Page 13 - January 2016 Speedhorse

Owned by Johnny T.L. Jones’ J Bar 7 Ranch, Monty and Katsy Cluck with Doug Benson, Ochoa is the all-time leading money earning Quarter Horse at $2,781,365. He earned $2,620,553 of that total at Ruidoso Downs.
Ochoa won the All American Futurity, Rainbow Derby, Mr Jet Moore Stakes and the All American Derby. He is the sixth horse to win both the All American Futurity and the All American Derby. The gelding was the 2011 Champion Two Year Old and the 2012 Champion Three Year Old.
Trained by Ruidoso Downs’ Racehorse
Hall of Famer Sleepy Gilbreath, Ochoa dominated the 2011 All American Futurity by 1 1/2-lengths and the 2012 All American Derby by 1 1/4-lengths.
The Ruidoso Downs’ Racehorse Hall of Fame is located on the second floor of the Ruidoso grandstands. The museum houses one- of-a-kind artifacts and is open to the public on race days during the Ruidoso summer meet. Admission is free.
Draper passes away
Longtime New Mexico trainer Carl Draper, a member of the Ruidoso Downs Racehorse Hall of Fame and trainer two All American Futurity winners, died Dec. 21 from a heart attack. He was 76.
Draper trained the earners of $12,655,490 with 41 stakes wins. His top runners, who both won the coveted All American Futurity, were 2005 World Champion DM Shicago and two- time Champion Heartswideopen, the 2007 Champion Two Year Old and 2008 Champion Three-Year-Old filly.
Draper is survived by his wife of 53
years, Fredda; children Robyne and Dallas; grandchildren Jasmyne Helena Rogers, Bella Amezcua, Jaxon Draper and Jordan Wright; and great-grandchildren Paige Joy Helena Rogers and Lucas Addison Rogers.
Fick Fills in at new Mexico racing coMMission
Longtime racing executive and official Dan Fick began serving as interim executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission on Jan. 4. He replaces Vince Mares, who resigned the position he had
held since 2009. Fick plans to serve a 90-day period and assist with finding a new executive director for the commission.
Fick was the director of racing for the American Quarter Horse Association for 20 years and served as executive director of The Jockey Club from 2003-09. He has worked as a steward in Indiana, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Iowa.
carter retires
As 2016 dawned, a Quarter Horse legend has decided to hang up his racing saddle. Jockey G.R. Carter Jr. announced his retirement earlier in 2015.
The 10-time AQHA Champion Jockey ended 2015 ranked third overall in the jockey standings, winnning 91 races from 603 starts. His 2015 win percentage was at 15 percent and included 15 stakes wins and earnings of $3,030,178.
Carter’s list of accomplishments are long, and while race fans will miss his thrilling race riding, his fellow jockeys will miss his trusted leadership. Carter devoted many hours away from the track to fight for jockey rights and to ensure that American Quarter Horse jockeys were represented at the Jockeys’ Guild. Carter served as Vice-Chairman of the board for the Guild and gave Quarter Horse jockeys a voice through his commitment and leadership on the Guild board.
His accomplishments in the sport are long, as he’s won about every major race
the sport has to offer. He won the All American Futurity-G1 at Ruidoso Downs twice: Falling In Loveagain for Jack Brooks in 1998 and Stolis Winner for Heath Taylor in 2008. His resume includes the major stakes at Los Al such as the Ed Burke Million Futurity-G1, Go Man Go Handicap-G1,
Los Al Two Million Futurity-G1, Los Al Winter Derby-G1, Mildred Vessels Memorial Handicap-G1, and PCQHRA Breeders Futurity-G1. Born in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, Carter still lives in his home state. He’s earned 18 riding titles at Remington Park and has won the track’s Heritage Place Futurity-G1 five times, the Leo Stakes-G1 four times and the Remington Park Invitational Championship-G1 twice.
He often crisscrossed the nation riding
top horses in stakes races at different
tracks throughout the day. Carter was a handicapper’s dream, as you knew that he usually had his choice of mounts and rode
the best of the best. His ability to get the most out of his horses was proven time and again as he landed in the winner’s circle
and gave the crowd an extra show with his flipping dismounts after winning big races. His athleticism had been honed as a youngster when he competed in gymnastics.
There are few records that Carter doesn’t hold in the sport. The 47-year-old is the all-time leading money earning jockey in American Quarter Horse racing history with more than $69 million in earnings. On July 6, 2013, Carter notched his 3,632nd win and overtook Alvin “Bubba” Brossette as the jockey with the most wins in Quarter Horse racing history.
Thank you, G.R., for all the thrills that you have given racing fans, for the time that you have dedicated to make the sport better for jockeys and others in the sport, and for always being approachable by our smallest fans even though you truly are a superstar and could have chosen a different attitude. We wish you all the best!
And Happy New Year to all our Speedhorse readers. May this be the sweet ’16 that finds you in the winner’s circle often!
SPEEDHORSE, January 2016 11
track chatter