Trevor Brazile has a way of describing what it’s like to rope steers on a horse as fast as Kiri.
It’s the difference, he said, between landing a prop plane and landing a jet.
Brazile landed that jet four times on Kiri at the Old West World Championships. The mare by Tres Seis was high call by 7.69 points after three rounds of the Pre-Futurity Heading, then marked a 230.18 in the Oct. 17 short round to win the class on 915.87, 10.3 points clear of Brazile’s own second-place mount, Crosby Ray Von. Kiri banked $64,000 for Reliance Ranches: $20,000 for the win, $40,000 from the Graduate Sale Horses side pot and $4,000 for winning the first two rounds.
She was the biggest check of a week in which Brazile won both heading classes, rode six horses to $166,472 and finished as the event’s top rider by more than $100,000. The week also carried him past $1 million in ARHFA and Old West earnings.
Timing before speed
Kiri is by Tres Seis, a Golden State Futurity winner who earned $856,901 on the track, and out of Jess A Diva Chick, a race-winning mare by Apollitical Jess. She gains on a steer like it. Brazile said the adjustment that matters is in his swing.
“Man, I really try—and it’s been something since we’ve had the race horses in the programs—to master my timing,” Brazile said. “Making sure that you have your timing with your horse is crucial going to those steers, because it’s a difference in landing a jet versus landing a prop plane. Stuff just comes up faster, and you just have to be ready.”
The speed is only half of it. A horse bred to run also has a harder time shutting down.
“Not only do they run fast, it’s a little bit harder for them to break their stride down,” he said. “So it’s really important. I have to really try to make sure that I’m really concentrating on getting my timing right going to the cattle instead of just roping when you get there. It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s important riding the race horses to give them a good timing and not throw them off with being in between swings when you get there.”
Brazile said the first race-bred horses in his program took some learning when he started training futurity horses full time after the 2018 ProRodeo season.
“The learning curve was that they were a little bit different and I couldn’t just make them break down, or they didn’t break down naturally like a cow horse,” he said. “It was more of a learning skill. It took a little longer.”
The bookends
What makes Kiri work at that speed, Brazile said, happens at either end of the run.
“I’ve always said the bookends of a run make your job a lot easier if they’re really good in the box and really good facing,” Brazile said. “And that’s how that mare makes my job easier—she wants to score and she wants to face and she has the speed, so she has the main things to be successful in that.”
Brazile told The Team Roping Journal earlier in the week that he and Kiri “just got along really good both times,” and that “she does the important stuff really good.”
Getting the read
Brazile went to the short round with three of the top four horses in the Pre-Futurity Heading: Kiri first, Crosby Ray Von third and Kryptoniite fourth. He leaned on help to read the steers as they ran into the chute.
“I tell you what, Justin Johnson studied the steers all weekend, and he waited around to leave just to help, because that’s just real good information,” Brazile said. “I’m not very good at remembering steers, and Miles [Baker] and Justin usually do a lot better job than I do at that. And so yeah, having those guys around—even if I might have a hunch, I don’t trust my gut enough in those situations—then they’ll say what that steer is. I was like, ‘Man, that’s good.’”
Six horses, $166,472
Brazile cashed on six horses in Amarillo, all for outside owners or his Relentless Remuda partnerships. He won the 4-&-Under Heading on RR Gunners Affair and the Pre-Futurity Heading on Kiri, placed in both heading short rounds with two more horses, and picked up a Graduate Sale side-pot check heeling. By class, he won $107,722 in the Pre-Futurity Heading, $33,750 in the Futurity Heading and $25,000 in the Pre-Futurity Heeling. Rhen Richard was second among riders with $64,687.
At the 2024 ARHFA World Championship in Fort Worth, RR Gunners Affair and Brazile won the Open Heading on 941.40 for $25,000 and the 3-&-4-Year-Old Heading for another $20,000. He placed third in the first round, won the third and came back to the short round leading by 4.13 points. With round money and the APHA incentive, the week was worth $51,600. He had already been third at the Old West pre-futurity for $17,600 and second at Royal Crown Rock Springs for $11,025.
He earned $25,157 in 2025, and he came back even stronger in 2026. He was second at Old West’s Gamble at Guthrie for $20,748, won the Gold Buckle Spring Maturity Heading and its stallion incentive for $26,200, and won Royal Crown OKC’s 6-&-Under Heading for $14,870. His $68,288 led all heading horses through mid-June. Amarillo’s $20,000 puts his 2026 total past $88,000.
“That’s just a good horse,” Brazile said. “You can count on him.”
The better story may be his dam. Cowgirl Affair has now produced an ARHFA world champion heel horse for the Remuda in WND Affair, by Whizkey N Diamonds, and a double world champion head horse in RR Gunners Affair: two different reining-bred stallions, both ends of the arena. Miles Baker started RR Gunners Affair as a 2-year-old at the Remuda’s headquarters in Decatur, Texas. Two more of her foals, RRainman and RR Show Me The Money, sold in the Old West sale in Amarillo, consigned by Relentless Remuda and Wittwer Performance Horses.
“That dam is old-school reining-bred,” Brazile said. “She’s worked for our industry.”
After the horse’s final show of 2026 in Abilene at the Gold Buckle, he’ll go on to compete with Statton Wittwer in the non-pro and in jackpot competition.
KIRI: $64,000
TRES SEIS x JESS A DIVA CHICK x APOLLITICAL JESS
2022 bay mare
Breeder: Andy Knight and Casey Davis
Owner: Reliance Ranches LLC
Amarillo: Won the Pre-Futurity Heading on 915.87 with a 230.18 short round; won Rounds 1 (227.99) and 2 (231.81, the high-marked run of the class); first in the Graduate Sale Horses side pot. $20,000 open, $40,000 side pot, $4,000 in rounds.
Context: A full racing pedigree in the heading pen. Her dam, Jess A Diva Chick, won four races, earned $54,936 and carries a 99 speed index. Kiri came to Amarillo with $5,224 on her QData record, and won more than 12 times that in one week. Brazile catch-rode her.
CROSBY RAY VON: $40,318
STEVIE REY VON x MA CROSBY x VALIANT HERO
2022 roan mare
Breeder: Fults Ranch Ltd.
Owner: Cracklin J Ranch
Amarillo: Second in the Pre-Futurity Heading on 905.57 with a 227.92 short round, $15,318; second in the Graduate Sale Horses side pot, $25,000. Also made the Futurity Heading short round, sixth on 673.52 after three rounds, without a check.
Context: The record-setter. She sold as a 3-year-old for $1.7 million at the 2025 Old West sale in Heber City, Utah, still billed by Old West as the record price for a rope horse. In April she won the Pre-Futurity Heading at Old West’s Gamble at Guthrie for $19,720 with Brazile.
THIS STAR IS SPECIAL: $25,000
GUNNERS SPECIAL NITE x STARS AND SPARKS x A SPARKLING VINTAGE
2022 dun mare
Breeder: Wayne Oldenburg
Owner: Jerad Wittwer
Amarillo: Second in the Pre-Futurity Heeling Graduate Sale Horses side pot, $25,000, on 891.28 with a 221.14 short round. Brazile heeled on her.
Context: Came out of Tom McCutcheon’s reining program before Relentless Remuda bought her. Relentless sold her to Wittwer, who ran her through the 2025 Old West sale. She won the 4-year-old pre-futurity heeling at the ARHFA Red Bud Spectacular in Oklahoma City for $12,790.
RR GUNNERS AFFAIR: $20,000
GUNNERS SPECIAL NITE x COWGIRL AFFAIR x MAJOR VAQUERO
Gelding
Breeder: Lil Equine LLC
Owner: Jerad Wittwer
Amarillo: Won the Futurity Heading on 908.56 with a 227.80 short round, $20,000. Went in second, 2.35 points behind Fendiii, after marking 222-plus in all three rounds.
Context: Second in the Futurity Heading at the Gamble at Guthrie in April for $16,248. Two full siblings out of Cowgirl Affair, RRainman and RR Show Me The Money, went through the Old West sale in Amarillo, consigned by Relentless Remuda and Wittwer Performance Horses.
A RELENTLESS BUZZ: $13,750
ONE TIME HONOR x MAKEBELIEVE MISTRESS x FISHERS DASH
Gelding
Breeder: Flag Ranch LLC
Owner: Relentless Remuda LLC
Amarillo: Third in the Futurity Heading on 905.95 with a 227.39 short round, $11,750; won Round 1 with a 229.45, $2,000.
Context: One of five One Time Honor horses Flag Ranch bred into the Futurity Heading. A full sister, One Time Mistress, sold in the Amarillo catalog.
KRYPTONIITE: $3,404
METALLIC CATTACK x FUN N FANCY FREE x PEPTOBOONSMAL
2022 stallion
Breeder: Ty M. Smith
Owner: Earnhardt/Relentless/Solo
Amarillo: Ninth in the Pre-Futurity Heading on 896.49 with a 220.48 short round, $3,404. Fourth on 676.01 going in.
Context: A maternal sibling by Stevie Rey Von sold in the Amarillo catalog, and a maternal sibling to Pride And Joyy, Stevie Rey Von’s all-time money earning offspring shown by the Relentless Remuda.
Past $1 million
Brazile came to Amarillo with $863,917.10 in ARHFA and Old West earnings, according to the Top 25 money board posted at the event. The $166,472 he won there raised his total to $1,030,389.10 won at the futurities (excluding big wins at the Gold Buckle and Royal Crown events) since 2017.
He credited the week less to any one horse than to timing of a different kind: a whole string peaking at once.
“Horses go through peaks and valleys throughout their show season, and very seldom—it was just really cool to have a lot of them peaking at the same time,” Brazile said. “Usually a couple are doing really good in one show and you’re dealing with a little bit of baggage from the last show. It was really cool because a lot of those horses seemed like they were ready to play when they got there, versus usually if you show four, you’re really proud of a couple of them and a couple of them feel like they’ll be great the next week. But when everybody shows up there and plays, it just makes you feel good, because it’s pretty rare that all of them or most of them want to be good.”