Jockeys' Guild, NYRA renew payment agreement

The Jockeys’ Guild and the New York Racing Association have renewed a three-year agreement that provides payments to the guild from NYRA’s three tracks, the two organizations said on Thursday.

Under the agreement, NYRA will provide payments to the guild for each live mount at the association’s three racetracks through the end of 2014. The current agreement expires at the end of 2011.

The renewal is the second that the guild has announced in the week leading up to the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Earlier this week, the guild said it had reached an identical three-year extension with the Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, Gulfstream, Golden Gate, Laurel, Pimlico, and Portland Meadows.

Churchill Downs’s parent company notified the guild earlier this year that it would not renew its own agreement with the guild, which cost the company approximately $330,000 a year. The guild uses the money to pay for a variety of insurance programs for its members and to provide payments to disabled riders.

The guild has scheduled a press conference for Friday morning at a hotel in Louisville to “recognize and honor” five disabled riders that receive payments from the guild. Agreements with racetracks like those renewed by the Stronach Group and NYRA provide the bulk of the guild’s revenue.