Hawthorne jocks get raise

Thoroughbred racing and parimutuel wagering resumed Saturday, one day after local jockeys forced a two-hour delay in post times while demanding a raise in riding fees.

The work action succeeded: Horse owners at Hawthorne agreed to give jockeys a $30 raise -- from $45 to $75 -- in base rate. That minimum serves as a safety net underneath the percentage of winnings a jockey receives for riding a horse to a finish of fifth-place or better. Now, the percentage scale to a rider slides from 10 percent of a horse's earnings from a winning mount to 2 percent for horses that finish fourth or fifth.

''There had been on-going negotiations between the riders and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association concerning mount fees,'' said Jim Miller, the assistant general manager at Hawthorne. ''On Friday, they were in the midst of negotiations that carried into the scheduled [3 p.m.] start of the card. With the assistance of members of the ITHA, the Jockeys Guild and the Illinois Racing Board, an agreement was reached and we were able to begin racing.''

Hawthorne wound up handling $2.6 million Friday -- an increase of close to 13 percent from the same day last year. The Daily Racing Form reported that jockeys at Hawthorne on Saturday were presenting owners with a contract stipulating the new rate before races. If the owner signed the deal, the jockey rode; if not, he didn't. According to official Equibase charts, one of 82 horses scheduled to run in Hawthorne's 10-race card Saturday was scratched.

Jim O'Donnell