Rodeo Daily

Lora Nichols and Blissful Version Earn Back-to-Back Titles in Arizona

The Arizona Legacy futurities in Buckeye saw top competition over the recent weekends.
Teal Stoll|
Kathy Grimes and KG Just Money
Kathy Grimes and KG Just Money | Kathy Grime

Although they have changed names and locations over the years, the "Arizona futurities," now held at Buckeye Equestrian and Events Center, are one of the main stops each year for barrel racing futurity competitors. Held over back-to-back weekends, the two events had a total of $22,000 in added money.

Between the past two weekends and last year's champions, we saw many familiar names back to defend their titles.

Futurity

Ashton Jones and MBC Special Goodbye topped Round 1 of the futurity with a 17.379. In Round 2, Stormi Cruzan and MBH Famous Seis topped the leaderboard with a 17.326.

Jones and MBC Special Goodbye rode consistency all the way to the Futurity Championship, finishing fourth in Round 2. They claimed the Average win and banked roughly $4,700 in futurity earnings.

Another consistent duo, Loralee Ward and Dark Honey, are the Reserve Champions for both 2026 Arizona Legacy futurities. At the Kahoots, they finished third in Round 1 with a 17.548 and third in Round 2 with a 17.351. Ward also placed fourth in Round 1 on Flores Y Fiesta.

Derby

Lora Nichols and Blissful Version added a second Derby win to their resume, less than 10 days into 2026. The duo has a great history with the Arizona Legacy events, as Nichols and "Buddy," were the Reserve Champions and Champions of the two events in 2025, during Buddy's futurity year.

This year, Nichols and Buddy topped Round 1 with a 17.273. They finished second in Round 2 with a 17.180 and claimed the Average win.

Hot Rod

Kathy Grimes and KG Just Money are kicking off their derby year as well, and the highest money-earning futurity duo of 2025 claimed the 1D win with a 17.040.

Ward earned two checks in the Hot Rod, one aboard Epic Moonshine for second in the 1D and another for first in the 2D riding Dark Honey.

Nichols claimed third in the 1D, riding Blissful Version. She also took home the 4D win on her 2026 futurity colt, Tres Kandybars.

Boss

Another high-paying sidepot, the Boss had several repeat winners from the previous weekend, as well. Nichols and Blissful Version topped the sidepot. Youth rider Tabitha Dyal jockeyed her way to four of the top six times in the 1D, riding both Slym Shady and Promise Me Fame Guys.

Open

Kathy Grimes and KG Just Money won the Open 1D on Friday with their speedy 17.040. Grimes and "Showie," were back strong on Saturday, winning the 1D again with a 16.937. Ward, Nichols, and Jones added to their futurity and derby winnings with Open checks on Friday and Saturday.

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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.

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