Sellers and King at Center of Storm

Shane Sellers and Eddie King are the contrasting faces of the Jockeys’ Guild. Sellers, loyal to the core, is asking for greater unity among guild members. King, a former guild officer and ousted board member, is suing the organization that represents more than 1,200 jockeys.

“What would happen,” Sellers wondered from his home in Kentucky, “if on Jan. 1 all the guild riders told the tracks that they were going fishing? No matter what happens, we’re the ones who put on the show. But the industry doesn’t treat us like the professional athletes we are.”

Sellers, who has ridden more than 4,000 winners, has filed a claim with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Churchill Downs of unfair labor practices. On Nov. 7, while he was eating a sandwich in the lunchroom of the jockeys’ quarters at Churchill, he was handcuffed by security personnel and led off the grounds.

He had attended a meeting there two days earlier to address the riders’ accident-insurance concerns, and was about to participate in another meeting when he was escorted to the parking lot.

Sellers, who has not ridden since Oct. 2 because, he says, his insurance coverage is wanting, said that he was targeted by Churchill because of his activist stance in the battle involving the guild and racetracks.

“There were other riders there that day who, like me, didn’t have mounts,” Sellers said. “But they were allowed to stay in the room until late in the day. Nobody bothered them. I didn’t call those meetings. The only reason I was there was because [jockey] Mark Guidry asked me to come.”

Also on Nov. 7, a number of jockeys told Churchill officials that they wouldn’t ride the next racing day, and the track ruled off 14 riders for the rest of the season, which ends Nov. 27.

A week ago tonight, minutes before the first race, 14 jockeys took off at Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind., forcing the track to cancel its card. Hoosier, which ends its meet Sunday, has banned the 14 jockeys.

Churchill Downs owns Hoosier, which has missed no additional racing days since the walkout. Churchill, using jockeys who didn’t support the boycott, exercise riders and jockeys from other tracks, has not missed any racing.

The Jockeys’ Guild, which allowed a supplemental accident-insurance policy to expire in 2002, says it can’t afford the coverage, and adds that neither can most of its members as individuals.

The tracks insure jockeys for up to $100,000, and contribute more than $2 million a year to the guild in exchange for the riders waiving their media rights. Jockeys in five states -- California, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Idaho -- are covered by workers’ compensation.

Albert Fiss, vice president of the guild, told the Indiana Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday that the jockeys’ action at Hoosier Park was because of dissatisfaction with the track’s safety rail. The jockeys say that the rail isn’t on a par with the fences at other Churchill Downs tracks, including Hollywood Park. Hoosier officials contended that insurance concerns, not the rail, were behind the boycott.

The New Jersey-based King sued the guild after he was thrown off the union’s board of directors during a conference call on Nov. 7. King, who was treasurer of the guild in 2003, is asking for reinstatement to the board, and wants the courts to order the guild to give a better accounting of its financial dealings.

“I’m responsible for what happened when I was treasurer,” King said. “By law, I deserve to be told about what the organization did during that period. They threw me off the board because, they said, I was giving the press financial information that was private. But that’s not true. The press called me with questions about the financials, and all I did was answer them.”

Fiss did not respond to a call seeking comment about King’s suit.

King said he had no warning about the jockeys’ recent actions at Churchill Downs and Hoosier Park.

“I was unaware that that was what they were going to do,” he said. “I don’t understand it. The riders are reacting against racetracks, while they say the insurance difficulty is an industry problem. They say that I’m trying to tear the guild apart, and that’s not true. I’m just trying to get some answers for myself and the membership.”

More than 100 jockeys have signed a petition asking for an independent audit of the guild. Robert Colton, an ex-rider and former guild secretary and CFO, has sued the guild, charging its officials with mismanagement and violation of federal labor laws. The guild is also suing Colton, for libel, slander and unfair business practices.

The industry, through the National Thoroughbred Racing Assn., has appointed a 33-member task force to explore solutions to the insurance problem. The panel’s first meeting is scheduled for Monday at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.