Posted April 15, 2006

Kelsey Deal and Sharin Hall-Grant Victors at Inaugural WPRA Pro Futurity

April 13, 2006 - WPRA permit member Kelsey Deal, Elk City, Okla., expertly guided the 4-year-old gelding Six Moons Cash (Cash Not Credit x Missy Six Moons) to a second go-round victory en route to winning the Futurity Championship at the first Running On Faith WPRA Pro Futurity, held April 13-14 in Wichita, Kansas. The event, which featured a $5,000-added Futurity, $1,000-added Derby, and $1,000 WPRA 4D Challenge, offered $29,629 in prize money.

In the Futurity, Deal and "Six" clocked a 14.660 in the second round to add to their first go time of 14.937 for an average of 29.597. "This is my first futurity win," said the ecstatic winner, who will turn 19 on April 22. "It's really exciting. It's an awesome feeling."

Former Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Kelly Yates, Fort Worth, Texas, rode XX Ltd.'s 4-year-old gelding Mighty Awesome Fella (Fire Water Flit x Slice Of Spice) to a reserve championship. Former WNFR qualifier Tamara Reinhardt, Canadian, Texas, and Vera Hammon's 4-year-old mare Hubertas Alibi (Sir Alibi x Bottoms Folly) were third.

Other winners in the second round of the futurity were WPRA Pro Futurity Director Kim Thomas, Ardmore, Okla., and Mary Pennington's 4-year-old brown gelding Catchalocomotion (Nonstop Locomotion x Record Catch) in the 2D. Lisa Lammers, Fairborn, S.D., and her home-raised, 5-year-old Paint gelding Prairie Indian (Prairie Edge x Streakin Flit Jet) collected wins in the Limited Incentive for riders with less than $5,000 in lifetime futurity earnings and Intermediate Incentive for riders earning less than $5,000 over the past three years. For the second straight day, former Great Lakes Circuit Champion Donna Kalish, Dodgeville, Wis., and her 5-year-old mare Ms Treasured Penny (Treasured Too x Emilys Valentine) topped the Senior Incentive for riders over 50.

Sharin Hall-Grant, Kingston, Okla., aboard Ken Pruitt's 6-year-old gelding Bahama Bully (Bully Bullion x Failas Magic) blew away the 23-entry field in the two-run Derby, winning both go-rounds with runs of 14.550 and 14.568 for the average victory.

Hall-Grant, one of the top aged event riders in the country, was very pleased with her victory and the event."I think this is totally awesome," she said. "I see it really growing and making a great stepping stone for making rodeo horses."

Most contestants were extremely pleased with the laid back atmosphere of the event.

"The whole thought process behind the average to make future rodeo horses is a great," said Lisa Lammers, who purchased a WPRA Pro Futurity membership to compete. "This a very relaxed environment. The didn't pressure us to hurry. These babies need time to develop and other places want to hurry us through. I want a horse that is physically and emotionally stable when I'm done with this and these types of events will allow me to do that."

WPRA Pro Futurity Director Kim Thomas wanted to commend Katie Neil for producing the first WPRA Pro Futurity and Chuck Dunn and Phil Goostree for helping run such a first-class event.

WPRA Vice President Phyllis Wells said, "I think this event put the fun back in futurities. It was fun for the contestants as well as their families with Easter egg hunts and twist contests. It also was a tough futurity. We had a bunch of tough WPRA barrel racers and I think this is the first of many events yet to come."

The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association is the governing body for professional barrel racing. It began in 1948 as a group of Texas ranch women who wanted to add a little color and femininity to the rough-and-tumble sport of rodeo, and has now grown to a million-dollar industry with women athletes riding well-conditioned race horses. Today, the WPRA has approved barrel races in hundreds of rodeos sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association each year with total barrel racing prize money of totaling in the millions. For information on the WPRA, visit www.wpra.com. For information on the WPRA Pro Futurity finals, contact wpra@magoteaux.com.