Jockey's Guild

Officials at the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Jockeys' Guild have announced that members of the newly formed Jockey Mental Health Steering Committee and Advisory Council have been appointed. An inaugural meeting of the new groups will take place Tuesday, Oct. 3 at Columbia University in New York City. The Steering Committee, led by Ambassador Earle Mack, was created with a collective goal of driving research, programming, and resources towards jockey mental wellness initiatives. The steering committee members are as follows: Ambassador Earle Mack; Denali Stud's Craig...

Veteran jockey Junior Alvarado has been named the winner of the 2023 Mike Venezia Memorial Award. Alvarado, based this summer at Saratoga Race Course and the regular rider of GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner Cody's Wish, was chosen by a committee comprised of members of the Venezia family, representatives of the Jockeys' Guild and retired Eclipse Award-winning jockey Richard Migliore. Alvarado will be recognized in a winner's circle ceremony at Saratoga Saturday. "The Venezia Memorial Award is about representing the sport we love so much in the best way...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Jockeys' Guild have announced that they have created a Steering Committee to recommend and develop programming in support of the mental health and wellness of jockeys. The announcement comes on the heels of a symposium held last week in Saratoga. The Steering Committee will be co-chaired by Ambassador Earle Mack, a businessman, philanthropist, former U.S. Ambassador to Finland and Thoroughbred owner and breeder, and Dr. Yuval Neria, a professor of Clinical Medical Psychology at Columbia University Medical Center and Director of...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Jockeys' Guild hosted a symposium on the mental health and wellness of jockeys on Aug. 1 at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga. The event was organized after a similar discussion conducted in May at Keeneland shared the results of a survey of 230 jockeys that revealed that, among other findings, a third of jockeys had faced challenges in their daily lives over the past month due to feelings of sadness, anxiety...

The Jockeys' Guild and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) on Tuesday hosted a first-ever symposium at Keeneland in an effort to generate discussion on how the Thoroughbred industry can work together to advance the mental well-being of jockeys across the country. Retired NFL player Randy Grimes, who advocates for appropriate and accessible mental wellness and addiction-related resources for professional athletes, gave the keynote address, and retired jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva, who penned the book "Riding for Freedom," also spoke on his lifelong struggles with mental wellness and...

The Jockeys' Guild, in partnership with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), will be conducting an anonymous mental wellness survey via text and email beginning today, Jockeys Guild announced. The survey is designed to seek riders' input on how to best support the health and welfare of jockeys and possibly others in the industry, and will be submitted to FGS Global, an independent research company. In addition to text and email, other individuals and organizations will be reaching out to jockeys riding across the United States to assist them...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has named Jockeys' Guild veteran Jeff Johnston its Rider Safety and Welfare Manager, effective Mar. 17. Johnston will work with jockeys and other riders to ensure compliance with the Racetrack Safety Program, support continuing education programs, provide uniform first responder training, work with providers to improve safety equipment, and increase communication with local medical facilities. Johnston will also closely support the new jockey mental wellness initiative HISA announced this week in partnership with the Jockeys' Guild and will work alongside Dr. Peter Hester, HISA's...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and the Jockeys' Guild have launched an industry initiative to provide jockeys and riders with mental wellness support and resources. The organizations will be sending a survey to jockeys and exercise riders relating to their mental wellness needs and will use results of the anonymous survey as a starting point for building a framework to effectively use collective resources to address riders' most important health and safety needs. "HISA is tasked with regulatory oversight for jockey welfare and we are delighted to be working...

Midwest-based jockey Alex Chanchari passed away Wednesday at the age of 29. His passing was confirmed in a tweet by Canterbury Park, where Canchari had 334 career winners. "Alex Canchari achieved his dream as a jockey, following in the footsteps of his father and brother," the tweet read. "The news of this talented and genuine young man's death has deeply saddened the Canterbury Park family." Though no cause of death had been revealed by Thursday morning, it appears that Canchari's death involved mental health issues. "My heart physically hurts," his...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which on Friday issued the landmark order declaring that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is unconstitutional, has made a second HISA-related ruling in a separate case. This order, which was also filed Nov. 18 but got overshadowed by the broader ramifications of the non-constitutionally ruling, lifts an "administrative stay" that had been issued back in August in a case in which Louisiana, West Virginia, the Jockeys' Guild, and other parties sued the HISA Authority, the Federal Trade Commission...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will now hear oral arguments Aug. 30--slightly earlier than expected--in the injunction appeal brought by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Both entities are defendants in an underlying lawsuit that alleges unconstitutionality and federal rulemaking procedure violations regarding HISA's initial framework of regulations that went into effect July 1. The Appeals Court docket previously indicated a September oral argument date was being planned. At issue in the appeal is whether a lower...

Barely six weeks into its existence as the sport's national rule enforcer, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has spent $1.8 million defending itself in four separate lawsuits currently pending or under appeal in federal court. But the true irony behind the spiraling costs of the anti-HISA litigation is that almost all entities--owners, trainers, jockeys, tracks, racing commissions and states--are going to have to pay twice, regardless of the final outcomes of those complex lawsuits. That's because plaintiffs like the Jockeys' Guild and various horsemen's associations will spend their...