Standout Youth Jockey Set to Team up with Top 2025 Barrel Futurity Horse

Long-time barrel horse trainer, Lora Nichols, had an incredible 2025 futurity season with her consistent winner, Blissful Version. The 2020 gelding by $8.8 million sire, Winners Version, and out of Brookstone Bay daughter, Blissful Bay, was rock solid throughout the entire year.

The duo captured countless round wins, futurity championships, and rarely made a mistake in their breakout season. In a recent interview with Burns Events, Nichols shared that she has only ever hit two barrels on the talented gelding.

Bred by A&C Racing and Roping, "Buddy" joined Nichols' team as a coming two-year-old and came up through the ranks in her program. An impressive feat for a futurity horse, he finished 2025 as the No. 10 overall highest money-earning barrel horse, with $303,389 in earnings.

A New Chapter

Now boasting over $375,000 in officially recorded earnings, the speedy superstar will be teaming up with a new jockey in 2026.

Youth rider, Tabitha Dyal, has been building an impressive string of top-level horses over the past few years. In 2024, she claimed the WPRA Finals Junior Championship aboard Latte Ditto, the clone of Mary Walker's World Champion, Perkulatin.

When Teton Ridge began selling off their elite herd of horses, the Dyal family added another standout: Promise Me Fame Guys. "Levee" carried Lisa Lockhart to multiple professional rodeo wins, National Finals Rodeo qualifications, and a $100,000 win at the 2023 American Rodeo.

With $876,253 in lifetime earnings, per QData, Levee has continued his winning ways with young Tabitha. At just 10 years old, the tiny jockey has captured multiple wins with Levee, Ditto, and her palomino standout, Slym Shady.

In July 2026, she will take over the reins on another great horse. Nichols said that Dyal is "getting pretty itchy to get on him, of course."

We cannot blame her. While Nichols makes it look far more effortless than it is to ride and turn at top speed, Blissful Version looks like the kind of horse any competitor with a need for speed would want to swing a leg over.

For Nichols, the transition is understandably bittersweet. She shared, "I'm going to be sad, but the sky is the limit for her."

Earning an impressive $10,496 at the recent Xtreme Barrel Race in Cedar City, Utah, Nichols earned the MVP title for the event. At three Xtreme races so far in 2026, she has banked $35,248. With numerous futurity and derby titles together, Nichols and Buddy's chapter has been a remarkable one.

We cannot wait to see the ride he takes his new jockey on, as it is sure to be a great one.