Exercise riders in New York remain covered by Jockey Injury Compensation Fund

A bill to remove exercise riders from the state-sponsored New York Jockey Injury Compensation Fund failed to gain traction in either house of the New York legislature before the close of the 2015 session last week.

Introduced on May 14 by Sen. John Bonacic, the legislation aimed to reduce the cost of workers’ compensation insurance premiums to the NYJICF by requiring exercise riders to be covered by the policy maintained by the owner or trainer who employs them. Approximately 250 exercise riders are employed at any given time at New York Racing Association racetracks.

According to a legislative memo attached to the bill, the statutory maximum indemnity payment has doubled, and the cost to the fund of obtaining workers’ compensation insurance has more than tripled since 2007.

Those rising costs were cited as a factor in declining field sizes by the bill’s supporters, as it became more expensive for owners to run their horses in New York. As such, the measure was strongly backed by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association.

The program generates funds through an initial payment by owners and trainers at the state’s Thoroughbred tracks, along with a percentage of purse payments and a daily per-stall charge. The fees in all three categories have seen significant increases in recent years or stand to rise in the near future.

NYTHA president Rick Violette told BloodHorse that exercise riders account for about two-thirds of the insurance program’s costs.

The NYJICF was created in 1990 by the state legislature to provide workers’ compensation insurance for jockeys, apprentice jockeys, and licensed exercise riders. The bill would have returned exercise riders to a system similar to the one in place before the fund was created.