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All-Time Leading Money Earner KJ Desparado Enrolled in Challenge
All-time leading money earner Kj Desparado has joined the lucrative Challenge program.

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All-Time Leading Money Earner KJ Desparado Enrolled in Challenge

AMARILLO, TX–MARCH 5, 2025–The sport of American Quarter Horse racing’s all-time leading money earner, KJ Desparado, has joined the ranks of horses eligible to compete in the AQHA Racing Challenge by paying the $20,000 late enrollment fee to make him eligible for the rest of his career.

KJ Desparado is a 2019 bay gelding by Apollitical Jess who races for his breeders, John and Kathy Lee, and their partner Ruben Mares.

In 29 starts, the gelding has won 17 races and earned an all-time record of $3,340,109. He is to date the only American Quarter Horse to break the $3 million mark in race earnings.

The AQHA Racing Challenge provides more racing opportunity for American Quarter Horses of all ages and specialties. The program has put more than $110 million in purses in the pockets of horsemen since its inception. Enrollment is simple – breeders and owners can nominate their horse for as little as $300 and have a world of stakes races open up for their horses.

Now eligible for Challenge races, KJ Desparado could add to his historic legacy through any of the regional stakes, including Grade 2 and Grade 3 events, held in three different countries on his way to potentially contesting one of the slate of Grade 1 and graded stakes at the AQHA Racing Challenge Championships, which this year will be held at The Downs at Albuquerque on October 18.

He has already been nominated to the AQHA Racing Turf Paradise Championship Challenge in his home state of Arizona, which is set to run April 15. If he were to run in the race, it would mark his return to his home state; he has not run at Turf Paradise since his first two career starts in April 2021. 

For more information on the Challenge program, to see a schedule, or to enroll a horse, visit the Challenge page.

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