When was the last time you saw a team of stallions win a #9.5?! Only at the Riata Buckle.

Jessica Koppitz on proxy head horse Streakin Irish Relic and Cody Marx riding Collen All Chics by Smart Chic Olena earned the $112,060 and Gist Buckles for their time of 38.28 seconds on four steers in the Riata #9.5, the final roping of the $2.6 million event on Nov. 5, 2023.

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The old-school 2006 model Collen All Chics is by Smart Chic Olena and out of Collenanic by Reminic. The stallion has long been a great rope horse, shown in AQHA competition years ago by Marx across all the roping events, earning 266.5 points and $5,806 in QData earnings in 13 years of competition. His owners were getting out of the breeding business, so they gifted the horse to Marx and his wife for a wedding present.

“I’ve been around this horse for over 10 years, and he’s just a good athlete and a gentleman,” Marx said. “My 14-year-old daughter heads on him, my wife breakaways on him. We had pretty much retired him, and this Riata Buckle deal came up and we found out his sire was in it. We just pull him out and use him for this. And he’s just a good horse. We made a joke that 1980 showed up to the Riata Buckle because they’re older bred horses. He’s got a lot of butt drag, he can move his feet, and he’s really really broke. He’s been around for a long time.”

At the other end of the spectrum is, Koppitz’s 8-year-old stud Streakin Irish Relic, who was only started in the roping 60 days before this year’s Riata.

“He’s Andrew and Heather Leepers’,” Koppitz said. “They wanted him to be a head horse, and he’s done phenomenal. They showed him in the working cow horse, and he’s been a head horse 60 days., and he showed very well today. We’re going to just go on and show him at the AQHA shows. He’s not very excited about much.”

The duo had just under 12 seconds to seal the deal in the high call spot.

“I want to say I wasn’t nervous, but yes I was,” Koppitz said. “But as long as I stay distracted and don’t pay attention to what’s going on in the roping, I can do OK most of the time. I didn’t listen to any of the announcer telling me what to be.”

“I was just trying to work it out in my head what I was going to do—basically just try to catch him,” Marx added. “She made it easy for me, and she did a great job.”

The celebration for Marx, a horse trainer by trade, was extra sweet. He and his wife are expecting a baby, so the financial windfall is a huge bonus for them in this season of their lives.

“When you get a check like this, it sure makes things a little easier,” I train horses for a living, so any time you get a bulk check like this, it makes the year go by a little easier. I probably need to buy some more alfalfa, that’s just the way it goes.”