Braxton Hughes and 4-year-old bay mare SPF Whizsmoknattibar were named Pre-Futurity Heading champions at the AZ Sun Circuit American Rope Horse Futurity Association show in Buckeye, Arizona, earning $11,292.

Hughes and “Kesha,” with four runs—scoring 224.06, 226.77, 224.82 and a show-best 227.22 in the finals—secured the biggest win of the 21-year-old’s young rope horse training career.

The Canyon, Texas, native, who spends his winters living and training in Morristown, Arizona, knew from the start that the mare was something special.

“I told (everyone) from the start she was going to be a head horse,” Hughes said. “Everybody kept saying she might make a little heel horse, but I thought she just needed to grow into herself.”

The mare, owned by Hughes’ father, Joe Hughes, is by reining industry sire Vintage Smoke and out of Liltroublenawhiz. Not exactly a classic team roping horse pedigree, but Hughes saw something in the mare early.

The Hughes family bought Kesha about nine months prior to her being shown for the first time. Before that, she spent a few months getting the buttons put on her the right way.

“Cole (Matier) did the early training on her,” Hughes said. “He does a really good job with those colts. When I got her she was soft, broke and ready to go do whatever.”

“I started her breakaway roping and messed around on both sides, but once we started breaking in steers and facing, that was just her natural habit,” he continued. “As soon as you put your leg there, she wants to do it.”

Kesha got her start with Hughes on the heel side before stepping off into the heading.

“I headed on her for the first couple months, then I heeled on her for a little while to let her grow up,” Hughes said. “About two weeks before this show I started heading on her again and decided I’d just wait and debut her here.”

That decision turned the Arizona futurity into the mare’s first time ever away from home. Despite the new environment, Hughes said the mare handled it like a seasoned veteran.

“She was super easy in town,” Hughes said. “Just quiet, chill. The kind that makes it easy on you.”

Their first run—a 224.06—set a solid tone for the week.

“I was probably riding her too much that first run,” he said. “If I’d have just left her alone she probably would’ve scored even higher.”

By the second round, the team had it figured out.

“I knew by then she was all game,” Hughes said. “So I just let her do her job and rode her a little less.”

The pair posted a 226.77 in Round 2 and followed it with a 224.82 in Round 3, putting themselves in a good position heading into the finals.

According to Hughes, he wasn’t focused on the scores and didn’t know just how good they were set up.

“I really didn’t realize where we were in the roping,” Hughes said. “I was just trying to make the best runs I could.”

That mindset paid off in the finals when Hughes and Kesha made their best run of the show with a 227.22.

“I felt like everything came together on that one,” Hughes said.

For Hughes, who trains horses full-time, the win represents a milestone moment early in his career.

“Definitely pumped,” Hughes said about his post-win feelings. “But it also just makes you realize you better keep the gas on.”

The show in Arizona was the latest step toward Hughes’ long-term goals, with two years of showing under his belt since he first dipped into the futurity world.

“The first couple shows were definitely a learning curve,” Hughes said. “It’s a lot different than going to a jackpot.”

With a big win behind him, the plan is to campaign Kesha through her pre-futurity year. For the moment, though, the bay mare is at home to work her second job.

“We sent her home to pull some embryos off her for the next couple weeks,” Hughes said. “Then I’ll get her back before Guthrie and get her ready for that one.”

If her Arizona performance was any indication, the young mare’s future on the head side looks promising.

“She’s just one of the easiest ones in the barn,” Hughes said. “You don’t have to ride her much. She goes where you ask her to go, she’s got a great spot on a cow, and she’s really willing.”