Page 165 - September 2019

Gary Sumpter
1976 All American Futurity winning jockey
After a 20-year career as a jockey who produced more than a million dollars in prize money, the winding road of retirement has led Gary Sumpter to the Cross 5 Ranch in rural New Mexico. There’s no cell service. Mail is delivered three days a week – a 60-70 mile trip one way for his carrier. The nearest actual town? That’s about 100 miles away.
There, he’s surrounded by cattle, open space... and memories of a career and life well-lived.
“I think back, sitting here, just me and my dog, reminiscing at some of the horses I rode and great times on the track,” Sumpter said. “It’ll be my whole life until I breathe my last breath.”
Sumpter might be getting older – he turns 70 in October – and his body feels the effects from multiple decades as a jockey, but his mind is still good for quite a wisecrack or two. Or three.
“I’m like wine and crystal glass; I get better with age,” he said.
Born in Cheyenne, Oklahoma, Sumpter was raised in Reydon – where he got to know Walter Merrick and his family. Sumpter spent his
formative years working on Merrick’s ranch, then broke into racing – running match races in his teens in the late 1960s. Later on, Sumpter would ride one of Merrick’s horses, My Easy Credit,
to become the first winner of the All American Triple Crown Derby at Ruidoso Downs.
Standing 172nd on the all-time earnings list for Quarter Horse jockeys, Sumpter has career earnings of nearly $1.4 million. In the process, he won some of the biggest stakes in the sport: the All American Derby at Ruidoso (twice),
the Kindergarten Futurity at Los Alamitos, the West Texas Futurity...the list goes on, but for Sumpter, winning the All American Futurity at Ruidoso in 1976 stands out above the rest.
Sumpter rode Real Wind to victory in that race, describing it as, “One of the great thrills of my life.” Owned by a pair of retired teachers, Elsie and J.D. Kitchens, Real Wind made an undefeated run through the 1976 meet at Ruidoso, part of a 13-3-2 record in 21 starts that produced nearly $530,000 in earnings.
“I rode bulls for about 10 years before I ever started riding races. I got hurt more riding horses than I ever did riding bulls.”
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