Ashley Schafer wins Pink Buckle Futurity on Fiesta By Design, while Kelly Bowser earns Derby, Open and Open Sale Grad titles aboard Quarento Tres and Mariah Earles takes Amateur Futurity and Sale Grad Futurity honors.
The annual Pink Buckle Barrel Race brought a whopping $4.105 million guaranteed payout to the beautiful Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, from October 6–13, making it a can’t-miss event for barrel racers in all facets of the industry with a nominated horse. From the heavy hitters of the Futurity, Derby and Open 1D, to the young riders in the Youth, to the Amateur Futurity competitors and Open divisional riders, everyone had a shot at potentially life-changing money.
New this year, the Young Guns League also offered up-and-coming sires a separate event for their offspring to run only against each other. A $250,000 2D Futurity and $250,000 2D Derby showcased Young Guns sires’ progeny — offspring of enrolled stallions with their oldest foal crop 8 years old and younger.
Held as separate go-rounds prior to Pink Buckle rounds, two Young Guns-enrolled stallions took top honors. Sidnei Pereina Da Silva Jr rode 2015 stallion EF Eurus Ta Fame (Dash Ta Fame x EF Brahma Brown x EF Shady Brown) to a 33.956 on two (16.925, 17.031) to win the Derby for $21,269 as well as winning both rounds for two checks of $10,313. Fan-favorite 2020 stallion Adios Pantalones (Tres Seis x French Bar Belle x Frenchmans Guy) won the Futurity for $20,625 with owner Tricia Aldridge on board with a 34.175 on two (17.065, 17.110).
Futurity Champion Ashley Schafer and Fiesta By Design
Fiesta By Design put together a performance at the Pink Buckle that owner and rider Ashley Schafer can only describe as divine. The 5-year-old gelding raised and trained by Ashley along with her husband Seth Schafer won the Pink Buckle Futurity and also finished third in the Open 1D average.
“Mitch” added a total $146,188 to his earnings column, with $116,950 of that in owner earnings for Ashley and Seth.
The Pink Buckle victory is meaningful to Ashley and Seth not just because Mitch is special to them, but because it came at a time when they relied on their faith in God.
“We are so grateful for God’s timing in this financial blessing, as it came at a time of need. God is good, all the time. We depend on Him daily and He is always there to see us through,” Ashley said with gratitude.
The title marked Ashley’s first Pink Buckle Futurity title — she won the Open in 2019 — and the gelding’s first futurity championship, though he’s won go-rounds at the Royal Crown and Fizz Bomb and placed in the average at several events this year.
“He’s had a lot of things go wrong — last October we found he had OCDs, so we did surgery in December and he was off until the end of March. He got sick in June out in Utah and was off until September. He’s had setbacks all year, and even with missing so many futurities, he’s still won rounds and held his own for as green as he was,” Ashley said. “I wasn’t surprised [that he won the Pink Buckle], but I was still really emotional about it, because I was so happy for it to finally come together. I’m just so grateful.”
The kind and personable gelding’s first run at the Pink Buckle was the talk of the town after a smooth, effortless 16.732 on the Lazy E’s standard pattern won the first round of the Futurity for a total $35,000. Mitch pulled through again with a 17.003 in the second round to finish 10th for $5,250 and seal the $70,000 average title — $56,000 of that in owner earnings.
Ashley, an EquiStat earner in excess of $2 million, admitted she battled nerves before the second round, especially in the hour leading up to the run.
“I did get nervous, mostly because I know he’s the kind to win it, and it hadn’t come together yet for us to win a futurity. I had a feeling that it was his time. I felt like the cards aligned, and the good Lord was blessing us with it at a special time, so I didn’t want to mess it up,” Ashley said. “Mitch really looks to me for approval and confidence, so I had to be confident. The first round, being top of the ground, I was trying to win it. The second round, bottom of the ground, I was just going to be smooth. I didn’t want to be overconfident and send him so hard that he slipped into a barrel or fell down, but I had to be confident enough to go in there and do it again.”
While the world witnessed Mitch’s effortless athleticism on center stage in Guthrie, his ability has been apparent to Ashley since he was a baby playing with his friends in the pasture.
“He was raised in a pasture with four or five geldings, and they are all bred really well to run barrels. I remember watching him from the arena and being blown away by how fast he was. I’d watch all those horses run, and he would be clear out in front of them several lengths, like he was loping, and you could tell they were sprinting. It was so effortless for him,” Ashley recounted. “But, there is such a thing as too fast, so I don’t get too excited about a horse just being fast.”
Mitch was certainly bred to be as talented as he is — by Highpoint Performance Horses’ $7.2 million sire Slick By Design, he’s out of HP Fiesta Fame, a daughter of Dash Ta Fame that Ashley trained and campaigned for Highpoint to place at several futurities in 2018 before she sold during her derby years. Jason Martin and Charlie Cole of Highpoint gave the Schafers an embryo out of the mare, and they chose “Slick.”
Ashley says she knew Mitch was special the first week she started riding him after Seth broke him as a 2-year-old.
“He took the lightest amount of pressure possible, he always said ‘yes,’ and he felt everything I did,” she said. “He was so instant to give to pressure. That is my absolute favorite thing. We can train these horses, but that kind of lightness is not trained into a horse. He had that naturally, and when you put that with the kind of speed he has, you have something special, because they can utilize their speed and react to your cues very quickly, without any hesitation. The most special horses I’ve ever ridden have all been like that. Incredible speed and incredible feel.”
She added a heartfelt thank-you to Mitch’s breeders Jason Martin and Charlie Cole of Highpoint Performance Horses. She also thanked her husband Seth for his hard work behind the scenes breaking colts, shoeing her horses and assisting in her training process by helping ride Mitch and others as needed.
“There’s way too many people who have played a part in Mitch to thank, but Jason and Charlie basically gave him to us, and Mitch is such a blessing to our family,” Ashley said with emotion. “Seth does so many little things that nobody sees that help me, and he’s such a hand and so good at sharpening those little buttons. Not to mention he is Super Dad, too. I’m so grateful and blessed. The Lord can be so personal to so many people, and he meets us where we are and meets our needs.”
Fans of Mitch can watch his entire training process on betweenthereins.us, an educational barrel racing training video platform founded by Ashley, Jolene Montgomery and Joy Wargo.
She also thanked sponsors Classic Equine, Martin Saddlery, Forco, Summit, Equi-Boss, Schoneberg Performance Bits, MVP and Between the Reins.
Derby, Open and Open Sale Grad Champion Kelly Bowser and Quarento Tres
Kelly Bowser earned the biggest win of his already successful career as a barrel horse trainer with the Pink Buckle Derby, Open 1D and Sale Grad Open 1D average championships, all thanks to the special gelding Quarento Tres.
Owned by Bowser’s clients and friends Chad and Mandi West, “Opie” added a whopping total of $146,647 to his lifetime earnings.
Bowser has had many successful horses come through his hands as an EquiStat earner in excess of $500,000 and the 2022 All American Quarter Horse Congress champion and the 1994 American Quarter Horse Association World Champion. He says the Pink Buckle win is by far the biggest of his lifetime, in both money won and prestige.
“You can’t imagine. It’s the best feeling,” Bowser humbly said. “Two weeks later at the Congress, people were still telling me congratulations, and you just don’t get enough of it. It feels great every time. I texted Chad about a week later and said, ‘It’s still sinking in, buddy!’ And he said, ‘Me too.’ Two years ago I won the Congress and thought that was the biggest deal ever, but the Pink Buckle is like the Super Bowl.”
Opie was spot-on in Guthrie. A 16.781 placed third in the first round of the Derby for $12,925 and fourth in the first round of the Open for $7,734. Consistency paid in the second round with a 16.717, worth $16,450 for second in the Derby and another $7,734 for third in the Open.
“He was fast,” Bowser said with a laugh. “I went in pretty confident my first round. He was getting nervous, and the lady before me, her horse was getting nervous, and we stood next to each other because they needed buddies, and we got to be friends. He got a little close going into first and rocked it. I went to second and thought I was too close and rocked it, but he turned it so I was all excited and pumped up. The second round, I usually don’t get nervous, but I was nervous about 15 horses out. But when I gathered my reins up to run, everything just went away. I just had to do my best and go home smiling.”
The Bowser and West camps were all smiles indeed — an aggregate 33.498 won the Derby average for $47,000, the Open average for $30,078 and the Open 1D Sale Grad Incentive average for $14,063.
“Before the Pink Buckle, his lifetime earnings were about $87,000. Chad was telling me now he’s over $200,000, so he’s really excited about that. When Mandi flew down for Congress, she told me and my wife Danielle that of all the bad decisions we’ve made, Opie made up for all of them,” Bowser said with a laugh. “When Chad had him home, he said ‘It’s not that I dread going out and feeding other horses, but when he’s here, I love going out there.’ That’s the best horse they’ve had.”
The Swanton, Ohio, trainer first rode for the Wests about 15 years ago. He started riding for them again several years ago before Opie entered their lives. The gelding’s very first run as a 3-year-old earned a $35,000 paycheck for second in the 2022 Barrel Futurities of America SuperStakes slot race. He continued to do well and made the Old Fort Days Futurity Finals before the Bowsers discovered he was suffering from Lyme disease. Antibiotics and regular preventive treatment keep him on course, and Opie’s never looked back.
Bowser says Opie’s kind, loving personality and try-hard attitude are what set him apart as a winner.
“It’s his personality. He tries to do the best he can, run the hardest and turn as hard as he can for me. When we come out, he’s really excited, and it’s like he looks to me like, ‘Did we do good?’ He wants to do good for you all the time, and when you pet them and love on them, they realize they did good,” Bowser said. “You could set a kid on him. He’s just a good boy, all the time. You go to his paddock to get him, and he walks up to you. Most of ours are like that — I think if you show them love, they want to come to you, try harder and want to do good for you.”
Bowser thanked the Wests as well as the Pink Buckle for the opportunity.
“I also want to say hello to my peewee buddies around home. There’s a 10-and-under, and me and my wife love watching the peewee riders and helping them out,” he added.
Amateur and Sale Grad Futurity Champion Mariah Earles and Cfour Lil Rickie G
An unplanned purchase of Cfour Lil Rickie G at the 2021 Pink Buckle Sale led to life-changing wins for Mariah Earles at the 2024 Pink Buckle Futurity. The duo won the Amateur Futurity and Sale Grad Futurity for total Pink Buckle earnings of $88,840, plus a $70,000 bonus check from 70 Ranch Performance Horses for winning their incentive for riding a horse by one of their stallions and having a 2025 contract to a 70 Ranch stallion.
“That is life-changing money for me,” Earles said. “I keep track of everything she wins, and the first big check she won last year was for $2,916, and I was ecstatic. At the time, that was the most money I had ever won. This is 100% our biggest win. It’s very humbling and very exciting. I never imagined she’d win that much, so when the total came in, it was like, oh my gosh, she did this.”
Bred and started by noted futurity trainer Kelly Conrado, “Rickie” was easy for Earles to go on with and a natural on the pattern.
“She was a dream to train. I give Kelly all the credit for doing the hardest part; he put a really solid foundation on her,” Earles said. “When I got her, it was a breeze to transition. One day I walked her through the pattern, and I knew she was different. The desire and the drive to run barrels was there. I’ve never had a horse that just felt like this is what they were meant to do.”
At the Pink Buckle, the pair started strong with a 17.171 in the first go for second in the Amateur Futurity and $4,000 and first in the Sale Grad Futurity for $7,500. Another 17.194 won the second round of the Amateur for $6,000 and finished second in the Sale Grad for $5,000. An average of 34.365 sealed the deal in the Amateur for $12,000 and the Sale Grad for $15,000.
“When she laid down two 17.1s, I was beyond ecstatic, because I didn’t care how she did, I just wanted to make a good clean run. She far exceeded my expectations. The Pink Buckle was a goal, and it shows if you set your mind to something and focus on it and reach for it, you can achieve it,” Earles said.
Earles, of Clyde, Texas, left her career as a SCADA technician for an oil and gas company in 2021 to pursue riding and training horses full time. She says her success at the Pink Buckle was humbling and meaningful to see her hard work and dreams come to fruition on a big stage.
“I have idolized and looked up to some of these people I was running against my entire life. To go out there and compete with them and her putting up some of the same times on the board was just incredible. It was very exciting to see that I actually have a horse who does have the talent and capability and is still getting better,” she said. “We’ve all had moments or slivers of doubt where you question, ‘Is this what God wants me to do?’ It was so incredible, because it made me feel like I can do this. It put all the pieces into place from the times when I felt like giving up.”
She thanked her husband Pat Earles, her mom Dana Steward, vet Dr. Randy Lewis, DVM, farrier Wiley McMurtery, chiropractor Robbie Stidham and best friend Kimberly Speight.
This article was originally published in the December 2024 issue of Barrel Horse News.
