Rodeo Daily

Father and Son Duo Bag 2025 AQHA Senior Heading and Heeling World Championships

Rodeo is a family sport for many and this pair is taking home matching golden globes in 2025.
Teal Stoll|
Trey Yates heeling
Trey Yates heeling | Yfat Yossifor / San Angelo Standard-Times

While skills with a rope may not be genetic, team roping is a family affair for the Yates' of Colorado. At the recent AQHA World Show, father and son duo J.D. and Trey both earned Senior World Championships. For J.D., the win came on the heading side and Trey earned his in the heeling.

J.D. Yates and Smooth As Catty

The 2025 win marked Yates' 49th AQHA World Championship. With a 230-point run, the pair earned the golden globe and $25,537.

Smooth As Catty is a 2018 gelding by Real Smooth Cat and out of Shes A Catty Lady by Cowboy Cattylac. The bay began as a cowhorse, but it simply was not the right fit. Now owned by Phil and Sherri Tearney, Smooth As Catty has been brought along steadily in the heading by Yates.

Although Smooth As Catty did not find his way to the winner's circle at his first two AQHA World Shows, Yates continued to develop the horse. His belief in the talented gelding paid off in a huge way this year, with one of the most coveted wins in roping.

Yates has had an incredible career in his own right, becoming a legend of the sport. One of his greatest talents is bringing along some of the best rope horses in the industry. Clint Summers' AQHA Head Horse of the Year, Mr Joes Shadow Bar, is one of those standouts.

Trey Yates and Pablos Time

With a record-breaking run in the Senior Heeling, it was truly "Pablos Time." Trey Yates and the 10-year-old gelding marked 236 points, setting a new AQHA World Show record. The duo also banked $29,412 and earned a golden globe to match J.D.'s 2025 trophy.

Roping with Chad Masters at the AQHA World Show, Yates was able to showcase the gelding's incredible talent. Sired by One Time Pepto (progeny earnings $23 million and counting), Pablos Time was an unchallenged choice for the win - he scored the highest on every judge's score card in the short round. The win marks Yates' second AQHA World Championship.

Owned by Yates, Pablos Time has carried friends and family to huge wins since joining Yates' team a few years prior. Yates is headed to his fourth National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in just a few weeks and we will all be waiting to see if Pablo gets to make a run under the bright lights of the Thomas and Mack.

J.D. and Trey competed alongside one another at the event, where they were also joined by J.D.'s father and Trey's grandfather, Dick. It was truly a family affair and full-circle moment for the Yates family.

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Teal Stoll
TEAL STOLL

Teal Stoll is a lifelong Wyomingite from a working ranch family of several generations. Both sides of her family have deep roots in rodeo, as contestants and stock contractors. Teal grew up horseback and actively competes in rodeos and barrel races. She has degrees in both business and accounting, which she uses operating her own bookkeeping service. Teal enjoys spending time with her horses, training colts, and maintaining her string of athletes. When she isn’t at the barn, she can be found reading, doing yoga, or on her paddle board at the lake. Teal lives with her fiancee and a plethora of animals, because she can’t say no to a displaced critter with a sad story. When she isn’t on the road running barrels, she spends her time helping with day to day operations on the family ranch.