A Safety Summit headlines the 2010 Annual Assembly of the Jockeys’ Guild to be held Dec. 6-7.
The Annual Assembly will be held in conjunction with the University of Arizona’s 2010 Symposium on Racing and Gaming, at the Westin La Paloma Resort in Tucson, Ariz.
The assembly begins Dec. 6 with closed sessions in the morning and early afternoon. The remainder of the sessions will be part of the symposium and are open to all symposium attendees.
The Rider Safety Summit, a joint seminar presented by the Guild, the Association of Racing Commissioners International, and The Race Track Industry Program, will kick off the Symposium’s open sessions from 3:30-5:30 p.m. MST.
The session will address safety issues involving jockeys. Participating in the panel are Dr. Ed Hall, director of the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center at the University of Kentucky; Dr. Oswald Steward, director of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center, Anatomy & Neurology School of Medicine at UC Irvine; Dr. Dalton Dietrich of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis; Mike Ziegler, executive director of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Safety and Integrity Alliance; and Brad Kimbrell of InCompass.
The panel participants will be discussing medical research on spinal cord and brain injuries, as well as suggest minimum standards for facilities, ambulances, and on-track and hospital treatment. Zeigler will discuss the NTRA code of standards as well as minimum standards on medical personnel, facilities, ambulances, and hospital care while Kimbrell will speak about Jockey Health Information Systems and an update on the development of a National Rider Injury Database.
On Dec. 7, Robert Evans, president and CEO of Churchill Downs Inc., will address the symposium from 8:00-9:30 a.m.
At 10:00-11:00 a.m., former NBC newsman, Richard Valeriani, will address the assembly on the topic of jockeys and enhancing their public image.
Nancy LaSala, executive director of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund discusses the efforts of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund at 11:00 a.m.
Jockey Mike Smith will be honored by The Turf Publicists of America with Big Sport of Turfdom Award. It will be presented along with the Race Track Industry Program Awards Luncheon Dec. 7 at 12:00 p.m.
Following lunch, business will conclude with the Rider Safety Workshop featuring the panelists from the previous day’s Rider Safety Summit with more in depth discussion of the topic.