Quarter Horse rider Huerta out with injury after spill

CYPRESS, Calif. – Carlos Huerta, the second-leading Quarter Horse jockey at Los Alamitos, suffered three broken vertebrae in a spill after the eighth race Friday evening and will miss mounts in two lucrative races this weekend.

Huerta was unseated after the filly Blabber fell after the Paul Ford Memorial Handicap. Blabber was not injured. Huerta was transported to Long Beach Memorial hospital.

Huerta, 31, was scheduled to ride Quirky in Saturday’s $600,000 Champion of Champions and Sale Topper in Sunday’s $1.9 million Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity. G.R. Carter is expected to take the mount on Sale Topper, according to track officials. The mount on Quirky had not been finalized as of lunchtime Saturday.

It was unclear how long Huerta would be sidelined. He may be able to avoid surgery, agent Dennis Christensen told Los Alamitos publicity.

Earlier this year, Huerta won such stakes as the Grade 1 Mildred Vessels Handicap on Quirky, the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Breeders’ Association Derby and La Primera Del Ano Derby on Bac in Front, and the El Primero Del Ano Derby on Forget It.

Huerta, a native of Mexico, won the Los Alamitos Two Million Futurity in 2014 with He Looks Hot. Through Dec. 6, Huerta had 87 Quarter Horse wins at Los Alamitos this year and ranked second in the standings behind Cruz Mendez, who had 116 wins.