Even for an action-filled sport such as horse racing, it would be hard to top the off-track drama that unfolded on Nov. 15 at the Monrovia headquarters of the Jockeys' Guild.
Angry jockeys, fed up with their organization's leadership, concluded a long conference call by firing embattled president L. Wayne Gertmenian and his top deputy, Albert Fiss.
Sometime that day, jockeys allege in a lawsuit, the two men wrote themselves checks totaling $217,000 from the guild's depleted bank account.
In the afternoon, Gertmenian and Fiss yelled at and shoved a half-dozen jockeys as four state auditors looked on, jockeys said.
"It was ugly. Anything could have happened," said Darrell Haire, a longtime jockey who is now the guild's interim national manager.
Added veteran rider Paul Atkinson: "I was in shock. It turned into a big ruckus, with plenty of physical contact."
Jockeys said the brief altercation ended when they were pushed out of the office and a Monrovia police car arrived in response to a 911 call. There were no arrests or injuries.
But reverberations from Gertmenian's stormy four-year tenure continue to shake the organization that was founded in 1940 by legendary riders Eddie Arcaro and Johnny Longden, among others, to "promote, protect and serve the welfare and prestige of the professional American jockey."
Among the developments:
* An initial financial review released Thursday by the guild's new management alleges "an apparent pattern of increasing fiscal neglect extending for at least the past 18 months." The report said Gertmenian's team "inappropriately" used $2.1 million in funds to pay operating costs.
* A House subcommittee has subpoenaed guild records, and the guild says the FBI also is investigating. The California Horse Racing Board has begun an audit of a guild-administered health insurance program.
* Hundreds of jockeys are riding without extended catastrophic accident insurance because a $1-million-per-rider policy lapsed early in Gertmenian's term.
* Pepperdine, where Gertmenian, 66, is a longtime economics professor, is investigating questions about his resume. In an October hearing, U.S. representatives ridiculed his claim that he worked on U.S.-Soviet relations for the National Security Council during the Nixon and Ford administrations, while another organization told The Times that Gertmenian's claim that he had served on its board of directors was false.
