$1.4 Million Awarded in One Discipline at Royal Crown Rock Springs

An incentive that changed the playing field by not requiring foals to be nominated just keeps growing and awarding more money.

Over just a few days the Royal Crown in Rock Springs, Wyo. awarded nearly $1.5 million dollars to riders, owners and breeders of barrel racing horses.

The Royal Crown changed the playing field of the barrel racing industry by not requiring foals to be nominated. The stallions simply pay in and all of the foals reap the benefits without costly nominations fees each year.

Of cours there are details to the program but the gest of it is very simple. The amount of money available for competitors is astounding.

While the action is continuing in Wyoming with the roping events, let's take a look at how the barrel racers faired in their quests to capture some of that million dollar prize pool. For simplicity sake, the amounts listed here will be just the rider payouts. Full results can be found here.

Futurity

In the youngest horses' class of the futurity, Anita Ellis proved to put together the fastest two combined runs on SGL Rico sired by The Goodbye Lane and out of Version Blue. Ellis both owns and rides the 2020 Gelding.

Ellis' total time on two runs was 30.225 seconds which was enough to best veteran cowgirl Kassie Mowry who rode Goodbye Sophie to the Reserve Championship. Mowry's horse is also by The Goodbye Lane but out of Famous Sophie. Mowry was close behind Ellis with her 30.335 time.

Ellis walked away with a check for just the average payout of $45,000. She also won the second go round which paid $22,500. In round one she finished in the third place spot which paid $14,625. There is also an open futurity sidepot to go along with the Royal Crown Stallion incentive futurity. Ellis took full advantage by having her horse entered in the SVE Futurity which paid an addition $10,319.

All total, SGL Rico added an incredible $92,444 to his earnings. Seems like the trip to Rock Springs, Wyo. was certainly worth the effort!

Derby

Jordynn Knight represented the youth well at the high dollar event. Knight and Heza Swift Spyder won the Royal Crown Derby average. The young rider had nerves of steel and put together two runs totaling 30.457 seconds for the win.

Knight and Heza Swift Spyder were just repeating the performance they put on in Buckeye, Arizona earlier this year when they took home the derby championship.

Knight's times in Rock Springs rolled over to the SVE Derby, where she collected another $8,170 between the rounds and average.

The veteran, Kassie Mowry, came back for the second round in true Mowry fashion on Force the Goodbye. She not only won the second round by three-tenths of a second, but she put the fastest time of the entire event on the scoreboard of a 14.731.

The stellar second go round run nearly let Mowry move to the top but Knight held on for the win. Mowry was just .028 seconds behind the youth competitor.

There were several other classes and sidepots offered such as Open, Senior and Youth, so that everyone had a chance to particpate and get a portion of the payouts. For many the kind of money available at these events can be life changing.

The action continues in Rock Springs with tie-down roping and team roping bringing even more money to the industry.

Royal Crown Barrel Racing Futurity Average Results: 1D 1. Anita Ellis, 30.225 seconds, $45,000. 2. Kassie Mowry, 30.335 seconds, $36,000. 3. Krystal Grad, 30.413 seconds, $29,250. 4. Tricia Aldridge, 30.451 seconds, $22,500. 5. Sherry Cervi, 30.625 seconds, $18,000. 2D 1. Janna Brown, 31.726 seconds, $15,000. 2. Jada Haken, 31.742 seconds, $11,250. 3. Kallee Munns, 31.755 seconds, $9,750. 4. Margaret Jones, 31.775 seconds, $8,250. 5. Lacey Donegan, 31.777 seconds, $7,500.

Royal Crown Barrel Racing Derby Average Results: 1D 1. Jordynn Knight, 30.457 seconds, $12,747. 2. Anita Ellis, 30.485 seconds, $9,560. 3. Caroline Boucher, 30.571 seconds, $8,286. 4. Pete Oen, 30.581 seconds, $7,011. 5. Brandon Cullins, 30.587 seconds, $6,374. 2D 1. Ryan Reynolds, 31.983 seconds, $5,099. 2. John Floyd, 32.013 seconds, $3,824. 3. Makala Pierce, 32.030 seconds, $3,187. 4. Sierra Schlenker, 32.045 seconds, $2,549. 5. Kylee Scribner, 32.062 seconds, $2,125.