LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey and other top jockeys appeared in federal court Monday to ask that they be allowed to wear corporate logos and union patches while racing in Kentucky.

The jockeys have argued in separate complaints that the right to wear the logos during races is speech protected by the First Amendment.

They have asked a judge to block the state law that bans the union and corporate logos in time for Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Shane Sellers and fellow jockey Robby Albarado were each fined $500 apiece by the Kentucky Racing Commission for wearing a guild patch during last year's Derby. Albarado is also a plaintiff in the guild patch suit.

Bailey and Sellers said sponsors have approached them offering up to $30,000 to wear a corporate logo on their pants in the Derby. Bailey is riding Wimbledon in the Derby, and Sellers will be aboard early favorite The Cliff's Edge.

``You don't make a lot of money just riding races; you've got to win,'' Bailey said during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Louisville.

The hearing was scheduled to continue Tuesday.

Jockeys filed two separate complaints in federal court this month. The first asked that they be given permission to wear the guild patch, and the second suit asked for freedom to wear corporate logos.

U.S. District Judge John Heyburn listened to arguments in both suits in one hearing Monday.

Sellers said wearing the guild patch calls attention to disabled jockeys hurt while racing. He is a plaintiff in both suits.

``I get emotional'' when talking about disabled jockeys, Sellers said. ``I know a lot of these people. When they fall, they don't have any income.''

But attorneys for the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, which regulates racing, argued that the presence of ads or other patches could hamper racing officials' ability to determine a winner in a tight finish, or whether a foul was committed during a race.

``The racing authority has the responsibility to protect the integrity of racing,'' attorney J. Bruce Miller said.

Racing steward Richard Leigh testified Monday that extra clutter on a jockey's white pants could confuse racing officials who have to make a snap decision in a close finish. Racing stewards make final judgments on whether a race was run fairly.

The racing authority is the successor to the racing commission, which also is named as a defendant. Gov. Ernie Fletcher abolished the commission and replaced it with the authority in January.