At least three jockeys who plan to ride at Laurel Park on Sunday say they have been threatened or harassed by members of the Jockeys' Guild who intend to be part of a nationwide walkout that day.
Laurel general manager John E. Mooney confirmed last night that he has met with two of the riders who say they have been under attack.
"I've asked them to document in writing how they've been threatened or harassed and I expect to have it in my hands and give it to the stewards and the track's counsel [today]," Mooney said. "This is a matter we're going to vigorously pursue."
Another jockey, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said yesterday he had not yet talked to Mooney, "but I've been told that once they [the guild jockeys] come back after the walkout, they are going to be out to get me, to drop me in a race and hurt me."
Jimmy Edwards, local manager for the guild, said "no one has threatened anybody. This is absolute nonsense. If anyone is making threats, it's coming from the horsemen and not the jockeys."
At least four non-guild Maryland riders -- Andrea Seefeldt, Mary Wiley, Ralph Verderosa and Karl Korte -- have said they will ride Sunday, and management said yesterday a pool of about 20 jockeys is expected to be available to compete if the walkout occurs.
Yesterday, 19 guild members signed a list at Laurel that was presented to the stewards and said they do not want to be named on horses when Sunday's entries are drawn today.
Included in that list are virtually all of the track's top-ranked riders, including Mark Johnston, Larry Reynolds and Edgar Prado, who is scheduled to start a seven-day suspension Sunday.
Seefeldt said she is leaving today to ride in California, where she said it's warmer and she can make more money.
"Obviously, I don't agree with the walkout," Seefeldt said. "I would agree with the guild 100 percent if they were walking out to acquire adequate accident coverage by the tracks. But as to health insurance, I think we should pay for that for ourselves."
At issue is the guild's request for more money from track owners to pay for a health and welfare benefits package, increasing available funds from the current $1.7 million to $9 million. Talks between the guild, which represents approximately 900 of the country's 2,700 licensed jockeys, and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, which represents 41 tracks in North America, have been stalled for about a week after each side turned down the other's proposals.
Seefeldt said she had heard from two trainers, Dick Small and her brother, Paul Seefeldt, who are at the Fair Grounds Race Course in Louisiana.
"They both said they are proud of me and asked me to come to New Orleans and ride for them," Seefeldt said. "But I had the opportunity to go to Santa Anita, and that's what I'm going to do."
Wiley said that she is riding "because I had to decide where my loyalties lie. I'm not doing this to cut anybody's throat. I'm doing it to take care ofthe people such as trainers Donald Barr and Eddie Gaudet and others who took care of me and put me on mounts when I came back after a severe injury."
She said that no one has "directly threatened me. But I hear by way of the grapevine that some of guys have said that Mary better watch out. If she rides, she's signed her death warrant and that I'll be dropped."
Wiley said that as a non-guild member, "I don't get any money for my media rights. But the guild collects a fee for every horse I ride. The way I figure it, the guild owes me money. It hurts me to go against the majority, especially to go against some people who have been guests in my home, but this is the decision I had to make."
Korte said no one has threatened him and "everyone knows I'm going to ride. I respect the guild's actions, but I figure I stand alone and have to do what I have to do."
Mooney said that virtually all of the horsemen he has talked to plan to run their horses.
Laurel's two leading trainers, King Leatherbury and Dale Capuano, said earlier this week that they plan to continue to run their horses.
"I have 60 horses, and their owners expect them to run," Leatherbury said. "I'll use whatever riders are available."
Verderosa said last night that he has received calls from three of the top trainers and expects to ride as many races as he can if a walkout occurs.
"My agent thinks we've hit the lottery," Wiley said. "I had the opportunity to go to New York and ride. But I didn't, because I don't want people to think I'm trying to benefit from a walkout. I'm just doing what I feel I have to do and I'm taking care of my customers in Maryland."
At Suffolk Downs yesterday, track general manager Lou Raffetto Jr. said he had offered his riders an individual contract, giving them an increase of the equivalent of one-tenth of one percent of the track's live handle over a 2 1/2 -year period to go to a health and benefits package.
"My offer was received favorably by the guild's national manager, John Giovanni, yesterday," Raffetto said. "I expect to close some kind of deal with him [today] and expect all of our jockeys to ride as usual on Sunday."
Raffetto suggested that instead of staging a walkout "both sides take a month to cool off, agree to extend discussions and try to come up with a solution. That just makes good business sense. Racing doesn't need to follow the example of baseball."
In New York yesterday, Kenny Noe Jr., president and general manager of the New York Racing Association, told the jockeys that anyone who did not want to ride would be expected to clean out his locker tomorrow night. Noe said those riders would not be allowed to come out in the mornings to give horses workouts at any of the NYRA's tracks -- Aqueduct, Belmont Park and
Saratoga -- until they resume riding.
Mooney said last night that it's "quite possible" that Laurel won't allow jockeys who are not riding on the track grounds.