Rhen Richard landed two of his family’s A&C Racing and Roping prospects first and second at the ARHFA’s Sun Circuit Heading Futurity in Scottsdale, Arizona, Feb. 28-March 2.
On 5-year-old Kynis (pronounced Kinneys) Brookstone, he got the victory with 916.54 points on four head and help from heeler Dakota Kirchenschlager to earn $10,725. And Richard racked up 910.77 points and $8,580 on 6-year-old Reys Sunset for the reserve championship. Along with placing in the Pre-Futurity, his total from Westworld Complex came to $24,805.
“Kynis Brookstone was a bigger colt at 2 and 3 and I honestly thought we should have culled him, but my dad always liked him,” said Richard, a Utah native who winters in Morristown, Arizona. “When we introduced him to cattle, he had a really cool way of reacting to a steer and moving his feet. My little brother started and trained him until the middle of last year.”
Once Richard started showing him last fall, the horse has consistently been a winner, but he calls him an actual pain to be around—always chewing on something and funny about his ears and freaking out about nothing. The pair notched similar runs in the preliminary rounds at Scottsdale before winning the finals with a 230.01.
“That steer tried pretty good and stepped to me right as I was throwing, but that horse is really good about reading the cow, and he got real soft up the wall,”Richard said. “I think that’s why they marked him so much—he caught up fast and made it easy for my heeler.”
Bob is so easy to maintain that he doesn’t need much training maintenance, according to Richard.
“He just has that mind,” Richard said. “There’s an elite type of horse with a chance to go on to the next level after these shows, like a BFI-type horse, and I think he’s that type of horse. He stands 15.3 and weighs 1300, so he’s big and strong with a lot of run. At the futurities, I can almost back off and go make runs. He’s so big and physical that you’re never getting everything out of the tank that most horses have to give.”
The horse’s barn name is actually “Bob,” but Rhen’s grandfather had a history of registering colts by family nicknames. Rhen’s little sister was always known as “Skinny Kyni,” so that’s where they came up with the name of Bob’s dam, a Winners Version-bred mare. And Bob is by the Richard family’s anchor stallion Brookstone Bay, by First Down Dash out of a Coup De Kas (TB) daughter.
“That stud was special,” Richard recalled. “He was a racehorse but he looked like a halter horse; he had a real cool hind leg and really moved quick-footed. We bought him as a yearling and ran him on the track. We never bred him to a ton of mares. But one colt out of his first crop won the All American Futurity. Not very many sires have done that.”
His runner-up heading futurity champ at Scottsdale, the 6-year-old by Reys Smokin Dually out of Brookstone’s Sunset, also made consistent runs with Kirchenschlager at the back end.
“He’s super flashy—a big, pretty grey,”Richard said. “I could make an average run and they’re going to mark him because he’s real elegant and has a pretty way of moving.”
In 2023, Richard had actually won the 4-Year-Old Incentive on the grey and placed him second in the Open Heading Futurity for $20,000 at the ARHFA World Championships. But then Reys Sunset got hurt last winter and didn’t get shown most of last year.
“He was a little immature and with all that time off, it took me all last fall to get him back to where he was before the injury,”Richard said. “But now he’s pretty solid.”
Richard, who turned steers at four NFRs for the late Quinn Kesler and Jeremy Buhler, plus roped calves twice at the NFR before settling into full-time horse training, also placed third in the Heading Pre-Futurity aboard A&C’s 4-year-old Sammi’s Big Gal (“Jolene”).
“She’s green, but a really nice horse,” he said. “Compared to most 4-year-olds she’s a little behind, but once she gets caught up, if a guy stays out of her way, she’ll be a contender.”
