Doug Schrick

A 24-year-old jockey has received a 10-year suspension after admitting he tried to bribe another jockey $1,000 to lose a race at Golden Gate Fields. The ruling against Doug Schrick was issued by the board of stewards Thursday, following a lengthy investigation. The other jockey and the date in question were not identified, but the board said the incident occurred about a month ago. Schrick's whereabouts are not known. The stewards said further charges could be filed, since it is both a state and federal crime to attempt to affect the outcome of a sporting event.

A 24-year-old jockey has received a 10-year suspension after admitting he tried to bribe another jockey $1,000 to lose a race at Golden Gate Fields. The ruling against Doug Schrick was issued by the board of stewards Thursday, following a lengthy investigation. The other jockey and the date in question were not identified, but the board said the incident occurred about a month ago. Schrick's whereabouts are not known. The stewards said further charges could be filed, since it is both a state and federal crime to attempt to affect the outcome of a sporting event.

The Golden Gate Fields board of stewards has suspended jockey Doug Schrick for 10 years and recommended that he never be relicensed as a jockey. The board suspended him Thursday for trying to bribe a fellow rider to lose a race. Golden Gate Fields Steward Leon Lewis said that a hearing was held and that, under oath, Schrick admitted the charges. Lewis refused to name the jockey who was offered and declined the bribe. Through Thursday, the 106th day of the 110-day Golden Gate Fields meeting, Schrick had only 18 mounts.

The Golden Gate Fields board of stewards has suspended jockey Doug Schrick for 10 years and recommended that he never be relicensed as a jockey. The board suspended him Thursday for trying to bribe a fellow rider to lose a race. Golden Gate Fields Steward Leon Lewis said that a hearing was held and that, under oath, Schrick admitted the charges. Lewis refused to name the jockey who was offered and declined the bribe. Through Thursday, the 106th day of the 110-day Golden Gate Fields meeting, Schrick had only 18 mounts.

Jockey Ron Hansen, barred from riding at Golden Gate Fields Feb. 4, answered charges of impropriety against him during a hearing before the California Horse Racing Board Friday. Hearing referee Benjamin Felton was to make a recommendation on whether Hansen should be permanently barred or reinstated and the CHRB will make the final decision. Hansen, the leading rider at the Albany track, is accused by a former jockey of fixing races.

Wearing a two-day stubble on his chin, jockey Ron Hansen stood under the roof at the barn of Video Ranger on a rainy morning, answering questions about his Bohemian lifestyle and controversial riding career. "You should have been with me last night," Hansen said to a handful of reporters who are at Churchill Downs to cover Saturday's Kentucky Derby. There were a few chuckles. "I'm just kidding," Hansen said. "I'm very happily married now." And about that wedding, Ron . . .

The banning of jockey Ron Hansen by Golden Gate Fields last Sunday apparently was the result of an investigation into Bay Area racing that began about a month ago when two Las Vegas race books suspended betting on Bay Meadows thoroughbred races after recorded losses estimated at $500,000.

There was animosity between the two jockeys almost from the moment they laid eyes on each other four years ago at Longacres race track in Renton, Wash. Ron Hansen remembers that he had just arrived from Minnesota and, as luck would have it, a jockeys' strike was about to begin. Hansen was on one side of the strike. Doug Schrick was on the other. Schrick crossed the picket lines the first day and rode a horse that Hansen had been scheduled to race. "What's the deal?"

Ron Hansen, the leading Bay Area jockey who has been effectively barred from riding at California thoroughbred tracks for more than a month, got a favorable ruling from the California Horse Racing Board on Tuesday. He could be back in the saddle as early as this afternoon. In accepting the recommendation of Ben Felton, special hearing referee, the CHRB overruled the unilateral decision Golden Gate Fields management made last Feb.

A racetrack is a rumor factory even in quieter times, and since the disappearance of jockey Ron Hansen six days ago, tracks all over California have been in the overtime gossip mode. Starting on the Santa Anita backstretch, there was an unconfirmed report that Hansen was spotted in Canada. That story traveled well, at about :34 4/5 per three furlongs, as it made the rounds of the barn area. Another rumor had Hansen had contacting his parents in Idaho, where he grew up on a dairy farm.