Clay Smith and 2019 gelding Lead On made history July 26, 2024, winning the biggest check in futurity history for $100,000 at ARHFA’s Old West Rope Horse Futurity.
Smith and the 5-year-old by Corona Cartel and out of Charm Dance by First Down Dash won the Open Futurity Heading with a 930.24 on four. Lead On and the two-time PRCA world champion kicked off the day with a 230.44 for fifth in Round 1. They followed that up with the second-round win with a 232.73 for $4,000 and their biggest score of the day in the third round of 236.5. After entering the 20-man short round high call, Smith and Lead On sealed the deal with a 230.57 in the short round.
“That’s awesome, anytime you get a chance to win that kind of money,” Smith, 33, said. “For futurity deals, this one is going to hopefully open the eyes to everything else. This is awesome.”
Lead On is owned by Smith’s younger sister-in-law, Miley Richey, and had just $19,300 in QData prior to the $100,000 payday. Smith and Lead On didn’t have much of a history together prior to the Wallsburg, Utah, event.
“My in-laws brought him out two days ago and I rode him the day before yesterday,” Smith explained. “I ran like five or six, and I’d ran two on him before that. But we had seen that horse with Bobby Mote riding him and we knew that was a great horse, and my little sister-in-law got him bought. That horse is amazing. Just don’t really make a mistake.”
Lead On came from Reliance Ranches and Bobby Mote, and the Richey family added him to their herd earlier this spring.
“He scores and he can run,” Smith said. “He is Corona Cartel and scores and really runs. Honestly, I mean, we were thinking about futurities, but we knew how good that horse was going to be. Like, that’s one of the best head horses we’ve ever seen, especially to be 5 years old is unbelievable.”
Given that Miley, just 14, and Smith, a professional header, are both able to have success on Lead On, the gelding’s talent isn’t up for debate.
“Well, a great horse, that’s how they are,” Smith said. “A great horse, anybody should be able to get on him and do it. That’s what he is; I think he’s a great horse. For him to be as fast as he is, and for him to be able to go to any kind of setup—World Series to regular barriers—I mean, that horse is just a great horse.”
Much like his dad Corona Cartel, Lead On isn’t lacking in the speed department. Compared to Smith’s Flinty, also an own son of Corona Cartel, Lead On may have him beat in speed.
“He’s a Corona Cartel, too, they both are, and so we love how they feel,” Smith said. “Speed means so much, and it seems like every one of them that can run, they score better. So, he scores great and he can run just as fast as anything that I’ve rode. I wasn’t even kicking him today, I was just trying not to mess up, honestly, and trying to get better at not using a rope but using the horse. So, today was just let the horse do it.”
Full Results: ARHFA’s Old West Rope Horse Futurity
Having come from the ProRodeo road, Smith had to make some adjustments in his roping to fit the futurity.
“I mean, you got to think about it a little bit more,” Smith admitted. “So like [Friday], I didn’t do as good a job. I’m learning and it’s a little harder sometimes to transition. You just got to slow down a little bit. You just really need to slow down on both and catch the cows.”
