Yates, a four-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, rode her 7-year-old gelding Fiesta Del Rey, aka “Wizzard,” out of her great mare Firewater Fiesta that took her to three of her WNFR trips, to the top stop for the evening. 
“My run felt awesome,” said Yates, whose only other rodeo competition this winter has been at Denver. “I just tried to hang on and stay out of his way. Sometimes when you’ve trained a horse, it’s hard to make that transition from helping them to letting them work on their own but he didn’t need much help from me tonight other than to stay out of his way.”
Yates placed fifth in the semi finals at Fort Worth on Wizzard last year and narrowly missed advancing to the Short Go. Other than Fort Worth, she’s entered in Belton and San Angelo for upcoming rodeos. “I just enter when I want to and go to where I want to and don’t intend to burn up the road with Wizzard.”
After placing at Fort Worth, Houston and Guymon in 2012, Wizzard got a long rest after getting hurt in June and basically made very few runs until the AQHA World Show in November. Yates is proud that she entered the Quarter Horse Shows while she was at Denver and already has Wizzard qualified for the 2013 AQHA World Show.
8th Performance, Monday night, Jan. 28, 2013, 7:30 p.m.
Kelly Yates, 16.54
Lisa Lockhart, 16.64
Ryan Ivy, 16.89
Ivy Hurst, 17.14
Debby Green, 19.47
Liz Combs, 21.94
Kelly Kaminski, 22.45
Kendra Honeyfield, 29.12
Jennifer Barron, 37.22
