Badilla, 9 others in competition

Joe Badilla Jr., the nation's leading Quarter Horse jockey by wins and earnings, is one of nine riders who have been invited to compete in the second annual American Quarter Horse Association Jockey Championship, to be held at Lone Star Park near Dallas on Nov. 2. The 10th and final spot in the competition will be awarded to the jockey who wins an online poll being conducted by the AQHA.

Others invited to compete in the Jockey Championship are defending champ Eddie Cox Jr., Jacky Martin, G.R. Carter Jr., Alvin Brossette, Dennis Means, Gilbert Ortiz, Dusty Stimpson, and Juan Vazquez. Together, the riders have won more than 12,800 races and $111 million in purses.

The AQHA Jockey Championship is a four-race competition patterned after the National Thoroughbred Racing Association All-Star Jockey Championship, which has been held at Lone Star since 1997. Jockeys earn points for their finishes in the four races, and the rider with the most points wins the competition,

and $6,000 in prize money. Lone Star will donate 1 percent of the handle on the championship races to the National Jockeys' Guild Disabled Riders Fund.