RR Buckles Clubhouse and Trevor Brazile continued their domination of the highest level—Platinum—at the Equinety Platinum Medal Futurity in the heading Saturday, Sept. 2, 2023.

Scoring a composite of 1,186.68 across four runs, Brazile brought home the top spot in the heading futurity, adding a total of $11,418 to the gelding’s lifetime earnings that—just 11 months into his career—topped $32,797 in earnings before Guthrie this weekend.

“He had done so well in the first three go rounds—you never know quite what the judges are looking for but here I felt like the box and the scoring weighed a lot—and that’s one of this horses’ strong suits,” Brazile said.

One of the most special parts of the win was because of Brazile’s help—heeler Billie Jack Saebens. Saebens was No. 2 to Brazile and “Clubhouse” in the preliminaries, but it didn’t keep the two-time NFR qualifier from stepping up again to assist Brazile in the short round.

Saebens took the lead on SJR Diamond Bully from the second-high callback position before walking out of the arena, changing horses and helping Brazile win the whole thing.

“Billie’s always done a great job,” Brazile said. “He doesn’t worry about getting beaten, he worried about doing a good job helping. And he helped us on late notice. We always appreciate all the helpers that contribute throughout the year.”

Training a “great” horse

With a full string of Relentless Remuda horses entered in the Platinum Futurity, Brazile and partner Miles Baker used every moment to try to improve the horses beneath them. Both could be seen stepping into the box to rest their horses between rounds of the short go, and they dismounted and loosened the horses’ girths in the box all week.

“Our job is to make great horses and seasoning them is part of that,” Brazile said. “So, I feel like any time—especially away from home—to make these horses more solid and relieve a little pressure in some areas, you’ve got to make the seasoning process positive.”

Brazile reflected on a difficult part of Clubhouse’s training earlier in the year when he wasn’t satisfied with how the horse faced.

“It was no fault of his, because as a trainer you have to know when enough is enough,” Brazile said. “Let them come into their own and not make them progress every day. I’ll take some of that deal on me, because I just kept asking him for more and that’s not fair depending on where they are.”

Next for Clubhouse is a few weeks of rest, with the American Rope Horse Futurity Association show on the horizon.

Complete Equinety Platinum Medal Futurity Heading Results