Chloe Gray rides Heavenly Red to coveted BBR World Finals Open 1D championship, while DaCota Monk wins third career BBR World Finals Futurity title thanks to Seis Martinis.
The 2025 edition of the Better Barrel Races World Finals was a sentimental one for anybody with a history of competing at the Jim Norick Arena inside the Coliseum at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds. Construction is underway for the new and improved OKC Fairgrounds Coliseum, and this year’s BBR World Finals was the last event to run through the famed Gateway of Champions alley.
With a whopping payout of over $900,000 and more than 1,500 contestants from 43 states and three different countries, the BBR sent the historic facility out with a bang.
Open 1D Champion Chloe Gray and Heavenly Red
Heavenly Red finally earned the big open championship that Chloe Gray knew the mare deserved, topping the BBR World Finals Open 1D with a blistering 15.059. The mare banked a total $16,089 at the event and added the coveted title to her resume.
“Seeing that time was such a feeling of relief and excitement. That mare is so deserving. I feel like she’s gotten some good wins, but she’s never gotten that really big ‘world champion’ win,” Gray said of the mare who’s earned close to $300,000 in EquiStat reported earnings. “She’s been so solid and consistent for me, and this was one of the last barrel races for the year before it’s just rodeos in our future after that, so I really wanted to make that count. I feel really grateful.”
The pair kicked their week off with a 15.444 in Barn 6 to finish 13th, worth $1,548. They followed it up with a 15.380 in the Coliseum, good for eighth and $2,135. Gray knew the pair could do better, though.
“I wanted to get a run in the Coliseum before the Finals. My second go shaped up better than the first and gave me a little confidence for the Finals. She still really clocked, and I felt like the final day, I really felt it. It was there, and I knew what I had to clean up. She was confident that day warming up, and I was very confident in her to get the job done,” Gray said.
In the Finals, “Karma” blazed a 15.059 to win the BBR World Finals for $12,406. Gray says the run felt as good as it looked.
“It was flawless. I wanted to sharpen up the backside of my first barrel, because that’s what cost us a few tenths in the second go when she bowed off it. I knew if I had a straight line to the second barrel and got around all three, we’d be pretty sharp. The first barrel was flawless, and the second was even sharper. When she runs angry, she really fires, and I knew when she turned the second with her ears back that she was angry. At the third, all I could think was, ‘Chloe, please don’t mess this up,’” Gray said with a laugh. “When she turned it, I mean she grazed it, and it stayed standing.”
Gray has had Karma in her barn since the mare’s first derby year as a 6-year-old. She now owns the mare in partnership with Godspeed Performance Horses. Karma was started on the barrels by Craig Brooks and lightly ran as a 5-year-old futurity horse, but Gray says her career really kicked off as a derby horse.
The mare’s turny style fits Gray well, and she says it was easy for her to sync up with Karma. Her spicy personality is also one of Gray’s favorite characteristics.
“She’s a little fiery ornery mare, and I just love her dearly. She’s a lot to handle, and she lives up to her name,” Gray said with a laugh.
The most meaningful part of winning the BBR World Finals for Gray is putting the Karma honor next to Karma’s name in her stats colum.
“It was very rewarding. We run all year and haul all year, so to be able to capture a big win like that makes me feel proud and grateful that my horse gets the recognition she deserves,” Gray humbly said. “That mare really deserves it, so that’s what it means to me. It’s the recognition for my horse and her ability.”
With big goals for a National Finals Rodeo qualification, the Yatesville, Georgia, barrel racer is hitting the rodeo road out West this summer, which is where her focus will turn with Karma. She thanked her team who help keep her entire operation running both at home and on the road and enable her to chase her dreams.
“Glory to God first and foremost — I’m so thankful he’s given me this opportunity and blessing to do what I love and be successful at it,” Gray said. “Also my friends and family; I have the best support team behind me that I could ever imagine. We have a lot going on at our house when I’m not there, and everyone really picks up the slack when I’m gone. Also thanks to Rob Bondurant; he’s partnered with me on Godspeed Performance Horses, so I owe him big. I’m very thankful to be Karma’s partner in crime.”
Gray thanked her sponsors Master Saddles, Ortho Equine, Boss Buckets, Thrive Equine, IF Brand Clothing, Morgan Dairy Performance Horses, Hangover Haynets, EquiFlow ReCellerate, EquiPride and EquiLix, Core Nutrition, Stride and Strength Chiropractic, and CSI Saddle Pads.
Futurity Champion DaCota Monk and Seis Martinis
DaCota Monk earned his third career BBR World Finals futurity title thanks to the efforts of 5-year-old mare Seis Martinis. The royally bred mare by EquiStat $9.6 million sire Tres Seis and out of Michelle Darling’s multiple rodeo champion and earner of more than $483,000 Morning Traffic collected a total of $12,013 in Oklahoma City.
“What’s so fun watching her and training her is it’s so easy for her, and she’s pretty doing it. It’s simple, and she’s just fast. When you watch her, you can tell she’s so serious. She’s got her mouth open and gritted, her ears back — she’s very serious about her job. After [the first runs of her career], she started hopping down the alley just like her mother, and ever since then she acts like she’s going down the Thomas and Mack alleyway,” Monk said with a laugh.
Monk and the mare posted a 15.697 in the first round of the BBR World Finals Futurity to finish fourth for $2,058. They won the second round with a beautiful run of 15.479, worth $3,705, plus $4,940 for winning the average in 31.176.
“I figured she was going to like the pen, because the ground’s deep, and she excels in the medium-sized arenas. I was excited about it,” Monk said. “The first round we did place, but I think I rode her a little reserved and she was a bit timid going up into the hole. I knew in Round Two that I needed to really push her. It seems like every horse that I’ve won [this futurity] on, we’ve rocked the third barrel on the backside, and she did exactly that. It stayed up, and when I saw the clock, it was insane.”
Originally bred by Darling and then owned by Chad Beus, “Marti Jane” got her start under colt starter Logon Jensen. After Jensen, Monk’s sister Brittainy Hill took her over to continue getting her more broke and ready for the barrels. Monk and Hill worked together training the mare and adapted their ways to fit how wanted to work.
“She was a bit weird on how she was wanting to work. We had to change up our training to match with her and figure out what was going to work for her,” Monk explained. “Brittainy and I bounced her back and forth for a bit and I took her over the beginning of her 4-year-old year. We already knew we were holding her as a 5-year-old, just taking our time with her and getting her real solid.”
Monk says once he and Marti Jane got on the same page, training came easily for her.
“Once I figured out her style and how I could get across to her what I wanted out of her, it pretty much came easy to her. Everything’s always simple,” said Monk, an EquiStat earner of nearly $1.2 million who got his start in cutting horses.
Marti Jane started her career in the OKC Futurity Slot Race in December, and while she was just out of placing, Monk knew the kind of horse he was sitting on. She started coming on strong in early spring and hasn’t looked back. The BBR World Finals Futurity was her first career futurity win and first win under the new ownership of bigtime cutting horse player and Monk’s friend Missy Jean Etheridge of Belle Terre Ranch.
“Missy’s daughter is in college running barrels now, and Missy turned one of her turnback horses into a barrel horse, so she’s been dabbling in it a little. She told me to keep an eye out for a superstar, so when this came about, it was perfect. We’re super excited about the transition,” Monk said.
Monk thanked both Marti Jane’s original owner Beus and current owner Etheridge for being great owners and clients.
He also added thanks to his sponsors: JW Brooks Custom Hat Company, P&P Custom Designs, Double X Veterinary, MVP, Wild Gold Omega3 Camelina Oil, Reata Equine Hospital, Hart Trailers, Classic Equine, L&W Bits, Caliber Equine LLC, Equilume, MJ Balm and Two Knotted Mares.
This article was originally published in the July 2025 issue of Barrel Horse News.
