They Have the Run of Churchill Downs

At Wagner’s Pharmacy, a storied institution across the street from Churchill Downs, Paul Hornung sat at the lunch counter and said, “I’m ready to ride the sixth race today.”

The man on the stool next to Hornung, renowned veterinarian Alex Harthill, laughed loudly. Hornung, the former Notre Dame and Green Bay Packer star, is well north of 200 pounds and in no position to ride horses at Churchill. But his joke was well timed.

The 130-year-old track, home of the Kentucky Derby, ran 10 races in crisp sunshine Wednesday, its first day open since 15 jockeys, upset over their accident-insurance coverage, told management that they’d sit out at least a couple of days this week.

Track officials responded by invoking racing’s exclusion rule. The 15 have been barred from the track and the grounds for the balance of a meet that ends Nov. 27.

“It wasn’t a boycott,” said Tom Meeker, chief executive of Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Hollywood Park and other tracks. “And now it’s not a lockout. It’s just a case of some guys who don’t want to ride.”

Then, pointing to the saddling stalls where several unfamiliar riders were about to mount horses for the fourth race, Meeker added: “There are some boys -- and girls -- here who are going to get a good start.”

Exercise riders, apprentices and jockeys from lesser tracks have descended on Churchill, where Pat Day, winner of more than 2,400 races here, continues to ride. Day is no longer a member of the Jockeys’ Guild, which supports the sit-down and has urged the industry to improve on a group insurance program that has a ceiling of $100,000 per incident.

“Any time you try to solve something with an ultimatum, you get the wrong answer,” said Wayne Lukas, a four-time winner of the Derby and a trainer who used Day to ride one of his fillies to a third-place finish in Wednesday’s fourth race.

There was extra security for the riders as they made their way to the jockeys’ room after races, and Luke Kruytbosch, the track announcer, seemed to be mentioning jockeys’ names more than he usually does during race calls. But the crowd of 3,329 -- 300 less than a week ago -- behaved and went about the main business of the day, which was to try to crack a pick six that came with a carry-over pool of more than $140,000. No one had picked all six winners for seven days, but on Wednesday there were six winning $2 tickets, each worth more than $51,000.

After the first race, about 10 of the 15 banned riders entered the track only to leave under escort 20 minutes later, after valets brought their riding equipment down from the jockeys’ room.

“They violated the exclusion order,” said John Asher, vice president for communications at Churchill, “but they got their tack and left peacefully, so we’re OK with that.”

The guild, which represents more than 1,200 jockeys nationally, reportedly asked for a meeting with Churchill Downs officials but was turned down. Albert Fiss, vice president of the guild, did not return a phone call asking for comment. Churchill has located an insurance carrier that would write a $500,000 individual supplementary policy for a premium of between $100 and $220 a month, and Asher said that several riders have signed up for the coverage.

Rafael Bejarano, one of the banned jockeys and the nation’s leading rider with 418 wins this year, plans to leave Kentucky and ride at Aqueduct in New York.

The banned riders would have to negotiate eligibility with officials at Hoosier Park in Indiana and Calder in Florida -- both Churchill properties -- before they could ride there. The ban does not extend to the Fair Grounds in Louisiana or Hollywood Park, which are also Churchill tracks.

“There would be some regulatory procedures to clear at Hollywood and the Fair Grounds,” Asher said. “There are a couple of bodies to go through, and by that time the [ending] date would be upon us, so there was no point in starting the process.”

Until the last race, none of the so-called replacement riders won races Wednesday.

Day, Eddie Martin, John McKee and Brian Hernandez dominated the card, and Brice Blanc, who relocated from Southern California last year, also won a race. Juan Molina, an apprentice who had ridden only 67 times this year, winning but twice, finished first on a 16-1 shot in the fourth race, but the filly was disqualified to second for interference, and a horse ridden by McKee, at 29-1, was moved up.

Then in the 10th race, Pedro Velez, a River Downs-Turfway Park jockey who was 0 for 43 this year, rode Genuity, a 2-year-old filly, to a 16-1 upset. Genuity’s trainer, John Fahey, used to work for Steve Asmussen, one of the national leaders.

“Steve had a theory that I buy into,” Fahey said. “He’s said that 90% of the races are won by the fastest horse, no matter who’s riding. The jockeys without the egos will even admit to this.”