DISABLED JOCKEYS GET $1M FROM FARISH FUND
Permanently disabled jockeys got a huge boost today with the announcement that the Williams Stamps Farish Fund has pledged $1 million to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, the organization currently assisting 60 former riders who have been seriously injured in racing accidents.
“I’ve made a lot of friends over the last 30 years who are riders,” Farish told the Paulick Report. “They are in a position that if something happens to them, they don’t have the support financially to move forward. There’s a void. I think this is something that everybody connected to our sport ought to be contributing to: owners, breeders, everyone who is involved in some way or another with racing. These are independent contractors, they’re not protected once they go down, and there’s nothing for them to fall back on.”
The PDJF was formed in 2006 with the assistance of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA Charities) and several racetracks, including those owned by Magna Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc. A number of racetracks, owners, corporate sponsors and organizations have supported the PDJF.
It was necessitated after the former Disabled Jockeys Fund administered by the Jockeys’ Guild ran out of money during the disastrous administration of Wayne Gertmenian, who was ousted in November 2005 after virtually sending the organization into bankruptcy over the previous four years. The PDJF now stands alone as a 501(c)3 charity. Nancy LaSala is executive director of the Fund, overseeing its annual operating budget of approximately $800,000.
For more on the PDJF, click here to see the May 29 feature on the organization that was part of the Paulick Report series, Good News Friday Sponsored by Liberation Farm.
Farish said the PDJF has “been on my radar for a while.” There is a separate endowment, created by the Guild, that Farish hopes can be built up to $10-million to $12-million. It currently has about $2 million, but the money cannot be used until it reaches a certain level.
The Williams Stamps Farish Fund has actively supported numerous community and racing organizations, including Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky, the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the Kentucky Derby Museum, among others.
“We are deeply grateful to Mr. Farish for his commitment to the PDJF and the disabled athletes it supports,” said executive director LaSala said in a press release. “Thanks to his generosity and leadership the PDJF can now focus more attention on building the endowment that will ensure that financial assistance for our disabled riders will always be available.”
Contributions to the PDJF may be directed to: PDJF, P.O. Box 803, Elmhurst, IL 60126. All contributions are tax-deductible. For inquires contact Nancy LaSala at (630) 595-7660. For more information visit www.pdjf.org.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: churhcill downs, disabled jockeys, Lane's End, Magna Entertainment, nancy lasala, ntra charities, pdjf, wayne gertmenian, Will Farish, William S. Farish, williams stamps farish fund
June 25th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
That’s a wonderful pledge. Hopefully, others will follow.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Three cheers for Will !!!
June 25th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Hip-hip who-rae! Hip-hip who-rae! Hip-hip who-rae! Thank you Mr. Farish!
June 25th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Sorry….should have been Hooray! Bad spelling, but sincere and heart felt none the less because these folks deserve help.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Excellent job Mr. Farish.
June 25th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
What an industry icon, I challenge everyone who reads this to also write a check to help those who help us.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Mr. Farish has been very generous to fund programs and research in both the industry and the community. Well done.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Good show, Will, very, very much appreciated.
It’s a great feeling to have first contributed & then to be joined by someone so notable who shares my convictions.
And I can imagine the outright elation of the sixty-one jockeys - the latest being Rene Douglas - who can now concentrate on their ongoing physical rehabilitations & being productive, relieved of the ongoing pressure of having to go hat in hand here & there in order to merely survive.
The imperative is now that the Jockey Fund never repeat the unbelievable mistake of hiring another executive like the monster who nearly destroyed the Fund in years past.
I’d also hope that Mr. Farrish’s example in the coming months will be publicly matched by his well-heeled peers - to whom America has been so bountiful.
Perhaps I’m too old & cynical to place much stock in such a possibility.
But to be proven wrong in this respect is not an impossibility - & for that reason alone, perhaps it may come to pass that I am mistaken.
June 25th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
On behalf of jockeys, THANK YOU Mr. Farish. The lack of support for injured backside help has been a black-eye for this industry for too long. I hope this industry, including jockeys, finally starts to address the needs of ALL BACKSIDE workers. Jockeys have only been one-third of the deaths on the back side in the last twenty years, but take the lion’s share of the benefits (money). It is time for the jockeys themselves to step up to the plate and reach into their pockets. The majority of jockeys (and the Jockeys’ Guild) have forgotten the Guild’s motto “We take care of our own.”
June 25th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
It was heart warming to read about Mr. Farish most generous donation to the PDJF. It comes at a most opportune moment . It gives every disabled jockey hope that maybe they can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. it has been a long hard struggle since the disastrous leadership of Dr. Gertmanian. I join my fellow disabled riders in expressing my heartfelt thanks to Mr. Farish. Hopefully he will be joined my many others in recognizing the need to support this much needed organization.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Jeepers, Ray. Maybe Will’s not so bad after all? This is a timely, classy gesture from someone who truly loves the game.
June 25th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Thank you, Mr. Farish!
June 25th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Good PR
Good Deed
Good Karma