Top Rodeo Horses Battle It Out at Ruby Buckle West in South Jordan

Ruby Buckle West is one of four annual "Buckle" events, some of the most lucrative stallion incentive aged events of the entire year. The futurity and derby kicked off the week, with many familiar names from professional rodeo earning titles.

Futurity

Ceri Ward has put together an incredible futurity season so far with five-year-old Flinging Goodbyes, sired by The Goodbye Lane and out of the NFR-qualifying A Streak Of Fling daughter, Blue Moon Fling. Ward and "Piper" topped Round 1 with a wicked 15.835, taking the win by over a tenth of a second.

The pair finished as Ruby Buckle West Futurity Reserve Champions, pocketing nearly $26,000 in futurity earnings alone. According to QData, as of June 27, 2026, Piper had amassed $236,952 in lifetime earnings. This number is not fully up to date, but with just the addition of Ruby Buckle earnings, the mare has surpassed $250,000 in earnings in just over six months of competition.

Topping Round 2 and the Average was CT Delight and DaCota Monk. Owned by NFR barrel racer Carlee Otero, "Fancy" is a daughter of Traffic Guy out of Our Genuine Delight by Dash Ta Fame.

Otero purchased the five-year-old mare in March, and Fancy's Ruby Buckle win officially pushed her over the $100,000 mark in lifetime earnings, according to a social media post by Monk.

The duo clocked a lightning-fast 15.726 in Round 2, the fastest run of the event so far. Combined with a 16.056 from Round 1, the pair topped the Average and banked a whopping $35,500 in futurity earnings.

While much of the focus in stallion incentive races often falls on the sire, another pattern is clear when looking at the Ruby Buckle results. Multiple NFR mares produced 1D money earners at the event, including CFour Tibbie Stinson and RF Firefly.

Derby

It was a battle of the best in the Ruby Buckle Derby, with three of the hottest horses in professional rodeo making a clean sweep of the event. With so many major rodeos happening out West in June, it was perfect timing for barrel racers to double down and hit huge paydays.

In Round 1, Michelle Alley and Lipstick N Stilletos (RR Mistakelly x Seis Caress x Tres Seis) clocked in at 15.962 seconds to claim the $7,812 victory. The pair added substantially more to that number with carryovers throughout the week.

Emily Beisel won Round 2 aboard Dashing Olie (The Red Dasher x Fire Water Flame x Fire Water Flit) with a 15.942, narrowly edging out Kassie Mowry and Force The Goodbye.

"She's baaaaaack," is all we could think when Kassie Mowry and her great gelding Force The Goodbye came down the alleyway in South Jordan.

Mowry and "Jarvis" (The Goodbye Lane x VF Forcit First x Burrs First Down) clocked a 16.021 in Round 1, followed by a 15.959 in Round 2 to claim the Average Championship. The reigning WPRA World Champion added another $23,281 to her earnings with the win. That number will grow even more throughout the weekend, with Open and other sidepot checks to come.

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