HORSE RACING : For Jockeys, Danger Always Rides

Coming in the wake of recent spills, suspensions and fines among the leading members of the Santa Anita jockey colony, Thursday’s 15th anniversary of the death of Alvaro Pineda supplied a poignant chord amid the tumult.

Pineda was killed at Santa Anita on Jan. 18, 1975, when his mount in the third race, a colt named Austin Mittler, reared in the starting gate and smashed the jockey’s skull against a steel post at the back of the stall.

At the time, Pineda was among the leading riders in California, at the top of a group that included Laffit Pincay, Sandy Hawley, Don Pierce, Fernando Toro, Jorge Tejeira and 43-year-old Bill Shoemaker. Enjoying one of his best seasons in 1974, Pineda had finished 12th in winners and 11th in purses in the national standings.

In addition, Pineda had come to grips with a number of self-destructive personal problems. He had spent years battling both his weight and his temper. At 29, the native of Guanajuato, Mexico, finally seemed poised at the brink of the best years of his career.

There have been no riders killed at Santa Anita since. That does not mean, however, that the risk has diminished appreciably.

Race track management can install special railings, cover metal posts and concrete outcroppings, tighten prerace inspections of horses, and encourage a no-nonsense attitude among stewards. Eventually, though, the capricious whims of racing fate will take their toll.

Chris McCarron, recently acclaimed the top jockey of the 1980s by a nationwide poll of racing writers, had completed his first full year of competition when Pineda was killed. In the ensuing 15 years, the attitude toward jockey welfare has come a long way, McCarron noted, but not far enough.

“A track like Santa Anita is the exception to the rule when it comes to jockey safety,” McCarron said after morning workouts earlier this week. “Too often you still find that jockeys have to fight for even the most obvious safety precautions.”

McCarron offered an example.

“It has only been since the summer of 1988 at Del Mar that we were able to get an assistant starter with every horse in the starting gate,” he said. “The Oak Tree meet came next, and they picked up the practice right away. Then when we went to Hollywood Park, management balked at adding the manpower.”

The jockeys spoke up, refusing to compromise. Hollywood Park backed down and expanded the gate crew.

“But, as I say, the tracks out here are an exception,” McCarron added. “When I rode at Thistledown (Ohio) last year, they had six men in the gate for a 14-horse field. There’s no way a jock can be assured of getting help if his horse flips.”

McCarron said that, even 15 years after Pineda’s death, the starting gate is still the most dangerous place. The rider climbed up on the four-stall training gate used during morning workouts and pointed out the many accidents waiting to happen.

“You can’t believe some of the things a horse will do in here,” he said. “They’ll try to go over the front doors, or under them. I’ve had horses jump up and spin completely around, then bolt out the back. They will rear up, sit down, or become cast (tangled) underneath the gate so badly that the whole thing has to be moved to get them free. The gate is no place a jock wants to be for very long.”

McCarron smacked the heavy padding on the metal uprights supporting the back of the starting stall.

“The padding helps,” he said. “But it’s still pretty hard under there. An apprentice will make the mistake of standing on the ledge in front of the post if he has to get off, when he should really be standing behind it, using it to protect himself from the horse.”

McCarron pointed to a metal plate attached to the top of the rear door hinge mechanism.

“Without that plate, a jockey’s leg could slip down into the gap between the hinge and the door,” McCarron said. “And not all starting gates have them.

“I got my worst starting-gate injury that way at Delaware Park. I stepped back when my horse sat down, my leg slipped into that gap and I went over backward, dangling, head down.

“An assistant starter made the mistake of opening the rear door, which immediately squeezed my leg in the hinge. To make matters worse, the weight of the horse fell back and he couldn’t get the door closed to free my leg. I had to wait until they dragged the horse up, and by then my muscles and tendons were all ripped up.”

McCarron sees a direct correlation between the growing strength of the Jockeys’ Guild and increased attention to jockey safety.

“At our last meeting, Sammy Renick told us about the time in the 1940s that he was hurt coming out of the gate at Aqueduct,” McCarron said. “There was no ambulance, and because it was closing day, the track doctor had already packed up and left. He had an ankle with a compound fracture, and they ended up loading him onto a pickup truck, slung across a couple of 2 x 4s.

“The next day Eddie Arcaro visited him in the hospital. Sammy says, ‘Eddie, this just isn’t right. We’ve got to get the jockeys together so this kind of thing doesn’t keep happening. We deserve more respect than this.’ ”

But even today, contends McCarron, some tracks continue to treat jockeys as replaceable parts of the racing machinery.

“When I go to Japan or Europe, the difference in attitude is striking,” McCarron added. “You go into the jockeys’ room over there and you can feel the pride. You can see it in the way they carry themselves. It’s not an arrogance, either. It’s more a reflection of the way they are treated. We could learn something from them.”

Horse Racing Notes

Fernando Valenzuela returned from his 60-day cocaine-related suspension and finished fifth aboard Acting Threat in Thursday’s third race for his father, trainer Martin Valenzuela. “I feel great,” the 19-year-old Valenzuela said. “Like a race horse that’s been turned out for two months, full of energy and ready to go.”

The sports-betting initiative sponsored by Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Carson) has undergone major revisions and will not be on the November ballot as anticipated. Citing opposition from the racing industry, Floyd is removing language that allowed race tracks to have sports-betting outlets.

Ron McAnally is running Silver Ending and Single Dawn in the $300,000 El Camino Real Derby on Sunday at Bay Meadows. Also aiming for the 1 1/16-mile event for 3-year-olds is Prevue Stakes winner Individualist and the 1-2-3 finishers in the California Juvenile Stakes Dec. 30, Champagne n Jules, Khal on the Irish and Gold Finale.