CLAREMORE, Okla. – Brittany Pozzi knows a little something about horsepower. She’s a two-time world champion barrel racer who used three great horses to win the gold buckle last season.
On Sunday night, the Victoria, Texas, cowgirl rode Yeah Hes Firen to a 17.70-second run on the final performance of the Will Rogers Stampede to finish in third place. But how fast is the horse known as Duke?
The 7-year-old gelding out of Splendid Discovery out of Alive N Firen slipped on a turn around a barrel and still finished just 13-100ths of a second out of first place. Not too bad for a horse that hasn’t been run that much this season.
“I ran him two weeks ago, and he was pretty rusty,” said Pozzi, a six-time qualifier to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. “Tonight he smoked three barrels, and he felt good even though he slipped.”
Pozzi collected a check worth $1,144 in Claremore and has earned more than $61,000 so far this season. Susan Kay Smith of Hodgen, Okla., won the event with a 17.57, earning $1,601, while Jessi Eagleberger of Stringtown, Okla., finished at 17.67 for third and $1,372. But the champ’s win in northeastern Oklahoma is a little help en route to defending her 2009 title in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association, the sanctioning body for barrel racing in ProRodeo.
“I’m not really going to defend anything, because rodeo doesn’t work like that,” she said. “I’ve focused a lot on my futurity colts, but now that we’re getting into it, I’ll turn my focus to rodeoing.”
The futurities and derbies are the proving ground for the younger horses, and training those and getting them seasoned is a big part of Pozzi’s work. But she’s also got an outstanding squad of proven mounts, like Stitch and Cosmo. Stitch is a 13-year-old gelding that has been her No. 1 horse for a few years, and Cosmo is a 6-year-old mare that won a tour rodeo in Lovington, N.M., last season.
“I’ve pretty much got the finals made, which is pretty nice,” she said. “It’s not like I’m not going to try to go into the finals in the top spot, but it’s nice that I’m in the position I’m in.”
Will Rogers Stampede PRCA Rodeo
Claremore, Okla.
Final results
Bareback riding
1. Bo Casper, 83 points on Western Trails' Smokers Moment, $1,207
2. D.V. Fennell, 81, $914
3. Jared Keylon and Ted Osman, 80, $549 each
5. Matt Bright, 76, $256
6. Yance Day, 72, $183
Saddle bronc riding
1. Travis Darling, 81 points on Western Trails' Steller Feller, $1,281
and Troy Crowser, 81 points on Western Trails' Butter Bob, $1,281
3. Ramey Jernigen, Cort Scheer and Cody Angland, 80, $545
6. Sean Prater, Weston Ireland and Bobby Griswold, 79, $74
Bull riding
1. Tyler Smith, 90 points on Rafter H Rodeo Livestock's Best Yet, $1,677
2. Corey Colvin, 88, $1,271
3. Dustin Elliott, 81, $915
4. Clayton Foltyn and Clint Craig, 80, $483
6. Thad Newell, 78, $254
Team roping results
First-round results
1. Jake Weddle/Shawn Harris, 4.8 seconds, $1,263 each
2. Jake Long/Travis Graves, 5.1, $1,045
3. Charles Pogue/Jett Hillman, 5.7, $827
4. Clay Saffell/Kaleb Fort, 5.9, $610
5. Chad Saunders/Michael Harris, 6.1, $392
6. Justin Turner/Buddy Hawkins II, 6.5, $218
Second-round results
1. Phillip McCoy/Jeff Brown and Jesse Stipes/Casey Stipes, 6.0 seconds, $1,154
3. Gregg Ash/Amos Kueffer, 6.8, $827
4. Scott Lassiter/Brandon Keifer, 6.9, $610
5. Jake Weddle/Shawn Harris, 7.2, $392
6. Destry Graham/Jimmy Thomas, 7.3, $218
Average results
1. Weddle/Harris, 12.0 seconds on two runs, $1,263
2. Ryan Jarrett/Justin Walker, $15.7, $1,045
3. Spunk Sasser/Shane Hester, 17.4, $827
4. Graham/Thomas, 18.9, $610
5. Lassiter/Keifer, 19.5, $392
6. Stipes/Stipes, 21.5, $217
Tie-down roping
1. Blair Burk, 8.3 seconds, $1,661
2. P.J. Spencer, 8.6, $1,444
3. Blake Deckarad and Cole Bailey, 8.7, $1,119
5. Ryan Jarrett, 8.8, $794
6. Dustin Raupe, 8.9, $578
7. Bubba Hurst, 9.1, $361
8. Tanner Harris, 9.2, $144
Barrel racing
1. Susan Kay Smith, 17.57 seconds, $1,601
2. Jessi Eagleberger, 17.67, $1,372
3. Brittany Pozzi, 17.70, $1,144
4. Jesse Alsup and Tanya Steinhoff, 17.78, $877
6. Jana Turner, 17.82, $610
7. Savanah Reeves and Courtenay DeHoff, 17.84, $361
9. Shelley Morgan and Jennifer Turner, 17.85, $191
Steer wrestling
1. Shane Henderson, 3.6 seconds, $1,775
2. Ronnie Fields and John C. VanderWagen, 4.0, $1,428
4. Jeffrey Talley, Tooter Silver, Cody Charmasson and Garrett Nokes, 4.2, $733
8. Trell Etbauer, Brady Hageman and Nick Guy, 4.3, $51
Steer roping
First round
1. Brady Garten, 10.8 seconds, $1,258
2. Vin Fisher Jr., 11.8, $1,014
3. Rocky Patterson, 12.2, $824
4. Bryan Reiter, 13.1, $607
5. Kim Ziegelgruber, 13.5, $390
6. Ralph Williams, 13.8, $217
Second round
1. Rod Hartness, 10.9, $1,258
2. Guy Allen, 11.5, $1,041
3. Joe O'Rourke, 11.6, $824
4. J. Paul Williams and Cody Lee, 11.9, $499
6. Will McBride, 12.2, $217.
Average
1. Patterson, 26.8 on two rides, $1,258
2. Ziegelgruber, 27.1, $1,041
3. Williams, 27.9, $824
4. Mike Chase, 29.0, $607
5. Fisher, 29.1, $390
6. Chet Herren, 31.4, $217
