhaps through the Interstate Horse Racing Act.
"If all states had programs like California's, we would not be here today," he said at the November hearing. "In fact, the California tracks are losing horses to tracks in states like West Virginia that permit the tracks to operate without adequate on-the-job insurance."
Doyle's bill would make coverage mandatory for jockeys, exercise riders and trainers at the state's two tracks. He envisions a system in which the racetracks bear the cost.
Last year, lawmakers diverted $11 million from the tracks' purse fund, which comes in part from slot machine revenues, to help pay down a $3 billion shortfall in the state's workers' compensation fund covering all injured workers except jockeys.
Doyle would repeal the transfer and make the racetracks pay "however much is needed" to support a program for the horse industry. That ruffles racing executives, who consider jockeys independent contractors responsible for their own insurance.
"They are not employees of our racetrack or any racetrack," said John Finamore, senior vice president of regional operations for Penn National Gaming Inc., parent of the Charles Town Races.
"The tracks provide the venue," he said. "The owners, the trainers, the jockeys and, of course, the horses, provide the show."
Doyle contends Penn National is obligated to "guarantee the safety and integrity of the racing product" and can afford the coverage.
That would also put the purse fund money back where he says it belongs. As it stands, the horsemen are helping to fund a system they cannot join.
"It's fundamentally unfair," said Wayne Harrison, president of Charles Town's Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. "It's close to robbery."
But Harrison suggested horsemen fund the program themselves, perhaps with higher licensing fees.
Mountaineer President Ted Arneault agreed, saying Doyle is "barking up the wrong tree" in suggesting the tracks pay.
"We would love to see them covered, no doubt about that," he said, "but it should come from the profits of the horsemen."
John Stahlin, a trainer-owner with three full-time employees and five part-timers at Charles Town, said he can't afford that.
In 2001, Stahlin ran about a dozen races in California, and paid $4,700 in workers' compensation. Though that state's law has since changed, with different rates for different risks, he worries a system in West Virginia would be cost-prohibitive.
"If it were an ideal world and I thought it were economically feasible, I'd be in favor of it," he said. "It's not economically feasible."
Kentucky is considering a plan that would have jockeys fund their own coverage, but the Jockeys Guild opposes it.
The Guild did not respond to telephone calls and e-mails from The Associated Press, but in a transcript of the October congressional hearing, acting president Darrell Haire suggested workers' compensation be required at any track intending to broadcast a race.
"We put up our lives," he testified. "They need to put up the cost of the premium."
But Finamore, at Charles Town, said the track is meant to be a neutral site.
"The integrity of racing could be called into question if a track were in a position of control over the jockeys," he said.
Charles Town carries a $100,000 accident policy for jockeys, the same amount Mountaineer provided for Birzer. The track also has voluntarily paid $1 per mount per day to the Jockeys Guild to help cover the now-lapsed $1 million policy.
"We continue to pay into the fund to this day in hopes the Guild will reinstate that policy," Finamore said.
In late December, Arneault raised Mountaineer's on-track insurance to $1 million because "if the Jockeys Guild isn't going to cover them, we want to make sure they are covered for catastrophic cases."
But Finamore said the average claim at Charles Town last year was less than $3,000, and two were under $100. Nationwide, he said, only five accidents out of 487,000 mounts resulted in claims of more than $100,000.
Still, he said, "We firmly believe one disabled and destitute jockey is one too many."
Harrison, of the Charles Town HBPA, said that's why legislators, horsemen and track officials must work together on an affordable solution.
"Most people hear about injured jockeys and feel sorry for them," he said, "but in most cases, that's where it ends." | 
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