Miles Baker and Relentless PYC, the richest futurity rope horse mare of all time, added $21,095 to her lifetime earnings Feb. 6, with the 2025 Royal Crown 6 & Under Heading win in Buckeye, Arizona.
Baker and Relentless PYC, a 2020 mare by First Prize Diver out of the Playgun daughter Chars Gun, won the average with a 616.26 after four rounds of competition with Brock Hanson’s expert help on the heel side. Owned by Solo Select, Bob Tonkin and the Relentless Remuda, Relentless PYC and Baker have made quite the connection over the last year. With Relentless Remuda partner Trevor Brazile out much of 2024 due to shoulder surgery, Baker put in the hours with the Remuda’s entire 5-year-old herd.
“I love that mare, and she loves me,” Baker, 32, said. “Amy Wilson and I were talking (on the Sports Desk) about building confidence in horses, and that mare would work for anybody, but you can tell I’m her person. When I come in the barn and stuff, she just likes to get to rope and likes when I’m around. Her 2-year-old year, beginning of her 3-year-old year, she wasn’t the easiest to train. Everybody’s like, ‘Man, wouldn’t you like to have another one of her?’ And I’m like, I don’t know; it really wasn’t that fun training her. But obviously it was worth it. She’s real good, and I’ve gotten to spend all the time on her.”
Baker and Relentless PYC scored a 150.02 in Round 1 and then went on a winning spree with the win in Round 2 with a 157.53 and Round 3 with a 155.89 for a total of $3,000. At high call, Baker and Relentless PYC won the short round with a 152.82 to seal the deal on the $16,172 average win and pocket $1,346 for sire First Prize Diver’s owners Rick and Jimmi Jo Montera and $577 for the breeder.
While the Flag Ranch mare has ability and speed on her side, her gentle mind might just be the characteristic that sets her apart from the pack.
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“She doesn’t have it in her to screw you in any kind of way,” Baker said. “She’s just good in the box, and I was telling a guy that he walked up and was talking about how she kind of looked and I said even when the pressure’s up and she’s nervous, she just doesn’t have it in her to try to take money out of your pocket. She’s a gamer. And I think what she’s won speaks volumes about that because it’s not unheard of to have a horse that good, but it’s pretty unheard of to have a horse stay good over the period of time that she’s been good. There’s peaks and valleys in everything but it’s been nothing but peaks for her.”
Nala Rich
The mare they call Nala has steadily been breaking records, earning the titles of the richest rope horse mare of all time and richest 4-year-old rope horse ever after earning $165,921 in 2024. That talent in such a young horse? Unprecedented.
“We’re charting such new territories in the futurity world that to say that she just turned 5 and is getting close to $200,000 is unheard of,” Baker said. “And we just haven’t put this much pressure on horses before. So, I haven’t ever rode one like her that can win. The closest thing is the Pride And Joyy stud that we have. Those two horses, they’re elite horses; they’re great. And he’s won an incredible amount. He’s a year older than her, but he’s won just like she has. It’s been pretty cool to get to ride horses that good because I always just wanted to train a good horse and be respected as a horseman and be able to sell horses or have guys like Trevor get on my horses. Now to get to ride and show and win on horses of that caliber, it’s pretty surreal. I’m blessed to get to do it, and I’ve come a long ways the last five years and I’ll be the first to say that.”
Nala’s helped Baker in his success as well. A year ago, Baker had never won a futurity before. But in the last 12 months, Baker’s won nearly half-a-million dollars, thanks in part to Nala. Over the last year, Baker’s also worked more on his roping and executing.
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“I work on my roping a lot more than I ever have,” Baker said. “I always worked on the horsemanship side of stuff and was real passionate about that, and I think that almost gave me an upper hand in the futurity world. I was so horse-oriented, and I always say that it was a lot faster for me to work on my roping than it was for a lot of people to work on their horsemanship. I think that’s one thing that’s helped me elevate so much is that I’ve worked on the horsemanship part of it my whole life, and then I’ve always roped, but the last three years just focusing on my roping more made it to where I can not just train at this level, but win at this level, too.”
