Prairie Meadows Honors 2019 Racing Hall of Fame Inductees

Honorees include the three winningest jockeys in the 30-year history of Prairie Meadows and one champion Quarter Horse. The Hall of Fame inductees are Alex Birzer, Glenn Corbett, Terry Thompson, and Ajs High.

Alex Birzer

Jockey

Alex Birzer is a multiple graded stakes-winning jockey who began his career and won his first race in 1992. A native of Kansas, Birzer was introduced to horse racing by his jockey father, Gary Birzer.

Birzer was the second jockey to win 1,000 races at Prairie Meadows. He also won his 2,000th career victory here in 2010. Birzer set a record for consecutive wins at Prairie Meadows by winning the first five races on September 2, 2007. In overall wins at the property, he is second to fellow 2019 Hall of Fame honoree, Glenn Corbett.

He first rode at Prairie Meadows in 1996. He was the leading rider here at the mixed meet from 2006 – 2008 and co-leading rider during the 2010 Thoroughbred meet. He holds four riding titles at Prairie Meadows.

Birzer reached 3,000 career victories in 2017. As of July 2019, he has 3,204 wins from 23,637 mounts. He's also run second 3,039 times and finished third 2,973 times, for total career earnings of $54,031,759.

Birzer credits his wife of 22 years, their two children, and grandson, as the reason for his success. They are his rock and support group that makes all of this possible.

Glenn Corbett

Jockey

Glenn Corbett is a seasoned jockey with 3,885 wins under his belt. Corbett started riding in 1985, with his first victory taking place at Penn National Race Course.

He has ridden 24,920 races and won 173 stakes in his career. Most of his wins occurred at Prairie Meadows and Turf Paradise. During his career, Corbett secured more than 1,600 victories at Prairie Meadows. As of July 2019, he has the most wins of any rider in the history of Prairie Meadows.

Terry Thompson

Jockey

Terry Thompson is a veteran jockey in Thoroughbred racing hailing from Omaha, Nebraska. Mainly competing on the Midwest circuit, his riding career began in 1993 at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky.

On May 20, 2002, Thompson broke fellow Hall of Fame honoree, Alex Birzer’s record when he rode six winners on a single race card at Prairie Meadows.

During his 25-year career, Thompson has won more than 3,300 races.

Ajs High

Quarter Horse

Ajs High is a champion Quarter Horse that competed at Prairie Meadows and other top tracks throughout his racing career. Ajs High, the son of Apolltical Jess-Regally Rare (Rare Form), was foaled February 22, 2012. His lifetime earnings totaled $854,238 from 15 victories in 33 starts.

The Oklahoma-bred gelding, owned and bred by Michael Teel, won 7 races at Prairie Meadows, including the John Deere Juvenile Challenge Championship in 2014.

Under the training of Charley Hunt and Charlton Hunt, Ajs High achieved the biggest win of his career in 2016 when he defeated 11 rivals in the Bank of America Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos in California.

 

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