The Barrel Futurities of America World Championship Futurity is the richest added money event for 4-year-old horses wrapping up their freshman season in the arena. The $70,000-added Futurity, held November 12-20 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, will be one of the last futurities for many horses and the beginning for a few that will run as 5-year-olds in 2022.
Here are some of the season’s best that will be well worth running to the rail to watch at the 36th annual event.
World Champions Start Here
All eyes will be on Sharin Hall and her superstar Hello Stella as they continue their assault on the futurity earnings record. Raised by Hall, Stella is by The Goodbye Lane out of proven performing and producing Dash Ta Fame mare Go Go Fame, who was also campaigned by Hall.
Bob Burt, the owner of the legendary Dash Ta Fame, suggested the pairing to Hall. With Dash Ta Fame top and bottom – The Goodbye Lane is out of a Dash Ta Fame daughter – Stella is the product of “return to blood” inbreeding. That same breeding pattern has already won a BFA World Futurity Championship with High Cotton Lane and Paige Jones in 2018.
Stella’s landmark futurity victories so far include the Pink Buckle, Breeders Challenge, Glen Wood Memorial, Southwest Desert Classic, Red Rocket and Better Barrel Races World Finals. Her unofficial career futurity earnings stand at $400,730.
Hall has often said that Stella was God’s gift to her for having never lost her faith in Him when she tragically lost her multiple champion Dreaming Of Foose at the 2017 American Quarter Horse Association World Show.
“I thank God every day,” said Hall, after winning the Glen Wood Memorial. “She amazes me every run. Every run I come out shaking my head—she did it again. She’s just a phenomenal athlete. I feel me breeding her, the whole history behind her and her mother and everything that I went through, it’s just like the most satisfying thing. I’m just enjoying every minute of her.”
Ms French Walla Walla is another talented mare lifting the spirits of her connections with multiple futurity titles in 2021. From the first crop of the late champion performer The Kandyman, a son of former BFA Super Stakes Champion Famous Silk Panties, “Walla Walla” is out of French Streakin Izzy, by A Streak Of Fling.
Walla has the same trainer and rider as her sire and dam, Hallie Hanssen, who has an exceptional track record at the BFA. She won the BFA Juvenile in 2019 on JessWatchMeStreak, a son of French Streakin Jess, a full brother to French Streakin Izzy, and the 2008 BFA Derby on the late French StreakToVegas, another full sibling.
Like her ancestors, Walla has proven to like the Lazy E. She was a finalist in the BFA Juvenile and won the Ruby Buckle in Guthrie. Walla was also the VGBRA Sand Cup, Fizz Bomb and Blue Collar Breeders-Fizz Bomb futurity champion.
“There’s a lot of history there,” said Hanssen after winning the Sand Cup Futurity. “The Kandyman won Walla Walla. French Streakin Izzy placed really high in a round. And we were in Walla Walla when she was born. It all came full circle.”
The barrel racing power of Walla’s maternal line extends to a few other top BFA contenders through French StreakToVegas. Latricia Mundorf’s DM High Roller, out of Happy To Run Em, by Firewaterontherocks, is a multiple top 5 futurity finalist and the Ruby Buckle Salina Futurity Champion. The palomino stallion is also a multiple pro rodeo money earner.
“He’s a 4-year-old that’s taken everything I’ve thrown at him,” said Mundorf after winning the Ruby Buckle. “His mom was a barrel horse. His dad was a barrel horse. His granddad was a barrel horse. He just runs barrels.”
French StreakToVegas, sire of the 2020 leading futurity horse RV Two Dash Ta Vegas, is also the sire of WEC The Championship Show Futurity Champion Playing In Vegas, ridden by Jordan Harrell. The talented mare, out of Peppy PlayTari, by Ninas Peppy Doc, was a futurity finalist at the Old Fort Days Futurity but has really come on in the late summer and fall with impressive showings at the Breeders Challenge and Ardmore futurities.
“The way that horse turns is so unreal to me!” Harrell said after winning at the WEC. “It’s so different from anything else I’ve ever ridden!”
The French StreakToVegas juggernaut doesn’t end there. Old Fort Days Futurity Champion and multiple futurity finalist M R Smashed N Vegas, ridden by Jodee Miller, is also entered. M R Smashed N Vegas is out of the Big Smash mare Jamaka Smash, who was ridden by both Miller and her sister Jayme Miller Robison in their youth.
Other horses have a strong like for the Lazy E Arena. Like BFA Super Stakes Champion Sand In My Socks, ridden by Kassie Mowry. The daughter of BHR Frenchies Socks, out of the Tres Seis mare JC Pick Six, has been a multiple futurity finalist all season long.
Although he’s been out winning pro rodeos as a 4-year-old, Rock On Guys was the 2020 BFA Juvenile Reserve Champion and Super Stakes finalist. Owned, bred, trained and ridden by Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, Rock On Guys is by A Guy With Proof out of Vital Rock, by Firewaterontherocks.
Roses Roan Ranger, ridden by Sarah Rose Waguespack, is another 4-year-old multiple futurity finalist and pro rodeo winner competing at the BFA. The daughter of Blings Smooth Guy, a son of Waguespack’s great mare Fame Fling N Bling, is out of proven performer Brookstone Rose, by Brookstone Bay. She was also a finalist at the BFA Juvenile.
Multiple futurity champion Three Times The Fury, ridden by Tricia Aldridge, is looking for redemption at the Lazy E. The daughter of FuryOfTheWind, out of the Tres Seis mare Three And Out, was the 2020 OKC Slot Race Champion and has futurity wins at Come And Take It and Copper Spring Ranch.
Another FuryOfTheWind with a great recent showing at the Lazy E is Pop The Bubbly, ridden by Andrea Cline. The Dinero Dash Futurity Champion, out of the Dash Ta Fame mare Champagne Lane, was the Reserve Champion at the Pink Buckle Futurity, also held at the E.
“I call him an old lady horse because he’s easy to be around, easy to ride,” said Cline, after winning the Dinero Dash this past winter. “He’s a little grumpy at times, but overall, just very easy.”
Two multiple futurity champions out of National Finals Rodeo mares that are looking to add the big BFA crown to their list of accolades are Southern Rebel and Lucky Dog Futurity Champion Im So Sway (JL Dash Ta Heaven x Smooth My Credit x Cash Not Credit), ridden by Craig Brooks, and Kim Landry and Colorado Classic Futurity Champion Monsterr (Tres Seis x Rosas Cantina CC x Corona Cartel), ridden by Jenna Dominick.
Other futurity champions to watch for are Breeders Challenge Amateur Futurity Champion Look What Dyna Did (JL Dash Ta Heaven x Hy Talented Chick x Flaming Talent), ridden by her super senior rider Mary Beth Ogle, a past BFA Derby Champion; Glacier Chaser Classic Futurity Champion Fabulous JJ (Frenchmans Fabulous x J Quick Fame x Dash Ta Fame), Indiana Futurity Champion Handle The Pressure (No Pressure On Me x Vaqueros Aztec x Drifts Vaquero), Legends Of The South Futurity Champion Miss Rare Perks (Rare N Famous x Swingin Perks x Dash For Perks), Royal Crown Bryan Futurity Champion DTF Classey Chick (Dash Ta Fame x IndebtedMiss x Debt Relief); BBR Southern Territorial Futurity Champion Fame Fire Rocks (Firewaterontherocks x WR Red Fame x Dash Ta Fame), Run At The Rose Futurity Champion RV Brijett (Blazin Jetolena x DTF Mellowdoc x Dash Ta Fame), LGI Futurity Champion In Tha Beginning (JL Dash Ta Heaven x Chicados Bully x Chicados Cash), Dash N Dance Futurity Champion SC Dont Judge Me (Judge Cash x Tayter To The Top x Tres Seis), and Classic Equine Futurity Champion Escalating (Tres Seis x Kickin Escalation x Check Him Out).
Derby Young Guns
With the BFA Futurity limited to 4-year-olds only several of the season’s top 5-year-old futurity horses will compete in the $20,000-added Derby.
Since this summer, BS Born Ta Cash and Dollys StreakNBadger have gone back-and-forth. The waspy mare BS Born Ta Cash (Born Ta Be Famous x Sully x Judge Cash), ridden by DaCota Monk, won the Ardmore Futurity, Blue Collar Breeders and Cornhusker Futurities.
The stunning stallion Dollys StreakNBadger (A Streak Of Fling x TR Dashing Badger (“Dolly”) x Mr Illuminator), owned and ridden by Kyle Leleux, was right on their heels taking reserve championships at the Cornhusker and Ardmore futurities as well as at the Run At The Rose. This team captured the lucrative Royal Crown Futurity championship.
Greg Olson Memorial Futurity Champion VF NFL Draft (Eddie Stinson x Curiocity Corners x Silver Lucky Buck), ridden by Mark Bugni, was a finalist at the Pink Buckle Futurity at the Lazy E. The half-brother to Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Champion Perculatin (“Latte”) was also a finalist at the Breeders Challenge.
Another young, well-bred stallion making his mark with futurity championships and pro rodeo checks is RF Back For The Cash (Judge Cash x RC Black In Black x Ninety Nine Goldmine), ridden by Fonda Melby. RF Back For The Cash made his rodeo debut at RFD-TV’s The American Semifinals this past winter, won the Grid Iron and Minnesota futurities and spent the summer running at Great Lakes Circuit Rodeos.
