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Labor and Agents

Jockeys add Derby deals with track as ally

A growing spirit of cooperation between Churchill Downs and jockey agents has produced at least two new sponsorship agreements for riders in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, and more deals may be on the way.

Gary Stevens, aboard Firing Line, sported an ad for Actistatin at last year's Kentucky Derby.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Spirited Funds, a liquor company financial index, has signed a deal with the Louisville, Ky., track and with Gary Stevens. Stevens is the jockey for racehorse Mor Spirit, whose name provides a comfortable fit for the company. Spirited Funds will get space on Stevens’ pants and signage at the track.
  
Breathe Right, the nasal strip brand, has signed a deal with Mario Gutierrez, the jockey for Nyquist, seen as one of the leading contenders in the Derby.

“It’s a perfect fit, because the horse wears the nasal strip,” said Angie Stevens, owner and founder of Meticulous Talent Management and the agent for Gutierrez and Gary Stevens, her husband. (Asked about representing both her husband and some of his Derby rivals, Angie Stevens laughed and said, “You can imagine my household.”)

As part of its deal with the track, Breathe Right will also get the rights to do consumer activation at the Derby, said Kristin War-field, Churchill Downs’ vice president of partnerships.

The track and jockey agents are working on more deals that could be announced before the gates open Saturday, Warfield said. Financial details of the agreements were not disclosed.

In the early 2000s, jockeys and their representatives filed lawsuits and fought tracks and racing commissions over wearing endorsements on their pants, and there was even talk of jockeys striking during races. Now the issue has been resolved in most states.

“We have all sort of realized that as Churchill’s portfolio of sponsors grows, the portfolio of companies that can do jockey sponsorships shrinks because there are less companies out there that are not competitive with our sponsors,” Warfield said. “It’s really in everybody’s best interests to work collaboratively to activate some of Churchill’s sponsors.”

Though the increased involvement with jockeys has not materially increased Churchill’s overall sponsorship dollars, Warfield said, “it has been cohesive and healthy for the industry overall.” When a track sponsor has a deal with a jockey, the jockey becomes a person who can make appearances for sponsors in their hospitality and VIP areas, Warfield said.

Other major partners of the Kentucky Derby include presenting sponsor Yum! Brands, Longines, Brown-Forman, Ram Trucks, Stella Artois, GH Mumm, Grey Goose, Vineyard Vines, 14 Hands, Sentient Jet, Pepsi and Panasonic.

Last week Churchill was also working with Kelly Wietsma, an agent representing four jockeys who are set to ride in the Derby, on deals that would involve Ram, the official truck partner of Churchill Downs and the Derby.

Wietsma, president of marketing firm Equisponse, is a pioneer in the business of representing jockeys for commercial work. The only chance most jockeys get for commercial endorsements is on big race days, she said, because of the laws in states such as Kentucky and New York, home to the Belmont Stakes, requiring the permission of the horse owner and the track for jockeys to wear advertising.

”It’s impossible to do any long-term deal,” Wietsma said. “The top jockeys ride up to 1,200 horses a year and they don’t [usually] know who they are riding until two days before the race.”

Wietsma was on the front lines of the fights between the racehorse riders and the tracks over jockey’s endorsement rights years ago. Now she is working hand-in-hand with Warfield on deals.

“We are able to give the track’s existing corporate partners much more added value to their sponsorship with our athletes,” Wietsma said.


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