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Speedhorse Magazine and Jockeys' Guild Announce Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award Nominees
Quarter Horse jockeys Jorge Martin Bourdieu, Jimmy Brooks, John Hamilton and Ricky Ramirez have been nominated for the Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award.

© Scott Martinez
Speedhorse Magazine and Jockeys' Guild Announce Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award Nominees

NORMAN, OK—MAY 23, 2018—Four Quarter Horse jockeys have been nominated for the 2018 Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award, which honors riders whose lives and character positively impact the Quarter Horse racing industry, both on and off the racetrack. The nominees are: Jorge Martin Bourdieu, Jimmy Brooks, John Hamilton and Ricky Ramirez.

The Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey award is a peer elected award. Ballots are mailed to Quarter Horse tracks around the country in June and July to be distributed amongst the active jockey colony. The nominee with the most votes will be presented with the Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award during a special ceremony at Ruidoso Downs on Sunday, September 2, 2018.

The award is given in honor of the late Sam Thompson, a Quarter Horse jockey who was well liked and highly respected both on and off the racetrack. Thompson died in 2008 due to injuries suffered in a riding accident at Los Alamitos. A leader in the jockeys’ room throughout his career, Thompson was a Jockeys' Guild senator and the room representative at Los Alamitos. He was also a council member of the Los Alamitos division of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America.

Developed as a joint effort between Speedhorse Magazine and the Jockeys' Guild, the Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award was modeled after the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Award for Thoroughbred riders. The Sam Thompson Memorial Jockey Award is the first and only one of its kind in the Quarter Horse industry.

Previous winners include: Roy Brooks in 2011, Gilbert Ortiz in 2012, G. R. Carter, Jr. in 2013, Cody Jensen in 2014, Eddie Garcia in 2015, Ramon Sanchez in 2016 and Cesar De Alba in 2017.