G.R. Carter Jr. wins Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award

G.R. Carter Jr. has been named the recipient of the Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award, presented annually to a Quarter Horse jockey for his character on and off the racetrack.

The award honors the memory of the rider who died at age 36 from injuries suffered in a spill at Los Alamitos in December 2008.

The Thompson award winner is selected by a vote of Quarter Horse jockeys nationwide and is administered by Speedhorse magazine in conjunction with the Jockeys’ Guild. The award is patterned after the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, presented annually at Santa Anita.

Aside from Carter, the 2013 nominees were John Hamilton, Cody Jensen, Alfonso Lujan, and Ricky Ramirez. The award was inaugurated in 2011, and the past winners were Roy Brooks and Gilbert Ortiz.

Carter, 45, began riding in 1984 and has been the nation’s champion Quarter Horse jockey a record 10 times. His mounts have earned more than $62 million, a record for a Quarter Horse jockey.

Carter has won the All American Futurity twice – aboard Falling In Loveagain in 1998 and on Stolis Winner in 2008.

A presentation of the Thompson award is scheduled at Ruidoso Downs on Sept. 1, the day of the All American Derby.