as the barrel turns

Inaugural JB Quarter Horses Creating Legends Sale nets $401,550

The first JB Quarter Horses Creating Legends Sale was one for the record books. Of the 62 head that walked through the ring, 52 sold for $401,500. They averaged $7,722 and the median (middle) price, which is determined by dropping the highest and lowest sellers, was an impressive $5,750 in a recessed market. Dee Braman of JB Quarter Horses was overwhelmed by the support of the consigners and buyers. “I cannot thank you enough for supporting JB Quarter Horses and our guest consignors,” she said. “We appreciate our guest consignors for putting their trust in our first sale. We’ve said all along that, this was not just about JB Quarter Horses; it’s about the industry. All of you here are supporting the industry and helping it grow.”

Thanks to Purina and Classic Equine, all JB Quarter Horses-owned consignments left with an assortment of products. Purina sent all the JB Quarter Horse consignments home with coupons for feed, and the highest selling JB Quarter Horses-owned consignment by a JB stallion went home with a ton of Purina. Classic Equine provided hay bags, halters and sheets for the horses as well. Ez-All also kept the sale horse wash racks well stocked for the duration of the event.

The 3-year-old golden palomino stallion Mr JB Fire Fame, consigned by JB Quarter Horses, commanded the highest price of the sale, bringing $50,000 from Gerald Williams, Daingerfield, Texas. Williams is well versed in the futurity industry, having owned 2006 leading futurity horse VF Sporty Design. Bred by the Bramans, Mr JB Fire Fame is by the late great Fire Water Flit out of the 1D producing Dash Ta Fame daughter Shorease Famous. Fire Fame was expertly trained and demonstrated by Kenna Squires, who put Dash Ta Fame on the map as a broodmare sire with her talented gelding Rambling For Fame.
When multiple National Finals Rodeo qualifying calf roper Brent Lewis dropped the bridle on the 2-year-old gelding Ima Famous Warrior in the demonstrations, buyers took notice. The Bruce Robinson consignment by Dash Ta Fame out of the Canadian National Finals qualifying mare, Ima Copper Bug Too, by Copper Bugs, brought a bid of $30,000 from Louise Davis.

Lewis and Robinson later partnered up again to purchase the royally bred 2-year-old stallion Fiesta Royale for $22,000. Consigned by Booger Barter, the gray stallion is by noted racehorse sire and up-and-coming barrel horse sire Royal Shake Em out of the multiple NFR qualifying mare Firewater Fiesta, by Fire Water Flit. In her first foal crop, Firewater Fiesta has produced two barrel horses with earnings in excess of $60,000 half-way through the year.
The high-selling 2-year-old mare went home with Tom O’Neal, who bid $12,000 for French Fortunes. Sired by leading barrel horse sire Frenchmans Guy, the Randy and Sharon Browder consignment is out of the nice mare Stick To My Demands, by Explode On Demand. Stick To My Demands is a half-sister to stakes winner and 1D barrel horse Tastefully, owned by the Southern Rose Ranch.

The same maternal line produced the high-selling yearling filly Sweet Little Fame, who brought $11,500 for the Browders. The daughter of Dash Ta Fame out of Sweetlittle Dasher, by Some Dasher, went to Joseph Gernentz and his multiple NFR qualifying wife, Terra Bynum. Bringing a $6,000 bid from Scott Sherwood, Chasin Easy Money, a flashy Chasin Firewater out of barrel horse producer WCR Miss Precocious, by Easy Dinero, was the high-selling yearling gelding. Chasin Easy Money was consigned by Doug and Donna Hanover, who managed many of the horses in the sale.

Justa Famous Blurr (listed as One Famous Blurr in the catalog) was the pick of the weanlings, bringing a bid of $10,800 from T&T Barrel Horses. Consigned by Renee Spiller, the filly is a product of the magic cross between Dash Ta Fame and Murrtheblurr (TB). Her dam, Blurr For Cash was a race winner and barrel money earner herself.

Nicely demonstrated by her trainer Kassie Mowrey, Miss JB 0614 was the high-selling 3-year-old mare. The JB Quarter Horses consignment brought $10,000 from Timothy Novak, who also received a ton of Purina feed with his purchase. Miss JB 0614 is by AQHA Champion and PRCA rope horse One Hot Jose and out of barrel money earner Miss Dallas Fuel, by Oklahoma Fuel. Miss Dallas Fuel is a sister to JB Quarter Horses stallion Dallas Fuel.
The Angela Rice consignment NZ Frenchmans Dance brought $5,750 from Robin Kuhnhein to be the high-selling 3-year-old gelding. Although paid in full to the BFA Juvenile Futurity, Kuhnhein plans to hold the Frenchmans Kirk gelding out of WR Featured Dance for 5-year-old futurities.
With a bid of $10,000 from Flaming Jet fan Lynn Hinds, Streakintouhfortune was the high selling futurity-eligible 4-year-old. Consigned by her breeder and trainer, Andrea Cline Herron, the daughter of Honorable Fortune, a Jet Of Honor-Flaming Jet stallion, is out of BFA Derby finalist Janes Un Streakin, by Streakin Go Go.

The sale also raised $8,700 for the Can Chaser Cancer Crisis Foundation, or C4 Fund. This new non-profit organization will help barrel racers defray the costs of cancer treatments. JB Quarter Horses donated Miss JB 0830, a yearling daughter of Chasin Firewater out of Sugar Pan Jr, by Sugar Pan. The filly sold to Dan and Leslie Kinsel, who made the purchase in loving memory of their fathers, who fought brave battles against cancer. Joe Braman and his brothers also donated a 3-day, 4-night hunt from Mellon Creek Outfitters, which sold for $4,000.

The 20 head by JB Quarter Horse stallions brought $92,950 for an average of $4,648 with many of those being weanlings, yearlings and 2-year-olds. The 10 Chasin Firewater weanlings, yearlings and 2-year-olds brought $42,850 for an average of $4,285. The three Two Timen Fuels brought $13,200 for an average of $4,400. The yearling and 3-year-old One Hot Jose brought $13,000 for a $6,500 average. The two Hot Corona 2-year-olds brought $9,000, an average of $4,500. The three Dallas Fuels brought $14,900 for a $4,967 average.

Haulin’ Cash
Molli Choate’s Gonetrucking Playboy sets the pace at World Barrel Racing’s Oxygen Race For The Car IV;
Carey Benton borrows a horse to win a new Pontiac Solstice.
By Tanya Randall
Special for World Barrel Racing Productions

When it came to winning big races, Molli Choate thought she would forever be a bridesmaid until her horse Gonetrucking Playboy laid down a run at the World Barrel Racing Production’s Oxygen Race For The Car IV, held May 14-17 at the Somervell Expo Center in Glen Rose, Texas.
A time of 15.099 gave the Wichita Falls, Texas, barrel racer weekend bragging rights, $4,545 in cash, an entry in to the $20,000 Big Bucks Race, a $500 gift certificate for 2009 Barrelnanza expenses (stalls, hook-ups, entries, etc.), and a trophy bracelet.
“I was always the bridesmaid,” said Choate. “I was always just right there, but little bitty mistakes would cost me. This is just overwhelming. I’m just ecstatic that we finally put it all together!”

As an added bonus, producer Booger Barter gave Choate, and the remaining 89 money-winners from the Main 6D Race, one free entry, a $175 value, to Barrelnanza 2009!
Also earning entry fee money for Barrelnanza were the brave, and most likely blackmailed, souls that entered the How Hard Can It Be Race (HH) for spouses, fathers and long-standing significant others of a barrel racer entered in the Main Race. The white-knuckled riders couldn’t have entered a barrel race within the past year to be eligible. The Over 40 Dance Contest may have stole the show in Tunica, Miss., and the kids may still dig the egg toss, but the HH race was by far the fan favorite at Glen Rose.
Entered by his wife Kim and daughter Peyton, Bryan Hartley of DJ Custom Graphics took top honors with a 16.611.
“They told me if it wasn’t full they were going to enter me,” Hartley laughed. The team roper was after more than a good time though. “I was after bragging rights. I knew if I could win it I could hold it over them the rest of the year!”

Oh, and they did give away a hot little red convertible too. Carey Benton, Cleburne, Texas, drew the lucky key to win a Pontiac Solstice.
“With the feeling I had (Sunday), I may as well won the world,” said Benton as she was driving her new car with the top down. “It still really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Benton, a sales rep and business owner, borrowed Paint Me Pokey from her longtime friend Brynn Denny because her horse was hurt.
“I got on him Monday and ran him that weekend,” she explained. “My first run in the warm-up race, he ducked the second barrel with me. So I put my husband, Ryan, on him in the How Hard Can It Be Race and told him just to make the pattern with him. They ducked the first barrel. My goal Saturday night was just to make the pattern on him!”
Their 16.611 placed fifth in the 4D and earned her $612 and the right to draw for the car.

“It was just meant to be, I guess,” she said. “I asked God, ‘Let your angels put the right key in my hand,’ and they did!”
Benton, who also team ropes, is a longtime Barter supporter.

“He does everything he can for the barrel racer,” she said. “He runs them fast, has great ground, and he keeps the crowd in it. He keeps you wondering, what’s he going to do next. He puts on a show. I’m not just saying that because I won. I’ve been going to his events forever, and never won a dime before this.”
All totaled, the Oxygen Race for the Car IV paid out nearly $93,000 in cash and awarded a Pontiac Solstice Convertible, nine Hy O Silver buckles and more than 90 other prizes, including halters, saddles pads, bags and more!

Playboy’s Payday

Choate purchased Playboy for bargain price of $950. Bred by George Adams of Wichita Falls, Playboy is the perfect mix of cutting and running blood. The 11-year-old gelding is by Lenas Playboy out Gonetruckins Gal, by Gonetruckin.

“He was a diamond in the rough,” said the soft-spoken barrel racer. “He was 5-years-old when they broke him and put 30 days on him. I bought him a year later.”
It was her blood, sweat and tears made him a 1D Champion.

“I’m like every other barrel racer out there,” she said. “I had to wait for the right horse to come along. I asked God for him, but He made me work for it. God gave me the horse that made me a horseman.

“I think with all the great horses there is a fine line between idiot and genius, and he treads a fine line of insanity. I even took him to a Craig Cameron clinic because I wanted someone to validate that he was different. After the clinic he took me aside and said I had done a great job with him and that he was probably the most difficult horse he’d seen in 30 years.”

Choate rode Playboy for two years before starting him on the pattern. She spent a year on the barrels before she started hauling him.
“Once he got out there, he really excelled,” she said. “I’ve been hauling him three years now. It’s hard to believe we’re finally there.”
Glen Rose didn’t start out like she hoped when the reins flipped over Playboy’s head at the first barrel in the warm-up race. And, her winning run was an absolute nail-biter.

“When I turned the first barrel I thought it was going down,” she recalled. “I rocked it all the way down and it balanced on the edge before it set back down in slow motion. My mom said it was a God thing because everyone inhaled and must have sucked-in all the air that pulled it back up. I stumbled at the second and had a great third barrel.”
Playboy, who plays the balancing act between tub-turning terror and wing-nut, doesn’t like to stop at the end of a run so Choate is forced to take some rather drastic measures.
“I run him in two bridles,” she explained. “I run him a draw bit and steel nosed hackamore because he won’t stop. I change reins coming home. I know people think I’m crazy and they’re always looking at me funny in the warm-up pen, but it works.”

Choate, 32, who wanted to thank her sponsors Basin Tack and Oxy-Gen as well as her family, friends and veterinarian Greg Ford, grew up in the small town of Dawson outside of Hillsboro, Texas. Her father trained Thoroughbred racehorses and she grew up riding. After earning a degree in marketing, she went to work for the Texas Department of Transportation. She hopes that Playboy and his half-siblings out of Gonetruckins Gal will provide the means for a barrel racing career.
“I want to follow my passion,” she said. “I want to be able to get out there and help people. I’m still learning something new every day and I want to help people experience that. I want for everyone to have a good time doing this.”

Etbauer’s Bounty

Hollie Etbauer has been on a roll ever since the family left the Better Barrel Races Finals with pockets full of cash. At Glen Rose, she picked up $2,436 in cash and new Martin saddle aboard her two horses PC Frosty Bid and Whistles Spirit.

She was also excited about the chance to win some of the $3,000 in bonus bucks for using Classic Equine boots. “I had one pair and I pulled them off and used them on every horse!” she said.

Etbauer placed ninth in the 1D with Frosty, a son of Sun Frost, and won the 2D with Spirit, a 6-year-old daughter of No Whistle that she and her World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider husband, Billy, raised out of Luci Belle Lee, by Skip Light Lee.

“I think she was the last No Whistle that we had,” said Etbauer. “She was a twerp when she was a baby. I would go to catch the mare and she wouldn’t leave the herd. So I would go breed the mare and leave her. She was very much a free spirit.”

Ironically, Spirit was winning the 2D at the BBR Finals for much of the day but got bumped at the very end.

“She’s a really nice horse,” Etbauer said. “She’s been trying really hard and has lots of ability and a great disposition.”
Etbauer was also really pleased with Frosty.
“I didn’t think he fired like he could,” she said, “so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw my time. I can’t really practice on him and when I do I wish I hadn’t. Sometimes we’ll go a week or two between runs. We’ve been able to go a little bit more and he’s really coming on. He really loves to run barrels. I don’t think I’ve ever had a horse that LOVES to run barrels as much as he does. If the gates open, he’s coming. The fact that he loves it like that makes him a lot of fun.”

The Etbauer family, which includes children Kord, Jaycie and Treg, brought nine horses to Glen Rose. Hollie ran four, while Jaycie ran two, including her mom’s good horse Whistle Bugs. Kord and Treg each ran one. Treg, 7, ran 27-year-old Montana Pine (“Fancy”), who was a great rodeo horse for Penny Treeby.

“I love the big 4Ds,” Etbauer said. “It’s really been fun for us to haul the kids and the young horses at the same time. Gods just blessed us. It’s great to feel like your breaking even or making a little money even.”

Etbauer did have one problem with WBR events—“I wish there were more of them!”

Moms in the Money

The Mother’s Day surprises came a week late for Lisa Van Winkle and Lisa Guthrie, who won the 3D and 4D respectively. Each won a Martin saddle.
Van Winkle, Hempstead, Texas, is a mother of five, a full-time grandmother and still has one daughter at home. She collected $1,896 in cash.

“I’m a grandma and just started competing,” she laughed. With daughters competing in college rodeo, “I get to run what’s left at the house.”
That left her with Deal With The Devil (“Taz”), a 10-year-old running-bred gelding. Bred by Harris Racing Stables in Bandera, Texas, Taz is by Calyx out of Payables, by Louisiana Slew (TB). “He’s really, really all race bred,” she laughed. “My daughter (Britt) puts all the go in them and I put all the whoa and slow down!”
Van Winkle wanted to give a special thank you to Canadian barrel racer Cathy Grant, who now resides in Texas.
“When I started I would go once a month to a barrel race,” explained Van Winkle. “I would get really frustrated that I didn’t win. She told me I needed to give it my all. She told me I need to go more, every chance I got, Tuesday night and Saturdays, for three weeks. So for the past two months I’ve hauled as much as I can to really try to get with my horse, and it’s really paid off. She’s helped me a lot!

Guthrie’s no stranger to the WBR winner’s circle, except she’s usually with her daughter Hailey. In fact, young Hailey tied for the 3D truck at the 2007 Barrelnanza.
“I’m just learning, learning from her actually,” said Guthrie, who entered Glen Rose because “that car looked sweet.” Before attending the big WBR races, Guthrie had only exhibitioned at the little jackpots. Her horse was a hand-me-down from Hailey as well. Though oddly named, Its A UFO (“Skittles”), the 7-year-old mare is nicely bred. Sired by World Speed, who now stands alongside Frenchmans Guy at the Myers, and out of Imtoocools Magnolia, by Imtoocool (TB), Skittles was bred by Jim Light, Santo, Texas.
“Hailey doesn’t ride her anymore,” explained Guthrie, who won $1,300. “We’ve had her about three years and she wasn’t fast enough for Hailey anymore.”

Guthrie, Godley, Texas, split the weekend between the barrel race and Hailey’s basketball games, where her league team was playing in the championships. Her 12-year-old son also plays baseball so this is a very busy time of the year for the family, who operates a Western home décor business.

She wanted to give big thanks to Barter, the D&G ground crew and all the sponsors.

Sale Barn Bargain

Kaylynn Edwards, a 15-year-old high school freshman from Magnolia, Texas, topped the 5D with Ginger, a $850 mare that came from her father’s livestock auction in Magnolia.
“She was actually given to us,” she explained. “The guy said that she would make a good barrel horse. She’s has just the biggest heart.”
Edwards, and her 15-year-old stepsister, Katie, have been the only ones to ride Ginger during the four years that they’ve owned her. She said she was nervous about her run in Glen Rose because of the venue. “I was so nervous that I bit all my nails off,” she said. “That was my first time to run in a coliseum and run at such a big race. I was scared that I would hit the first barrel. I turned her around in the alley which I had never done before and my first barrel was really wide. I’m really bad about not kicking between the barrels, but I did this time. I was really proud of that. Other than the first barrel, my run was really good.”

Edwards and her family are very active with outdoor activities. Her dad, Don, is a team roper, and her younger brother is learning. Her two sisters also run barrels. When she’s not riding, Edwards plays volleyball and softball for Magnolia West High. She’s also a cheerleader.
She wanted to thank her step-mother, Kandi, and Alan Drake, who gave her Ginger, “If not for him I wouldn’t have the horse I have.”

Saddle Up

“This is the first saddle that I’ve ever won,” said 6D Champion Jeanette Beard, Snook, Texas. “My daughter, Dena Davis, won a saddle at Conroe two years ago. We try to go to everyone we can. They are absolutely the best barrel races put on by anybody!”
Beard, a dental hygienist, started barrel racing again in her 40s, though she said the barrel racing she did when she was young wasn’t much.
“I barrel raced in high school,” she laughed, “but it was on rope horses that went around barrels.”
From the very beginning her partner has been Bar King Legend. Bred by Hall and Williams of Olive Branch, Miss., the 17-year-old gelding is by Silvers Legend out of Fancy Bar Question, by Will Question.

“He was my daughter’s horse before me,” she said. “I hauled my girls all over the place and when she finished college, I had to cowgirl up and ride him. I learned how to barrel race on him. He was better than me of course. He takes good care of me.” Beard, who wore her daughter Darbi’s shirt for luck, is adamant in her love for barrel racing.
“It’s a wonderful family thing,” she said. “I’ve spent a lot of money barrel racing, and hauling my girls, but I’ve never had to pay for drug rehab.”

Beyond Money

The winners in Friday night’s warm-up race were Miriam Conner and Heavenly Hallelujah in 1D; Lauren Buford and Ima Awesome Bardella in the 2D; Sandy Buelna and Strawfly This in the 3D; and Sarah Mallett and Hope in the 4D. In addition to cash, each division winner took home a trophy Martin saddle.
Other Big Bucks Incentive winners were Mary Walker, 2D; Shantae Truelock, 3D; and Sharon Roberts, 4D. These riders, along with Choate, will compete in a $20,000 4D race at Barrelnanza. The winner of each division will win $5,000.

Choate, Walker, Roberts and Lauren Daniel in the 3D topped the Your Fees Are Paid Incentive, which offers a $500 gift certificate go for all fees (stalls, hook-ups, entries for the main race and incentives, etc.) at Barrelnanza.

Bridget Rogers was the Young Guns Incentive winner and Terra Bynum won the WPRA Incentive.

Nearly $70,000 in cash awarded at 2nd Annual Spring Run Classic

The Second Annual Spring Run Classic and inaugural running of the Sherry Cervi West Coast Youth Championships and Sidewinder Futurity exceeded all expectations. Held April 17-19 at Shane Parson and Kim Lisle’s Diamond Bar Arena in Ceres, Calif., the event saw a total payout of $68,622 not including numerous saddles and prizes. Proceeds from the race went to various charities.

The Spring Run Classic featured a $5,000-added open, held over three days. Contestants could enter run each day with all their runs counting toward the final standings. They also had the option to enter an Open 4D sidepot for each day of the race.

The Sherry Cervi West Coast Championships featured $1,250 in added money for a two-run 12-and-under and 17-and-under 4D. Saddles were awarded to the best on two based on a point system. In addition to the race, contestants were eligible for $2,400 in scholarship money.
Layna Kight, Willis Point, Texas, and Prime Time Rocket (“Many”) set the pace in the Spring Run Classic. Their 17.292 was worth $1,941. Kight is currently in the Top 30 in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Standings and recently won the Logandale, Nev., rodeo. Her winning mount is an 8-year-old daughter of Frenchmans Guy out of Twenty Rockets, by Angel Of The Morn, that she purchased from Marc Orman, West Des Moines, Iowa.
In the Sidewinder Futurity, Lyndee Stairs came out the big winner. She won the event with Fire Water Sliddin, a home-raised 4-year-old by Otro Fracaso out of the Fire Water Flit mare, Sippin Firewater. She also placed with Jud Little’s Jettin Bye, a 5-year-old daughter of Rene Dan Jet out of Buggy Bye, by Wranglers Rocket.

Stairs, Hanford, Calif., was the high-money winner on the weekend, collecting $6,757. She placed in the open with her 7-year-old Rene Dan Jet gelding, Little Dan Do It, out of Little Jody Do It, by Mr Do It Little, and Bobby and Linda Adair’s Dash Of Patches, a Paint mare by Real Easy Dash out of Miss Smoking, by Easy Jet Too.

Full results for the event are available at http://www.diamondbararena.com/barrelrace.htm.

The Clone Wars

Oklahoma Governor signs law banning clones and their offspring from Oklahoma racetracks.

In March, the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) held an open forum on equine cloning as the Stud Book and Registration Committee prepared to address the potential admission of clones into the registry. The webcasted forum left little doubt as to which way the general constituency leaned as longtime breeder Carol Harris, owner of the famed Superhorse Rugged Lark, eloquently expressed her aversion to clones and received a resounding round of applause. Even moderator and genetics expert George Seidel, a professor at Colorado State University, expressed the audience couldn’t have made its opinion more clear.
What has the AQHA stalling on the cloning matter is the fact that mitochondrial DNA from the deceased mare that donated the egg for the cloning process effects female clones. Thus, if a female clone is bred, it’s is possible that that mitochondrial DNA from the donor mare, be she draft or donkey, to be passed on to the foal. While this doesn’t affect male clones, that they know of yet, there is no test currently available to distinguish the difference between a colt sired by a clone or the original stallion.

The AQHA decided to table the issue until the 2010 convention pending further investigation into matters of parentage verification and long-standing health implications of the cloning process.

In regards to barrel racing, the Barrel Futurities of America’s board of directors decided in January 2008 that clones and the offspring of clones would be allowed to compete in its sanctioned events; however, they would be considered grade horses.
In fact, the BFA’s printed statement is: “(The) BFA considers clones and offspring of clones as grade horses. BFA accepts grade horses to enter its events with a proper affidavit of age. Recognition is not given to sire or dam of grade horses.”
The new wrinkle is the banning of clones from Oklahoma horse racing. On April 7, the Oklahoma legislature approved a bill that prohibits cloned horses and the offspring of cloned horses from participating at Oklahoma racetracks. That ban includes clones and their offspring registered by national breed registries. In short, unregistered or not, clones aren’t running on the track in Oklahoma. On April 14, Governor Brad Henry signed the bill into law.
This bill supported by the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association was sponsored by Senator Joe Sweeden and Representative Don Armes.
“Our biggest concerns were to protect the genetic integrity of our horses and our economic model,” explained Debbie Schauf, OQHRA executive director. “We believe Oklahoma has one of the best genetic pools in the Quarter horse industry. Why would we want to pollute that? We wanted to protect that genetic integrity and the average breeder who can’t afford that type of technology. We also had members that believed clones would wreck the traditional horse economy.”
The traditional horse economy is based on a horse’s reproductive life. While that now includes frozen semen of deceased stallions, the genetic potential of those individuals is limited and the gene pool continues to evolve. For example, the legendary stallion Jet Deck died at age 11. What made him such an exceptional sire was the careful husbandry of his genetics after his death. It also diluted his genetics more so than if he had lived to an advanced age, making horses that carried his blood much more valuable. With clones, on the other hand, breeders would be using the same genetic material over and over again.
“With cloning, there is little incentive for breeders to improve their horses,” she said. “What we’re left with is a test tube industry. There is little incentive for the little guy to stay in business so it wrecks the economic model.”

Another serious potential problem is the breeding of cloned stallions while the original is alive. As it stands now, there isn’t a way to distinguish between a foal produced by a clone stallion or the original.

“We don’t know that that isn’t happening now,” she said. “We hope that it isn’t. If it is, that constitutes fraud.”
Schauf did add that the law could be changed should further research provide for the parent verification of the clones.
“We’re not against the cloning of horses,” she said. “If we learn positive things in the future, the law can be changed.”
Some of the interesting things known so far about the existing clones: A few of the Smart Little Lena clones had issues—crooked legs, parrot mouths, etc. Doc’s Serendipity, the first clone to sell at auction, sold for a paltry $14,000 when it took $150,000 to clone her. Phil Rapp is training the two clones of his great cutting mares—Playboys Ruby and Tap O Lena, but he doesn’t think they’re worth showing at the NCHA Futurity. In fact, he ranked them middle of the pack of this 15 3-year-olds in training.

Where Are They Now – Sharon (Smith) Davis

Darn tradition. Changing your last name when you get married is still perfectly acceptable in these “modern” times, but it sure makes it difficult to track down barrel racers sometimes. Such was the case with Sharon Davis.

You would think it would be safe to assume that a barrel racer named Sharon, who hailed from Lindsey, Okla., was the one and only Sharon Smith, but you never know. The five-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier is still barrel racing and longs to return to the rodeo road, but until the right horse comes along she’s pretty content with her family life.

“It will always be a part of me,” says Sharon. “You tend to reminisce as you get older. I loved the travel, the people, the scenery, the excitement, the thankfulness of being able to have a great horse, but I’m extremely thankful for my family.”

sharon (smith) davis

Former National Finals Rodeo qualifier Sharon (Smith) Davis won the 4D
Championship at the WBRP Race For The Cash in Conroe, Texas, aboard One Smart
Poco, owned by her niece Jaime Smitherman.

Married to Toby Davis, a cattle rancher, Sharon now has a 5-year-old son Carson. She’s a fulltime registered nurse, and like the rest of us, tries to find time to ride and compete when she can.

“I have five horses of my own, mostly young horses,” she says. “I have a nice 5-year-old coming along. He moved into the 2D and we found an OCD lesion on his stifle. There was a little piece of cartilage just hanging there. I was just getting ready to push him one more level and he started swishing his tail and that’s not the kind of horse he is.”

That talented 5-year-old is Ill Be Dashin (“Roman”), a gelded son of Dashin Is Easy out of a Cash Treat mare.

“I got him as a yearling at the Heritage Place Sale,” she said. “I was out back where they lead them in and notice him. He bouncing around and almost on top his handler. They guy snapped on the shank and he moved over a couple feet and started doing it again. He was just having fun. He was being respectful, but still having fun. Bumper would do that.”

Bumper was the great Speed Money, a 1986 gelding by On The Money Red out of Pin A Rose On Me, by Mr Jet Magic. The speedy sorrel with his distinctive bump in his nose was Sharon’s ticket to the big time.

After a stellar futurity career in 1990, the duo qualified for their first NFR in 1992, won the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in 1993, and made return trips to the NFR from 1994 to 1997. His estimated earnings were near $500,000. This was before the WPRA implemented equal money where rodeo committees had to add the same amount of money to the barrel racing as they did to the other events.

Sadly, Bumper was injured in the fifth round of the 1997 NFR when he caught his back leg on an improperly buried crossbar in the alleyway as he entered the arena. Bumper was rushed to surgery in California, where he underwent surgery to repair three fractures to his left back pastern.

Like the late Kentucky Derby Champion Barbaro, Bumper developed laminitis. Sharon, who had gone to work at local hospitals to be near her beloved Bumper, made the decision to put him down three weeks after the tragic accident.

The WPRA dedicated their 1998 media guide, which celebrated their 50th Anniversary, in his memory.

Roman, with his own distinctive facial features, is recovering from his surgery. In the meantime, Sharon rode her neice’s horse One Smart Poco (“Charlie”) to the 4D Championship at the World Barrel Racing Production’s Rockies Race For The Cash in Conroe, Texas.

Sharon’s goal was to keep the barrel standing on the mare who’s extremely setty on indoor patterns.

“I’m looking for her to get her act together indoors,” says Sharon, “because she’s awesome outside. She went to running open times outside in just four months on barrels with my niece.”

Hopefully, Roman will be back on track by the Better Barrel Races Finals in mid-April. Until then, Sharon will continue working with her young horses.

“Roman’s the first horse that has made me have the ‘want-to’ again,” she says. “Rodeo is still in my blood.”

Hot Times In Tunica

6D Champion Diane Bradley drives home in a new Pontiac Solstice from World Barrel Racing Productions’ Safeguard Race For The Car in Tunica, Miss. By Tanya Randall

Special for World Barrel Racing Productions

Disbelief was the first word uttered by 6D Champion Diane Bradley when asked about her hot little new convertible. Bradley, Pine Bluff, Ark., won the Pontiac Solstice at the Safeguard Race For The Car, produced by World Barrel Racing Productions (WBRP) in Tunica, Miss., March 20-22. “I don’t know how to describe it,” said 57-year-old Bradley, who also won $625 and a beautiful Martin Saddle, by Classic Equine. “Wow! I have to pinch myself every once and while. I can’t believe it’s happen to me. It’s kind of like a complete surprise birthday party. This is priceless.”

It was Angela Gillam, Pelahatchie, Miss., setting the pace with Flitastic to win the 1D. They bested the field, which included the likes of Mesa Leavitt and Juniors Genuine Doc and Tyrney Steinhoff and the legendary Nate Shilabar, by two-tenths of a second.

Other main race winners included Shea Flowers, Brundige, Ala., and the talented aged-event mare Miss Gay Bar Abby in the 2D; teenager Laken Power, Clinton, Ark., and Smashing Johnny (“Hotrod”) in the 3D; basketball coach Crystal Martin, Ash Falls, Ark., and Serious Dandy (“Sassy”) in the 4D and Karen Anderson, Jonesboro, Ark., and the royally-bred youngster VF Polished Stone in the 5D. In addition to the main race, riders had a chance at checks in multiple incentives and a warm-up race. The next WBRP event is the Oxy-Gen Race For The Cash IV in Glen Rose, Texas in May. For entries and more information, go to www.worldbarrelracing.com.

Every dog has its day

Barrel horse trainer Angela Gillam doesn’t own a barrel horse, but when she’s got a good one in the barn, she makes good use of it. Such was the case with Flitastic (“Sassy”), who belongs to Rachael Walker, 13. “I just ride her off and on,” said Gillam, 29. “I’m just trying to get the mare more consistent for the Josey Jr World, All American Youth and the NBHA Youth World.” Sassy is an 8-year-old daughter of Flit To Kill out of Lydias Legacy, by Dashing Encounter. Walker’s father Preston bought Sassy from Charles and Barbara Kelley, who own Flit To Kill, when she was 2. The mare was started by Tiany Schuster and Gillam started riding her when she was 4. “I’ve always done really well on that mare,” said Gillam, “and so has the little girl that owns her. We normally get second and third everywhere we go, and most people don’t realize that mare can come in and make a run like that and nobody can touch her.”

Running third on the ground, Gillam and Sassy set down a wicked run. “It was pretty flawless,” she said. “She didn’t really do anything wrong. I don’t know that she could have done anything better. It was pretty nice. It was just really smooth and correct.” Gillam collected $2,500 and a bracelet for the win. She also picked up $792 in incentives and placed 12th in the 1D on Bobby Sox Flit. Incidentally, Gillam also trained the 2007 WBRP Tunica 1D Champion Miss Aqua Jet, ridden by Laynee Jo Debarge.

Looking to the future

Even though they claimed $1,527 and new Martin Saddle, Shea Flowers and Abby were making just their eighth run together. Darren Scholl, who owns Abby, a 6-year-old daughter of the late Cowanater out of Cookie Casanova, by Designer Casanova, paired the mare with Flowers in hopes of making a rodeo horse. “We hope she makes it to the NFR one day,” said Flowers, 22. “Right now she’s learning the ropes. She has to learn how to handle the different types of ground. I’m mostly running her at open shows at the moment. We fell before at a rodeo and it shook us both up.” In fact, it was a little slip that put the duo at the top of the 2D in Tunica. “She slipped a little going into the second barrel,” explained Flowers. “It turned out okay though and that little slip worked out in our favor.” Flowers grew up running barrels and learned from her father. “I just learned the old cowboy style,” she said. “I mostly competed in PCA (Professional Cowboy Association) rodeos. I was never able to afford a really good horse. I had to make do with what I had.” As she moved up the ranks and broadened her barrel racing experiences, Flowers learned about the tricks of the trade to keep horses performing at their best, like chiropractic care and performance dentistry. She’s grateful for the opportunity to ride a horse like Abby. “Abby’s a once and lifetime horse,” she said. “She’s nothing but heart.”

Just smashing

Teenager Laken Power picked up $1,658 and a trophy saddle for winning the 3D. The 14-year-old eighth grader said she’s been riding since she was old enough to sit in the saddle herself and started barrel racing when she was 6. Her parents, Dana and Tim Wells, ride, but don’t compete. Power partnered with Hotrod two years ago. The 17-year-old gelding is by Johnny Scum out of So Smashing, by Swift’N Sand. “I had a good second and third, but my first was a little wide,” she said describing her winning run. Power also competes in Little Britches and Arkansas Cowboys Association rodeos as well as local jackpots.

Nothing but net

Basketball coach Crystal Martin, who saw her Mammoth Springs team make the state tourney this year, had a super weekend in Tunica, taking first in the 4D with her mare, Sassy, and third in 4D with a horse she calls “Hotty.” Her total haul for the weekend was $3,452 from the main race, adult incentive and state incentive. She earned $1,985 with Sassy and $1,467 with Hotty. Sharing in her win were her son Austin, fiancé, Jim Tackett, and mother, Barbara Martin. “She hasn’t missed a barrel race since I started back two years ago,” said Martin of her mother. “I used to high school rodeo and quit when I was in college, playing basketball. After getting my degree and getting a job, I decided to pick it back up.” Martin, 31, bought Sassy, a 15-year-old mare, by Serious Rumors out of Dandy Indian Doll, by Rochester’s Star, about two years ago. “She was pretty smooth,” she said of her winning run. “She’s just a little bay mare. She’s not going to place in the 1D often, but she’s not likely to hit a barrel either. She’s very consistent. Every time I’ve gone to a WBR she’s run a 16.4 to 16.6.” Martin has “definite” plans to attend more WBRP events. “I’ll probably go to Ardmore,” she said. “I definitely want to go do to Waco for the finals this year. Booger Barter puts on a good program.”

Savor the first

Karen Anderson picked up her first trophy saddle in Tunica. She said she and husband, Wayne, a calf roper, drove what seemed like 500 miles per hour from their home in Jonesboro, Ark., back to Tunica to pick up the saddle. Anderson was riding VF Polished Stone, by Sticks An Stones out of Natural Lady Bullion, by Bully Bullion. Stoney, a 5-year-old mare, is a full sister to aged event standout VF The Rock Crusher and a halfsister to Old Fort Days Derby Champion VF Red Bully, by On The Money Red. “I bought her from Danny and Darla (Ray) last year,” explained Anderson, 57. “She kind of found me. I was looking at something else. We spent the whole day there and she kept coming up to the front of the stall when I walked by.” Darla had started Stoney but hadn’t yet hauled the mare. Tunica, swathed in the WBRP’s spooky yellow tarps, was just her fifth barrel race. “That’s the first time she’s been to a barrel race where she hasn’t been in the arena before,” said Anderson, who wanted to thank her husband for his support. “I was really pleased with her.” When Stoney’s barrel racing career is over, she’ll make an awesome addition to Anderson’s broodmare band. She and her husband operate Anderson Quarter Horses (www.ropingandracing.com) where they stand Tomahawk N Firewater, a son of the late, great Fire Water Flit out of the fabulous producer Jodie Bug Moon, by Bugged Moon. Anderson chose to late enter Tunica because of breeding and foaling season. “I always enter late,” she said. “With all these mares and foals, you never know. We had a colt born two days before we left. Tunica is close so we go there a lot.” In addition to her trophy Martin saddle, Anderson collected $625 for her 5D win.

It’s your turn, Mom.

After sharing her horse with her three daughters during their high school years, Diane Bradley turned the tables. She took a horse that originally belonged to her youngest daughter and won a new car!

“My horse is really green,” she said. “I’ve had him a little over a year now. A year ago, here, the horse that I was running just did awful, awful, awful. I sold him the next week. I pulled this horse out of the pasture and started riding him. He had a crash course in barrels. He didn’t know to run. He didn’t know how to turn. He’s done really well for me. He’s not real, real fast yet, but he’s coming on.” Cowboys Brown Guard (“Nick”) is a 13-year-old gelding by Cowboy Guard out of Alice Brown Doll, by Go CJ Go. He belonged to her youngest daughter, Amy Fortune, but she had sold the gelding to pay for college. “She called and told me that he was going in the Arkansas Roundup Sale at the university there in Fayetteville,” she explained. “She was upset because she was worried about what kind of home he would go to. I contacted the university and the lady that owned him. I made a deal with the lady and swapped a yearling for him. I was thinking that my daughter would get him back from me. He’d been turned out for several years when he was in the other owner’s possession and he spent another year in the pasture when I owned him.” Ironically, when Bradley called to tell Fortune the good news, she thought her mother was lying about the car.

When Bradley married Jim in 2003, her daughters encouraged her to start riding again. She didn’t start competing again until 2006. “My kids said, ‘OK Mom, it’s your turn now,’” said Bradley. “They’ve encouraged me to get out and ride.” She also has the support of her husband, who was there to see her win. Her oldest daughter, Victoria Jens, was there as well.

“If it hadn’t been for my daughter coming from Georgia with her horses, I probably wouldn’t have entered,” she said. “It’s like my husband says, ‘You only live life once, so you better grab the brass ring while you have the chance.’”

Bradley didn’t own a horse until she was 20 as her mother thought it was a waste of money, so taking her new car by her mother’s house is her first priority. “She always told me I was throwing my money away with the horses,” Bradley laughed. “They were pretty to look at in somebody else’s pasture, but they’re basically a waste of money. I’m going to go point out to her that I wouldn’t have this little red car if it weren’t for horses.”

Family Fun

In addition to a well-run race, contestants and their families had a chance to win money and prizes in a variety of games and contests. Some lucky participants had the opportunity to try for cold hard cash in the Oxy-Gen Frisbee toss. A few came close to having the Frisbee land in a bucket on the second barrel only to have it veer off at the last second. Daredevils took the center stage in the bareback with a halter barrel race. The high crash potential for this event makes it a crowd favorite. Run in sections on Saturday and Sunday, Heather Schneeberger’s 16.416 earned her the trophy bracelet. Lisa Kindle was second, and Lyndsey Nixon was third. The potential for a big mess makes the egg toss extremely popular with the youngsters in attendance, especially the male half. But, the biggest hit of the weekend was the over 40 dance contest. The ladies got out-danced by a man, who unfortunately will remain anonymous.

Conroe Carnival
5D Champion Heather McDuff blazed her way to a new Pontiac Solstice at World Barrel Racing Productions' Rockies Race For The Cash IV in Conroe, Texas.
By Tanya Randall
Special for World Barrel Racing Productions

From Carnival in Cozumel, Mexico, to winning a snazzy new sports car in Conroe, Texas, Heather McDuff has had a pretty exciting two weeks. The Keithville, La., barrel racer scored big at the Rockies Race For The Cash, held Feb. 27-March 1 in Conroe, Texas.
McDuff topped the 5D for $800 in cash, a beautiful Martin saddle and a chance at a red Pontiac Solstice convertible.
All of the top five finishers in each of the six divisions earned the right to draw for the car. Contestants drew keys to open a lock box; if the key worked, they won the car. All of the winners present drew first, starting with the top finisher in the 1D on down. When the box remained locked, the World Barrel Racing Productions (WBRP) staff drew on behalf of the absentee winners. Key after key failed until a key was chosen on behalf of 5D Champion Heather McDuff.
"I still can't believe it," said McDuff. "I never would have bought something like this for myself. Heck, I never would have bought myself a car, period. If you can afford only one vehicle, it's going to be a truck so you can haul your horses."
Other big winners at Conroe were Tammy Fischer aboard Easy Dash Oak ("Roundpen") in the 1D; Lisa Kaul and Sage Magnolia Moon ("Sage") in the 2D; Mandi Burden with her horses Hickorys Little Pal ("Pal") and Scootin Over Texas ("Digger") tying for the 3D; Sharon (Smith) Davis and One Smart Poco ("Charlie") in the 4D and Abigale Barks and "Baby" in the 6D.

Keyed in
Tammy Fischer left Conroe nearly $8,000 richer. She picked up $5,403 and a bracelet for winning the main race, the Texas incentive and WPRA incentive aboard Roundpen. She placed third in the main race, second in the Texas and WPRA incentives aboard MP Quick Money ("Money"), and collected $323 in 3D checks aboard Curtiss Money Man for total earnings of $7,965.
Fisher also earned the right to compete in the $20,000 Big Bucks race at Barrelnanza for winning the Big Bucks incentive and picked up a $500 voucher for entries at Barrelnanza for winning the Your Fees Are Paid incentive.
The multiple Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier, futurity and derby champion described her run as "fabulous."
"I couldn't have asked for anything better," said the Ledbetter, Texas, trainer and professional barrel racer. "Smooth. Fast. On the money. No bobbles. It was perfect."
After the winter run of pro rodeos in Texas, Fischer and her sister Jackie Jatzlau plan on staying in Texas rather than heading to California for the spring run. Her commitments to her son Riley will keep her home. Incidentally during this interview, she was trying repeatedly to call Riley, who was at a hog hunting competition. He had shot good-sized one and was anxiously awaiting weigh-in.
"My son is senior this year, so my schedule revolves around him," she said. "May is going to be graduation stuff all month. We leave in June for Reno and will rodeo hard all summer, but the rest of the rodeoing, we'll do here."
Money, a 6-year-old gelding, will be getting the call at a lot of the smaller rodeos to give Roundpen a break. The gray son of PC Frenchmans Hayday out of Quickern A Wink, by Dr Bordeaux, won about $5,000 at the pro rodeos last year.
Roundpen remains her main bread winner. The 14-year-old gelding is by Victory Dash out of Easily Little Oak, by Easily Smashed.
While Fischer cut her teeth training running-bred horses, she switched to more barrel-bred horses in recent years. She's got a couple of Lone Drifters that she's currently training.
"When my dad (the late Jack Dube) was training racehorses, he would always pick ‘em," she explained. "He knew which horses were stupid in the gates and which trainers kept them sound. When he quit training, I lost that connection.
"Sherry Cervi would come stay with me in the winter. She always had about six colts with her and I liked everyone. I loved the Lone Drifters and I loved the Dinero's."

The right call
Lisa Kaul, Yoakum, Texas, ran three horses in the main race and hit the money with two of them. She won the 2D aboard Sage for $1,400 and a saddle, plus $551 for winning the 2D in the Texas incentive. Like Fischer, she, too, won the Big Bucks and Your Fees Are Paid incentives.
"He didn't make as good of run as he could, but I'll take it," said Kaul of Sage, a 13-year-old gelding by Five To Six out of the Magnolia Bar mare, Texs Futurity Winner.
Sage has been a bit of a problem child since Kaul bought him when he was 7.
"I've been off and on him for years," she laughed. "If everything is going good, something happens. He just self destructs. He's cut his foot. He's hurt his back. He's hurt his groin. I've probably got to ride him two of the six years that I've owned him, but he's still won me about $25-$30,000."
Sage is currently running with a fourth of his left front hoof missing. He had bruised it and the injured portion had been cut away so it would grow back correctly.
"I've got a bar shoe on it and it's wired together so he has some support. Before I run him I put one round of vet wrap on it and some duck tape to help hold it together. I boot him up like he's going into battle," she said.
A former educator, Kaul taught chemistry and physics in Oklahoma for 22 years before moving to Texas. Before the massive drop in oil prices she was working as a landman, research titles for oil companies.
Kaul, wife of former National Finals Rodeo qualifying steer wrestler Kirby Kaul, also placed in the 2D in the main race and Texas incentive aboard a horse called "Desi" for $672. Her total haul was $2,623.
"I'm glad they have them," she said of the WBRP races. "They're very professional and the entire staff is very helpful. I look forward to going to them."

On fire
"I've never been that lucky," said Mandi Burden, a registered nurse from Temple, Texas. Both of her horses ran the exact same time to tie for the 3D Championship. Up to the end of the race, Burden was having a pretty rough weekend since she arrived in Conroe on Friday.
First, she lost two generators.
"I bought a new one and borrowed another one," she explained. "I'm on number three for the weekend. Mine broke. The new one never worked, and I had to borrow one from Lee Conway, the freeze branding guy."
She caught a little break in the warm race, which was her second race since Barrelnanza in November 2008. Her older horse Pal, a 12-year-old gelding by Bar Docs Hickory out of Carters Little Pal, by Doc Bar Royal, had "an OK run," but her younger horse, Digger, an 11-year-old gelding by Scooter Mccool out of My Raider, by Carberaider, hit a barrel for the first time in nearly five years.
Pal is a former cutter that belongs to her husband, Cary.
"Cary got pal when he was a yearling because he wanted a grey cutting horse," she explained. "I started dating him when Pal was 3 during his futurity year. When he brought him home, he turned him out for six months. When we brought him back up, I started him on barrels."
Pal has had about the same luck as Kaul's horse Sage. He's had a torn suspensory ligament, bowed tendons in both front legs, bruised splint bones, and a had split bone with a double fracture that required surgery.
While Pal recouped, Burden devoted her time to Digger, a full brother to her first great horse.
"Digger came from his breeder, who had given me his full brother," she said. "When he got hurt, she sold me Digger. I was told I was nuts for buying him because he has lots of issues."
While she would have liked to have had faster runs on both horses in the main race, their 16.350s would seem to have turned the tide on her weekend, especially after Fischer's Saturday night run put her at the top of the 3D.
"They're not fit; they worked beautifully, just slow," she said, who wanted to thank producer Booger Barter for the event. "Digger had three consistent turns. Pal's second and third were better, but he has first barrel issues."
Her luck may have held for the race, but fate was still out to get her. While trying to stay warm at the Barrelracingbuzz.com booth, a propane heater caught her down jacket on fire. She thanked Rockies for their sponsorship of the race by buying a new Cruel Girl jacket.
Burden even went so far as to post on Barrelracingbuzz.com that Conroe was "jinxed," but that "unlucky town," sent her home with a new Martin saddle and $3,386 for winning the 3D in the main race and Texas incentive.

Building blues
When Jaime Smitherman, Centerville, Texas, started having difficulty with her mare One Smart Poco ("Charlie") at the indoor races, she knew her aunt, former NFR qualifier Sharon (Smith) Davis was just the trainer to help her out.
"She's a finished cutter," Smitherman said of Charlie. "My aunt is helping me transfer her to barrels. She's really rate-y and I sent her to my Aunt Sharon to free her up."
Davis, Lindsey, Okla., wasn't there to pick up her awards or draw for the car, but Smitherman acted as her representative. Smitherman said that even though Charlie's her horse her aunt gets to keep the prizes.
Best known as the rider and trainer of Speed Money ("Bumper") the horse that put On The Money Red on the map, Davis has spent the last ten years raising her family and looking for her next great horse. She's been running Charlie since her own horse had to have surgery.
"I had her since the first week of December," Davis said. "She has a lot of natural ability and she's a beautiful mare. She really looks the part.
"Outdoors she's awesome, but Jaime's found it difficult to get her around the barrels indoors. As a general rule I can free up a horse. This time of year, everything is inside so I'm just going with her, hauling and entering. I'm looking for her to get her act together indoors, because she's awesome outside. She went to running open times outside in just four months on barrels with my niece."
Davis said she wasn't "fond" of her run, but she did leave the barrels standing.
"I got lucky and had the right calculation on the clock," she laughed. She won $1,400 and a Martin saddle as well as the Big Bucks incentive.
Davis, a registered nurse, returned to Lindsey after the tragic loss of Bumper at the NFR in 1998. She married Toby Davis, a cattle rancher, and they have a 5-year-old son Carson. She works fulltime and rides when she gets a chance.
She said she misses rodeo, but she's very thankful for what she does have.
"It will always be a part of me," she said. "I loved the travel, the people and the excitement. I'm thankful that I was able to have a great horse, but I'm extremely thankful for my family."
Car-nival
McDuff had an extremely entertaining, but busy two weeks. After spending a vacation in Cozumel for the pre-lent celebration Carnival, she had her father pick her up at the Houston airport and take her to Conroe. Her friends, Sally and Chelsea Easley and Newton Johnson, who had taken care of her horse during her absence, hauled her to Conroe for her to ride.
"I ran in the Saturday morning session and went home," she said. "I normally stay, but I been gone so long I needed to get home."
McDuff, who manages rental property, said never in a million years did she dream she would win the car.
"I still can't believe it," said McDuff, who wanted to thank the Easleys, Johnson and her family, husband, Jay, and 4-year-old son Gordon, for all their help and support.
Carrying her to victory was her 17-year-old mare Blaze, whom she's owned since she was a teenager.
"I actually had good turns, but I felt like she wasn't firing or running," she said.
McDuff was getting updates on the race from her sister-in-law, Kim McDuff, who was working the graphics booth, DJ Custom Designs, and Diane Kendrick of Interval Timing USA.
"I was already on the phone with Kim when Diane called," she laughed. "I had a phone on each ear."
McDuff grew up as the "odd ball" in a non-horse household, but has been running barrels since she was 14. She started running Blaze when the mare was just 3 after her older horse got hurt.

Pint-sized power
If 9-year-old Abigail Barks had won the car, she decided that there was no way her brother was going to get to ride in it. Barks won the 6D Championship for $800 and a saddle.
"My dad wants to ride in it too, but I'm not going to let him," she said emphatically.
The third grader has been running barrels since she was just 3. She started riding her 10-year-old mare, "Baby," a year ago.
"My run was kind of slow, but I came in a little bit faster," she said.

Super Bucks
Jackie (Dube) Jatzlau (pronounced "Yachts-law") hauled $9,693 out of Conroe. She picked up $8,000 for winning the Super Bucks race with Imanonstop Princess ("Princess").
"The ground was a little bit deeper today," she said. "I could feel her bare down and get with it. I felt her slip a little at the second barrel and I growled at her and she got with it. She ran her guts out."
Jatzlau has had a great winter run of professional rodeos. She said getting to this point has been a huge battle.
"I've had Princess for two years now," she said. "When I bought her she was older and everyone thought I had bought a rodeo horse and was going to go to winning. But, she had sat in a stall for two years and had never been to a rodeo when I got her. So I bought a 9-year-old unseasoned horse that wasn't even really finished. It's taken me two full years to get her seasoned."
Making it extra special is Princess's link to her late father Jack.
"Princess was one of the last things that my father did for me," said the Giddings, Texas, trainer and barrel racer. "I had lost a horse, and it takes about 8 to 10 weeks to get the insurance money. I went to try Princess five days after I put the horse down, and Dad went to the bank to the money so I could get her bought. I never ran her on the clock. He was standing right there when I made the decision and he knew it was the right one. Getting her to where she is right now, where we're a force to be reckoned with, means a lot."
Jatzlau added that new sponsors have played a large part in Princess's turnaround.
"I want to say thank you to my sponsors," she said. "I've only changed two things. I have a new boot sponsor. I've always used polos. These are the only boots that I've put on her and her confidence has soared.
"I've also put her on Smooth Run Pro. I've had a little trouble with her breathing; it's like an allergy. I tried everything and this is the only thing that I can say that works. Her stamina is outstanding and her recovery is awesome and she doesn't cough."
Jatzlau collected $1,231 on Princess, a 12-year-old mare by Letta Hank Do It out of Imanonstop Payday, a daughter of Nonstop Jet out of a Jets Pay Day mare, in the main race and incentives. She also won $462 on Jones Is Jettin.

For videos of the winning runs, please visit Barrelracingbuzz.com. For full results, go to worldbarrelracing.com.