Two-time World Champion Clay Smith will tap Pink Buckle and Riata stallion SEVS Judgment Day in Round 1 of the 2025 National Finals Rodeo when he heads for Coleby Payne.

The 2015 Judge Cash son started in the barrel pen with Hilary Hilzendeger, where his speed, balance, and temperament showed up early as he won a round at the coveted BFA Futurity before moving to the heading with her husband, Cody. When he sold at the 2023 BFA and entered the rope-horse world full-time, the transition came fast. The 2020 World Champion Colby Lovell picked him out of the sale and immediately felt that the horse was built for this job.

Lovell rode SEVS Judgment Day through all six rounds of the 2024 BFI, and he finished fourth for $59,000.

Now owned by Theorem Ranch, SEVS Judgment Day is now both a Pink and Riata stallion. He’ll be the first stallion in both of these high-end incentives to compete at the Thomas & Mack.

Smith has long known what it takes to win in Las Vegas. Since 2015 he has shown up every December with a shot, and in 2018 and 2019 he cashed those chances into gold buckles. He has won on about every type of horse, from Marty—the grade, gray gelding he won both gold buckles aboard—to Hello Lashes, the free-rolling mare of Smith’s sister-in-law Miley Richey’s that he stayed steady in Vegas.

Payne will be heeling on Kadabra King, the three-time Heel Horse of the Year and the same horse that carried Wesley Thorp to the 2024 world championship. The matchup on both sides gives the team horsepower with titles already attached, and it puts added interest on how Smith and SEVS Judgment Day will handle the opening round.

Already, SEVS Judgement Day has carried Lovell in wins at small setups across Texas, placing in rounds at the Texas Circuit Finals, winning rounds at the CPRA Finals and winning CPRA rodeos throughout the year.