HISA And Jockeys' Guild Hold Jockey Advocacy Week On Capitol Hill

For most of the sport's history the mental well-being of jockeys was not something that anybody talked about or even thought about. But the problem could no longer be ignored when, in 2023, two jockeys, Alex Canchari and Avery Whisman, took their own lives. They were otherwise young and healthy, but the pressures of being a jockey was a burden both, apparently, could not handle.

They were not alone. Jockeys' Guild President and CEO Terry Meyocks said that 230 jockeys were surveyed last year and asked about their mental health. One-third of the respondents reported that they were facing challenges mentally, particularly with anxiety and depression.

The Jockeys' Guild decided to be proactive and reached out to the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) for assistance. Working together and with the primary goal of raising awareness of the issues, 19 people, most of them representatives of HISA or the Jockeys' Guild, traveled to Washington, D.C. in mid-September and spent three days meeting with lawmakers. The goal was to raise awareness and to impress upon the politicians that jockeys should be included whenever the subject of the mental health of athletes is discussed or directly addressed.

The visits allowed jockeys and their families to share their personal experiences with lawmakers. HISA and the Jockeys' Guild briefed Congress on the tools they have established to improve health conditions, including the sport's first uniform concussion protocol. They asked Congress to support all initiatives meant to improve mental health outcomes.

“There has been talk among my peers for quite some time about mental health and supporting jockeys to help them become a stronger version of themselves from the mental perspective,” said former jockey Ramon Dominguez, who retired in 2013 on the advice of doctors after he was involved in a spill in which he sustained a traumatic brain injury. “Unfortunately, the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, was the two incidents. We got to a point where action had to be taken. Ultimately, going to Capitol Hill was one of our main goals. We wanted to bring awareness of the issues and to educate the people in Congress. I thought things went very well.”

John Velazquez, Lisa Lazarus and Ramon Dominguez listen to Sen. Mitch McConnell | courtesy of HISA

The group that went to Washington included Meyocks, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus, relatives of both Canchari and Whisman and jockeys Trevor McCarthy and John Velazquez, and retired rider Laffit Pincay III. They had over 30 meetings and met face-to-face with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and six members of the House of Representatives.

“I think this went very well, especially when you consider it was a first step,” said Meyocks. “The HISA team put it together with all these Senators and Congressmen on short notice. The idea was to raise awareness, that there is an issue. Other leagues have been up there talking about their athletes, The NFL, the NHL, the NCAA. If something were to get passed we'd like to be included.”

Dominguez said that the politicians they met with included those who were well-versed in racing and others who knew very little about the sport.

“The responses were a little mixed,” he said. “Some of them had some understanding of the sport itself, horse racing. They were not surprised how demanding the profession can be. We met with other people who really had no idea about horse racing. All the information was new to them and they were really surprised that we haven't gotten any support at all regarding mental health. Overall, I think this was a education to them, and in a positive way. Even if they knew a little bit about the challenges of being a jockey they really didn't know whole lot about the profession and how tough it is.”

There may be a long way to go and several issues that must still be addressed, but the subject of jockeys' mental health is no longer being swept under the rug. Instead, it is front and center, and that can only help.