(a) If a jockey and owner or trainer reach an agreement regarding the fee to be paid to a jockey, the parties to the agreement shall ensure that a written agreement, signed by the parties, is delivered to the horsemen's bookkeeper before post time of the race in which the jockey is to ride. The agreement must state the agreed upon fee for a winning mount, a second place mount, a third place mount, and a losing mount.
(b) After a race, the horsemen's bookkeeper shall debit the owner's account for the amount of the appropriate jockey mount fee as specified in the written agreement. If there is no written agreement, the horsemen's bookkeeper shall debit the owner's account for the appropriate jockey mount fee specified in subsection (c) of this section.
(c) In the absence of a written agreement, the following jockey mount fees apply:
Attached Graphic
(d) A jockey mount fee is considered earned by a jockey when the jockey is weighed out by the clerk of scales, except:
  (1) when a jockey elects to take himself or herself off a mount; and
  (2) when the stewards replace the jockey with a substitute jockey for reasons other than the jockey suffering an injury during the time between weighing-out and the start of the race.
(e) If the jockey does not weigh out because the owner or trainer replaces the jockey with another jockey, the owner or trainer shall pay the appropriate fee to each jockey engaged for the race unless otherwise authorized by the stewards. The fee to be paid is equal to that earned by the jockey who rode the horse.
(f) A horse may not start in a race unless the horse's owner has on deposit with the horsemen's bookkeeper sufficient funds to pay the losing jockey mount fee prescribed by this section or by a written agreement filed under subsection (a) of this section.
(g) If the fee due to a jockey in a stakes race is $5,000 or more, the horsemen's bookkeeper may hold such fee in escrow until post-race testing is completed and action by the Commission releases the purse for that race, at which time the appropriate payment of the escrowed fee shall be made.

Source Note: The provisions of this §313.409 adopted to be effective August 30, 1989, 14 TexReg 4125; amended to be effective October 11, 1990, 15 TexReg 5705; amended to be effective January 1, 1994, 18 TexReg 9101; amended to be effective November 1, 1994, 19 TexReg 8110; amended to be effective June 1, 2000, 25 TexReg 4737; amended to be effective October 30, 2000, 25 TexReg 10736; amended to be effective July 22, 2002, 27 TexReg 6295; amended to be effective July 12, 2012, 37 TexReg 5131; amended to be effective June 10, 2020, 45 TexReg 3772