Page 22 - August 2017

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Jennifer K. Hancock
by Jennifer K. Hancock
SAM THOMPSON MEMORIAL JOCKEY AWARD
The Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award honors riders whose lives and character positively impact the Quarter Horse racing industry, both on and off the racetrack. This year, five American Quarter Horse riders have been nominated for the award.
The nominees are: Cesar De Alba, Jorge Martin Bourdieu, Alfonso Lujan, Esgar Ramirez and Ricky Ramirez.
The Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award is
a peer-elected award. Ballots were mailed to Quarter Horse tracks around the country in July to be distributed amongst the active jockey colony. The nominee with the most votes will be presented with the Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award during a special ceremony at Ruidoso Downs on Sept. 3.
The award is given in honor of the late Sam Thompson, a Quarter Horse jockey who was well liked and highly respected both on and off the racetrack. Thompson died in 2008 due to injuries suffered in a riding accident at Los Alamitos. A
leader in the jockey’s room throughout his career, Thompson was a Jockeys’ Guild senator and the room representative at Los Alamitos. He was also a council member of the Los Alamitos division of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America.
Developed as a joint effort between Speedhorse Magazine and the Jockeys’ Guild, the Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award is modeled after the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Award for Thoroughbred riders. The Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award is the first and only one of its kind in the Quarter Horse industry. Previous winners include Roy Brooks (2011), Gilbert Ortiz (2012), G.R. Carter Jr. (2013), Cody Jensen (2014), Eddie Garcia (2015), and Ramon Sanchez (2016).
WYOMING DOWNS MEET
Wyoming Downs, in Evanston, Wyoming, held its 2017 mixed-breed meet June 24 – Aug. 13. Opening weekend, the track hosted state legislators and government officials for a day of racing and information on the track’s economic impact. It was also an educational weekend for the AQHA Youth Racing Experience.
K.C. Carden, a trainer who owns and operates Y
O Equine Ranch in Sheridan with his wife Candace, attended the Youth Racing event to share his knowledge with those in attendance. The horse racing community has rallied around Carden, who is fighting cancer. In a winner’s circle presentation, Wyoming Downs’ General Manager Frank Lamb presented Carden, who was joined by some of the youth attendees, with a plaque of appreciation recognizing his contribution to the future generations of racing.
One of Wyoming Downs’ long-time workers, gatekeeper Marilyn Lewis, has been coming to the track “ever since they opened the gates the first time in ’88.” You might find a photo of Marilyn Monroe on the gate leading to saddling paddock, and a smile on the face Lewis, who often introduces herself as Miss Monroe because they share a first name.
The Wyoming native’s love of the horses and people keeps her coming back each summer. “I know a lot of people here,” she said. “We used to train horses years ago. We sent our girls to a horse sale with some money, and they came home with a couple of horses – and out of that we had two real good racehorses. That’s how we started.”
When their trainer retired, Lewis’ husband started training their horses.
Wyoming Downs gatekeeper Marilyn Lewis
THE MONTH IN REVIEW
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SPEEDHORSE, August 2017
TRACK CHATTER
Photo by Jennifer Hancock