Ruby Buckle writes checks for over $1.1 million at Central Regional Race in Guthrie, Oklahoma, from April 22-28.
In just four years after its inaugural race, the 2024 Ruby Buckle Central Regional Race boasted record breaking entries as barrel racers from across the country gathered at the Lazy E for a week of barrel racing, a horse sale, and this year, even a tornado or two.
For 2024 only, first-time Ruby Buckle attendees have the opportunity to enroll a previously ineligible horse because of missed payments into the Ruby Buckle Plus program and run in the $35,000 guaranteed “Rookie Ruby” race.
Limited to offspring of the 150 participating Ruby Buckle stallions enrolled in the lucrative stallion incentive, the Ruby Buckle pays out a guaranteed $1.1 million at each of the three regional races throughout the year.
The Central Regional Race boasted the Ruby Buckle Stallion Owners Select Sale held on April 25, 2024, where sales grossed $920,000 of elite Ruby Buckle eligible prospects and barrel horses.
Alley’s Arena Record: Futurity and Open Champion Michelle Alley and Lipstick N Stilletos
Before professional barrel racer Michelle Alley of Madisonville, Texas, and futurity standout Lipstick N Stilletos were setting arena records and winning futurities left and right, Alley could be found on the back of “Stilleto’s” dam, Seis Caress, who Alley amassed more than $235,000 in Equistat recorded earnings at futurities and Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association rodeos.
Originally from South Dakota, Alley grew up training and riding barrel horses, several of which were off the racetrack, which is how she initially acquired an own daughter of Tres Seis that would change the trajectory of her life.
“When I was rodeoing on Seis Caress, also known as “Saucy”, I hit a barrel at Austin to make the finals. I knew she was ready to breed at the time, so I drove her straight to the vet clinic to flush her. It was successful the first try, and that’s how I got Stilleto. She is her only foal because at the time, I was just focused on competing on Saucy to try and make the finals, which she was so close to several times,” Alley said.
Alley explained that during the uncertainty of COVID in 2020, she sold the filly to her good friend Heather Moeller, who agreed to let Alley train and futurity the first baby out of Saucy.
“Stilleto is her dam made over again; they have a very similar style and similar characteristics and mannerisms. But, I also feel like RR Mistakelly complimented Saucy’s confirmation perfectly. I chose to breed her to Mister because I got to be around him his futurity year under Brandon Cullins, and I just really felt like he had a special presence about him. I loved to watch him run barrels,” Alley said.
Alley stole the show at Guthrie, Oklahoma, whenever her and the four-year-old mare broke the arena record running a 16.476 that was previously set by MJ Segers Fast Lane and Brandon Cullins at the 2023 Pink Buckle with a 16.521.
“The week before, I had won the first round of the Diamond Classic Futurity, but my reins flipped over her head in the second round. As much as I want to be discouraged after something like that happens, I don’t let a bad run affect my mental game for the next run. I stayed confident in what I was doing, and I didn’t make any major changes. My aunt always used to say “the best is yet to come”, and I just always try and keep that in the back of my mind instead of dwelling on a less than ideal run.”
Alley backed it up in the second round to have an average time of 33.615 on two runs to secure the Ruby Buckle Futurity and Open Championships earning $55,000 in total earnings throughout the week.
Now retired from the arena herself, Alley flushed two more embryos out of Saucy to RR Mistakelly this spring in hopes of having full siblings to Stilleto.
“If everything goes well and they are successful, I plan to keep one and sell the other,” Alley said. “Owning a mare that not only won as much as Saucy did herself, but is now proving herself to be a great producer is such a dream come true. ”
Alley has plans to finish out Stilleto’s futurity year at the major futurities as well as some PRCA rodeos, in hopes to win enough in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association standings this year to get into the major winter building rodeos next year.
Alley thanks her friends, family, and sponsors: Nutrena Feed Simply Equine & K9, Lone Star Equine Sports Medicine, Equine Health Solutions, Succeed Equine, Zesterra by Pro Earth Animal Health, D Bar D Equine Dentistry, Bill Fick Ford, ACE Tack and Tee’s, ECOGOLD – Equestrian Textile Engineering, Performance Stall Mats, Silver Horse Care, HorseWellco, Kim Gillespie, Double X Veterinary Services, and RenoVo Amnio Solutions.
Guess Who’s Back, Back Again: Derby and Open Reserve Champion Danyelle Campbell and Return Of The Mac
After already proving himself as a standout futurity horse in 2021 by winning both the Barrel Futurities of America Futurity and the Oklahoma City Futurity back to back, Return Of The Mac also known as “Creed” owned by FC Ranch and professional futurity barrel horse trainer Danyelle Campbell have continued their winning ways together well into the seven-year-old gelding’s derby years.
Campbell grew up in California and Utah training primarily barrel horses that were racehorses off the track. She also worked for several cutting horse trainers whom she learned from.
Racehorse bloodlines still have a prominent influence on her breeding and training program today, whom she centers greatly around her once-in-a-lifetime mare, Repete Fame. Repete Fame carried Campbell to the NFR three different times and has EquiStat reported earnings of $159,940. She has also produced more than $276,800 in EquiStat reported earnings among her offspring.
After deciding to train futurity barrel horses full time for the public, Campbell relocated to Texas, where she now resides in Millsap, Texas.
“My parents played a big role in supporting me training barrel horses professionally, which I am extremely grateful for looking back at when they steered me in that direction. This is a hard profession with many ups and downs. It is feast and famine, but very few people can say they get to earn a living doing what they love,” Campbell explained.
Campbell is successfully making a living in Texas training winning futurity barrel and derby horses like Creed.
“He is a great horse that proves over and over that he has what it takes to be a winner, even if I don’t always show up to do my part as a jockey. The more runs he makes, the sharper he gets, and after he placed fourth in the second round of the Diamond Classic derby, that momentum just carried us right into the Ruby Buckle,” Campbell said.
Campbell and Creed ran a more than respectable 16.895 in the first round to place in the derby and the open. However, it was their 16.721 in round two that topped the 1D conversation of the derby and the open, securing their Ruby Buckle Derby Average Championship and Open Reserve Championship with a 33.616 on two runs.
The dynamic duo earned more than $37,000 for long-time clients of Campbell, FC Ranch, of Alex, Oklahoma.
“Loyal owners that trust you to do what is best for the horse and trust the process are really important. I have been riding for FC Ranch for seven years now, and we have had a lot of successful horses together,” Campbell said.
Campbell thanks her veterinarian, Dr. Chad Marsh, DVM, of Equine Sports Medicine and Surgery, for helping keep her horses feeling 100%, as well as Kerry Kelley Bits and Spurs. She also thanks her friends, family, and owners for their support of her program.
Catch Me If You Kan: Sale Graduate Incentive Champion Dustin Angelle and Swingers Kandy
Professional futurity horse barrel trainer Dustin Angelle of Robert, Louisiana, and Swingers Kandy owned by Southwestern Farms aren’t the first team out of the blue hen producing mare Hip Swingin Gypsy to be in the winner’s circle at Lazy E.
After a more than successful career as a barrel horse herself winning $106,988 with Pete Oen, Hip Swingin Gypsy’s progeny have EquiStat earnings in excess of $686,485, including the 2022 Pink Buckle Futurity Champion, Benjamin Beall and Slick Swingin who is sired by Slick By Design and owned by Ashley Harvey.
The long-time partnership since 2016 between Angelle and Southwestern Farms has proven to be a profitable one throughout the years.
“I typically keep seven or eight horses in training at a time for Southwestern Farms. Last year at the Ruby Buckle Sale, they asked if there was anything that caught my eye in the sale. I liked the style of the Kandyman’s colts, and I loved Hip Swingin Gypsy when Pete was riding and winning on her. We got “Swagger” bought out of the sale, and he’s just been a great horse for us from the beginning,” Angelle explained.
Like Alley and Campbell, Louisiana native Angelle also got his start training barrel horses that were originally off the track. He also worked for several cutting horse trainers in which the learning principles he still uses in his program today, like having his colts started by a cow horse trainer.
“I always knew that colt was really talented, he clocked some great times on the stakes at exhibitions as a three-year-old. He placed in the OKC Futurity Slot Race, and I just have trusted the process of building his confidence throughout the futurity year thus far,” Angelle said.
Angelle explained that as a trainer, he places great emphasis on each horse as an individual and letting them have their own style.
“Swagger’s style is more of a stiffer, roll-back style, but it’s his most efficient way. I meet him in the middle because he wins,” Angelle explained. “Plus, he is just so fast in a straight line, and that is a huge advantage for him, especially in a bigger pen like Lazy E.”
Angelle and Swagger shut the clock off with an impressive 16.740 to place second in both the futurity and open. The dynamic duo backed it up in the second round to win both rounds and the average of the Ruby Buckle Sale Graduate Incentive. They also placed third in the futurity average and in the top ten of the open average earning over $41,000 in total earnings for the week.
“We don’t run on any standards back home, so when preparing for the Pink and Ruby Buckle races on a standard pattern, I really focus on slowing my timing and reaction time down when jockeying. My main goal is maintaining forward motion through the turns,” Angelle explained. “I felt like he didn’t have a perfect run even when he ran 16.7 on the standard, so that was kind of cool to see his raw ability and potential. We are very excited for his future.”
Not only did Swagger prove himself as a winning barrel horse, but his confidence and kind, willing, demeanor out of the arena also play a role in making him a stallion prospect for Southwestern Farms.
“With the main focus being winning his futurity year, Swagger will stand for the first time in 2025. Both Southwestern Farms and I plan to breed mares to him, and he will stand to a limited book of outside mares,” Angelle said.
Angelle thanks his support system, Dr. Clay Espey, DVM, of Kleinpeter Equine as well as Kathleen Daigle. Angelle also thanks his sponsors: 3S Custom Equine, Nutrena, Stierwalt Superflex, XLR8 Equine, Driven PCR, and Gallagher Water.
This article was originally published in the July 2024 issue of Barrel Horse News.
