Two 4-year-old mares sat first and second after two rounds of the 6-&-Under Futurity Heading at the Old West World Championships in Amarillo, Texas.
After three rounds, one of them still leads the field.
Fendiii, a black mare by Valiant Hero owned by Zito Equine and Cracklin J, leads the average for Miles Baker with 683.11 on three head going to the short round Saturday, Oct. 17. Baker marked 229.15 in Round 1 for second and a $1,000 check, 225.51 in Round 2 and 228.45 in Round 3.
Crosby Ray Von, a Stevie Rey Von mare also owned by Cracklin J, led after two rounds with Trevor Brazile riding. She goes back to the short round sixth at 673.52.
Brazile sits 2.35 points behind Fendiii on RR Gunners Affair at 680.76, with Rhen Richard third on Kynis Brookstone at 678.97. Those two 6-year-olds have nearly $295,000 in combined QData earnings.
Both mares get another run at their own age group this week. They’re set to compete in Tuesday’s 4-&-Under Pre-Futurity Heading, the only class here where Crosby Ray Von is eligible for Old West sale graduate money.
Baker, the Decatur, Texas, horseman who trains for the Relentless Remuda alongside 26-time PRCA world champion Brazile, said the mare’s best trait is what she doesn’t do in the box.
“She’s so cold, like, she’s stone cold in the box,” Baker said. “Normally, after you run a few, come a third round, emotions start rising. For her to be a four-year-old going against six-year-old, and to be, like, that cold-blooded, her heart rate don’t even get up, it’s just a testament to the kind of mare she is. She’s just really good. If I mess up, if I’m not high call on her, it’s because I messed up. You know, she’s just that good of a mare.”
The cattle helped. Baker said Old West’s start gave headers room to see what they were roping.
“Honestly, the cattle they brought were so good. I mean, they were perfect to show horses, the horses that actually scored good, ’cause nothing really split the gates and run,” Baker said. “The start was enough that you could actually read the cattle. There’s a lot of setups that it’s horn around, and you don’t have to see enough to have time to read what the cow’s doing. And so today, having a horse that you could set there and score and let you read the cow through the lane — I think that’s why the black mare was so good.”
A barrier reminder
Fendiii wasn’t leading after two rounds. Crosby Ray Von, a 4-year-old blue roan mare by Stevie Rey Von out of Ma Crosby, by Valiant Hero, known around the barn as Bella, was a point ahead of her with Brazile riding, 455.66 to 454.66. Bella also belongs to Cracklin J. Brazile broke the barrier in Round 3, marked 217.86 and slid to sixth at 673.52. Baker said it was a reminder he didn’t need on Fendiii.
“There’s really no reason for me to ever break a barrier on that black mare,” Baker said. “It’s so easy for her. You can’t set back there and play it safe every time. Like, you’ve got to run at the barrier, you’ve got to do your job, but it’s comforting to know that I can sit there and score as long as I need to, and when I see the start go by the end of the gates, I can drop knowing that I’m out.”
“We were setting first and second after two rounds on four-year-olds going against a six-year-old,” he said. “And a barrier kept us from being first and second high callback. When they’re four-year-olds going against, like, not just six-year-olds, but like this caliber of six-year-old, it’s a testament to just how good the mares they are.”
Two from the same class
Baker said Fendiii was special from the start, and that she and Crosby Ray Von came out of the same set of colts.
“I just always liked her. I can’t even recall what class it was, but I think I had a class of cowier head horses, and I had to just live on the barrier all the time, and I was just dreaming of a class of horses that I could make sure I got out every time,” Baker said. “Her and Bella were standouts in that class, and I had them both. We were trying to decide which one would go to Utah, and Bella was farther along than Fendiii. And I thought a Stevie at that sale would be more appealing to the public than a Valiant Hero. Our industry is not necessarily educated enough in the racehorse world to know what a Valiant Hero is.”
“And so we took Bella to the sale, and she did really good. I rode Bella all the way up until the sale when she sold, and I haven’t been on her back since. And so I passed Bella off to Trev, and I kept riding Fendiii, and we both got really good horses in this class. It’s exciting.”
Doing “really good” meant $1.7 million, the most ever paid for a Western performance prospect at public auction. Alan Jones of Cracklin J Ranch bought Crosby Ray Von from the Relentless Remuda and Solo Select partnership at the June 2025 sale. This spring she won the Pre-Futurity Heading at Old West’s Guthrie, Oklahoma, stop, plus the $40,000 sale graduate bonus.
Fendiii ended up in the same barn anyway.
“Bella is owned by Cracklin J, it’s Alan and Meleesa Jones,” Baker said. “And then Fendiii was originally owned by David Zito, and David sold half interest to Alan and Meleesa of Cracklin J. And so, I don’t want to say once in a lifetime, because there’s a lot of good horses coming along, too, but for two mares of that caliber to be owned by the same people is pretty special.”
No detail too small
Horses ridden by Baker and Brazile hold five of the top 10 spots in the average: Fendiii first and Relentless Kat 10th with Baker, and RR Gunners Affair second, A Relentless Buzz fourth and Crosby Ray Von sixth with Brazile. Baker said that starts with hauling his futurity horses to newly-introduced preworks—practice shows produced by fellow ropers to give rope horses ‘exhibitions’—whether they need it or not. At one last week, he had seven of the nine horses entered.
“My horses didn’t even need it,” Baker said. “I got there, they worked great. I scored a couple, run a couple, and left, and I can honestly say it probably did them no good. But, like, good, bad and different, no matter what, I can look my owners in the eye and say, ‘Hey, I tried my ass off. I did everything I could to make sure that these horses were ready, and it just didn’t go our way, or it did go our way.’ And, like, our horses today, they were great. We have five in the top 10, and if you take barriers and legs out of it, I think we’re five of the top six. And that’s just having horses prepared, and you don’t just get them prepared in the practice pen. Going the extra mile and hauling them around and doing the little stuff, right? There’s just no detail that’s too small in this game. Everything matters.”
Her record
Fendiii came to Amarillo with $59,622 in QData earnings as of Oct. 11, all of it in 2026. That’s $98 less than Crosby Ray Von’s $59,720. Fendiii’s Amarillo Round 1 check isn’t on her record yet.
She won the 4-&-Under Heading Futurity at the Royal Crown in Rapid City for $10,409. She placed second at the Royal Crown in Oklahoma City and in the Pre-Futurity Heading at the ARHFA Redbud Spectacular, and third at the Royal Crown in Buckeye. At Old West’s Heber City stop in June she was fourth in the Pre-Futurity Heading and fifth in the Futurity Heading.
Who’s chasing her
Two of the horses right behind her are 6-year-olds with six-figure records:
- RR Gunners Affair, Trevor Brazile, 680.76: 2020 sorrel gelding by Gunners Special Nite out of Cowgirl Affair. $181,582 in QData earnings, including the 2024 ARHFA World Championship heading futurity title.
- Kynis Brookstone, Rhen Richard, 678.97: 2020 sorrel stallion by Brookstone Bay out of Skinny Kyni. $113,343 in QData earnings. Richard is an Old West co-founder.
The racehorse papers
Baker’s point about Valiant Hero is on Fendiii’s papers. Her sire is by First Down Dash out of Corona Chick. Her dam, First Prize Shaunda, is by PYC Paint Your Wagon, a son of Corona Cartel—and Corona Cartel is also out of Corona Chick. That puts Corona Chick on both sides of the pedigree.
It doubles up on the bottom, too. Fendiii’s second dam, First Prize Leesa, is by Mr Jess Perry out of First Prize Dash, a full sister to First Down Dash by Dash For Cash out of First Prize Rose.
Weetona Stanley bred Fendiii and her dam, the latter with W.E. Smith. First Prize Leesa was also a Weetona Stanley breeding.
Pedigree
FENDIII
VALIANT HERO x FIRST PRIZE SHAUNDA x PYC PAINT YOUR WAGON
Black mare, foaled 2022
Breeder: Weetona Stanley
Owner: Zito Equine and Cracklin J (AQHA record: Zito/Cracklin J)
Earnings: $59,622 in QData earnings as of Oct. 11, 2026, plus a $1,000 Round 1 check at the 2026 Old West World Championships not yet on her QData record.