Relentless PYC and Miles Baker got their third futurity win of 2024—this one worth a massive $50,000—at the historic, first-ever Old West Roping Futurity held in Wallsburg, Utah, July 25.
Full Results: ARHFA’s Old West Rope Horse Futurity
Relentless PYC, a 2020 Flag Ranch mare by First Prize Diver out of the Playgun daughter Chars Gun, took the lead in Round 1 and never looked back at the Probst Ranch. Owned by Solo Select, Bob Tonkin and the Relentless Remuda, Relentless PYC jumped to the lead on the first steer by three points with a 234.00, worth $2,500, then won the second with a 233.60, for another $2,500. She was 231.62 in the short round to seal the $50,000 win with an aggregate score of 699.22.
“I’m just thankful to be here,” Baker, 32, of Decatur, Texas, said. “I was riding around in the warm up arena thinking like, ‘If I hit this steer in the back of the head, you know, Trevor said on a podcast the other day, how many do or die situations are you in? I’m not in any. I thought I literally told myself out loud when I rode in the box, ‘This ain’t do or die. Don’t, don’t freak yourself out. It ain’t do or die.’ If I hit him in the back of the head, I’m going to say, thank you, Lord, for the chance to run a steer for $50,000. Who would have thought a kid from Oklahoma was going to get to rope a steer for $50,000 and, after this win, I’ve probably won close to a quarter million this year already and, who would have thought.”
Baker had the help of the ARHFA’s leading rider, Joseph Harrison, on the back side. Harrison was flawless behind Relentless PYC, having been on the heels for all of her wins—to the tune of $93,211—in 2024 alone.
“When you don’t got to worry about your man behind you, that’s nice,” Baker said. “Because I knew when I was heading to my short-round cow that there was $50,000 sitting on top of that sucker’s head because I just knew when I turned it, that was it, because Joseph was going to heel it.”
Relentless PYC’s Roots
Solo Select CEO Ty Smith bought the mare they call Nala when he bought her mom, and she was in utero. When Chars Gun foaled, Smith sold the baby back to Larry Rice of the Flag Ranch, who’d originally bred the mare.
“Larry Rice was ahead of the game breeding the racehorses to the cow mares,” Baker said. “Trev and I had a vision of riding better head horses and not just taking 10 and hoping that one or two of them actually had enough smoke.
“I was living in Oklahoma. I said, ‘There’s a guy up here in Purcell that raises really good horses we need to look at.’ And it was no secret. Rhen (Richard) had done really good on some. Cole Davison had a few good ones. Tate had a few good ones. And so I went up there, and I actually got to watch both of these mares on their first or second ride, and I left there and I told Trevor I was like I bought one that was super kind and looked like she moved good, but so gentle and easygoing, and then I bought one that was really stingy. And this one was the kind one.”
In the Practice Pen
Baker has put in the hours on the 4-year-old crop of Relentless Remuda horses, with partner Trevor Brazile having been out for shoulder surgery. But for Baker, Nala makes those reps easy ones.
Watch a Full Practice Session on Relentless PYC
“She gets so little,” Baker said. “I can’t tell you how easy that mare is. And she fires so hard away from home that like at home, I try to keep her enjoying life. I mean, Gracie rides her a lot in the pasture. I may rope on her a couple days a week. I score a few and maybe breakaway one or two, and just really not to get her better, so to speak, but just to keep her enjoying it, keep it easy. And then it’s crazy when you know that you can ask them for 50% all the time and all you got to do is smooch and it’s zero to 100.”
Baker spent $700 last Saturday in Granbury, Texas entering the Remuda’s head horse herd in the AQHA show at Clay Logan’s, but they didn’t run one steer there. Baker backed into the box every time his name was called and gave his horses a live score, knowing the amount of money on the line once they got to Utah.
“It’s going the extra mile,” Baker said. “You can score all you want at home, but at this point in the year, those 4-year-olds have been shown six or seven times, and every time we’ve went away from home, we’ve asked them for their lives. When you get the chance to rope for this kind of money, or compete at any futurity on young horses like that, it’s always worth spending the extra money. It’s priceless to get livescores away from home on these young horses just to ensure they don’t get smart away from home.”
Lasting Impact
Baker was the only one riding the Relentless Remuda’s head horses in competition for the start of the 2024 season, getting his first-ever futurity win on Relentless Honor in Buckeye, Arizona, at the Royal Crown in February. He’s won over $200,000 since then at the futurities—a far cry from where he was in 2020 riding colts for outside customers on his dad’s Oklahoma ranch for $650 a head, barely breaking even.
“Then, when I got the opportunity to ride for Trevor, I didn’t charge him nothing,” Baker said. “Literally, if I felt like I did a really good job and the horses really increased their value, I would charge him for feed. But I just knew that I had an opportunity, and I think the last two or three years I’ve, you know, pecked along and I’ve tried and get better and get better, and I won second at a lot of futurities, and I just knew I was getting there, and I’ve honestly not arrived yet.”
—TRJ—
