Disabled
Rider Donahue Joins Lawsuit Against Jockeys’ Guild
By Liz Mullen,
Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
12/01/2004
Gary Donahue, a paralyzed former jockey who now serves as co-Chair
of the Disabled Jockey’s Fund, has sued the Jockeys’ Guild,
demanding an accounting of what happened to more than $1M that has disappeared
from the charity. Donahue has joined as co-plaintiff a lawsuit filed
earlier this month by jockey and former Guild Treasurer Eddie King.
Alan Milstein, attorney for King and Donahue, said the amended lawsuit
was filed yesterday in Burlington County (NJ) Superior Court. Milstein
added both King and Donahue have been asking for financial information
about the fund from Guild management, but the Guild has not supplied
it. By reading a publicly-available tax return, Donahue recently learned
that the fund, which dropped from $1.3M in assets at year end ‘01
to $105,000 at year end ‘03, would be terminated in ’04.
Milstein: “Mr. Donahue is an injured jockey, a paraplegic, as
a result of a tragic racing accident. Not only is he asking for the
same information that Mr. King is asking for, he is in desperate need
of the money from the fund.” The suit also asks that the Guild
be enjoined from terminating the fund. Jockeys’ Guild officials
did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
Donahue Joins Suit
Against Jockeys’ Guild
HARSH WORDS: Jockeys’
Guild management has been under fire since jockeys recently learned
that managers terminated insurance for catastrophic racing accidents
more than two years ago. Jockeys at Churchill Downs and Hoosier Park
recently boycotted those tracks over the insurance issue. On the Guild
Web site yesterday, Guild President Wayne Gertmenian called for jockeys
to show absolute solidarity and compared Churchill Downs Inc. to plantation
owners and jockeys to slaves.
CDI RESPONSE:
Churchill Downs President Steve Sexton said in a statement, "While
Jockeys' Guild management has been casting untrue and unfair aspersions
on the racing industry, Guild president Mr. Gertmenian has not replaced
the on-track coverage for jockeys that the Guild allowed to lapse in
2002, shortly after he took over the organization. Since Mr. Gertmenian
became Guild president, North American racetracks have given the Guild
more than $7[M]. We'd like to know where all that money has gone, and
why those funds weren't used to purchase additional on-track coverage
for jockeys. Our question to Mr. Gertmenian is simple: Where is the
money? We hope jockeys are asking that question, too."
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