Two rehired by Guild

Two of the six regional managers of the Jockeys' Guild who were fired last month have been rehired.

John Beech, the manager for the south, and Darrell Haire, the manager for the west, were rehired by the Guild's new management team, Matrix Capital Associates, within the past two weeks. Matrix was brought in on June 15 after members of the Guild's executive committee voted to accept the resignation of national manager John Giovanni and fire the Guild's entire 12-person staff.

Since then, the Guild has faced a number of defections from its leadership, including Jerry Bailey, who has complained about the way the firings were handled, and Pat Day, the Guild's president. A third member, Tony Black, said Friday he would likely resign but was holding off for several weeks after speaking with Haire on Friday.

"One of the things we discussed is that it's not important for me to do it right now," said Black, the Guild's treasurer. "I can wait, and I might even reconsider, but I seriously doubt that."

Haire and Beech did not return phone messages on Friday.

Black and Bailey both said Friday that other members of the executive committee did not acknowledge their requests for more information on Matrix before voting to hire the company. Day has declined to comment on the matter except to say that he had "philosophical differences with the management."

Matrix is headed by Dr. Wayne L. Gertmenian, a Pepperdine professor who has known jockey Chris McCarron, a member of the Guild's executive committee, for several years.

Bailey said that he asked the committee to defer voting on Matrix until he had received references and other information on the consulting firm, but the Guild recognized the vote as binding when five members, a majority, voted to approve the measure, even though four members abstained.

"As soon as the fifth person voted, the doors were locked and everyone was fired," Bailey said. "It was an exercise in futility trying to work with Chris [McCarron] on getting any of the information I needed to act properly as a member of the executive committee." McCarron did not return a phone call on Friday.