IN EXCESS : They Insure Horses, Don’t They?

Not long after daybreak, Chris Clark hugs the railing at Santa Anita, eyeing a filly breezing along the backstretch. In his striped dress shirt and well-pressed trousers, Clark stands in contrast to the jeans-and-boot-clad population of trainers, jockeys, exercise riders and grooms. When the workout is done, he gets back to business, heading for the stables.

“I go from barn to barn, just like a milk route,” he says. “Most trainers have offices in their stables where you can call, but I prefer to do business face to face.”

Clark is an insurance broker, one of a handful in Southern California who regularly issue policies on thoroughbred horses and the only one who conducts business daily at the track. He writes equine mortality insurance for about 300 owners, and workers compensation insurance for about 400 trainers.

“Horses break their legs or a saddle breaks and a kid falls off at 30 miles per hour,” Clark explains. Or a hotwalker gets kicked or a groom slips while mucking out the stall. Workers compensation coverage is especially critical: Racing rules require trainers to have it, and stewards review the rolls daily. If a trainer’s coverage has lapsed, his horses are not allowed to run. Should that happen, Clark, who has sold horse insurance since 1972, is on hand to write policies.

“Chris knows all the people. So if there’s a fraudulent workers comp claim, a broker who isn’t there might not know it, but Chris would,” says trainer Dick Mulhall.

The eight to 10 claims Clark processes each year for mortality cover only death by natural causes--colic, heart attacks or cases where horses have to be destroyed because of injuries. Coverage costs 5% of the horse’s value.

Clark was simply mixing pleasure with business when he began specializing in racetrack coverage. “I grew up in Arcadia,” he says, “and I used to sneak out of school to come to Santa Anita and watch the races.”

Now he owns two thoroughbreds, and was recently elected president of the 14,000-member California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn., racing’s official trade organization. Even if he weren’t selling insurance, Clark would be hanging around the ponies anyway.

“I feel very fortunate to be able to start my day at the racetrack each day,” he says.

And with a good excuse.