The Relentless Remuda won both ends of the 6-&-Under at the 2024 Royal Crown in Buckeye, Arizona, January 8, when Miles Baker won the heading on Sevens Hank 2 and Jeremy Buhler rode Remuda stallion, Pride And Joyy, to the heeling title by a massive 12-point spread.
For their day’s efforts, the Relentless Remuda team brought home $34,730 across the heading and heeling.
Full Royal Crown Futurity Results Here
Sevens Hank 2 and Miles Baker
2019 GELDING owned by the Relentless Remuda, by CSR DUAL GLO x SEVENS TOOTSIE TIME (HES DUN HIS TIME)
Baker—on the 2019 full brother to two-time ARHFA World Champion Sevens Star Glo—edged out Kaden Richard and 2018 Casino Heist daughter Summer Colada by .03 point with a 603.28 to earn $8,062 for the average win, plus $1,500 to sire CSR Dual Glo’s owner Marshall Wier and $1,000 to them as the breeders as well. Along the way, Baker and Sevens Hank 2 also picked up another $2,000 for the first-round win. Baker also won another $2,000 in go-round money on stallion The Darkk Side, another horse he and partner Trevor Brazile, who’s out for a few months with shoulder surgery, own by their team at The Darkk Side Syndicate.
@teamropingjournal @RelentlessRemuda’s @Miles Baker gets the #royalcrown 6&Under Heading win on Sevens Hank 2, a full brother to 2x World Champ Sevens Star Glo😍 @FastBackRopes’ Dakota Kirchenschlager was on the help side and Miles won with the @Cactus Ropes Future🌵@resistol1927 @Cactus Saddlery @Equinety #heading #ropehorsefuturity #CSRDUALGLO ♬ High Hopes – Panic! At The Disco
This marked Baker’s first solo futurity win, a long-standing joke in the Relentless Remuda after the younger regularly comes in second to Brazile.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve won second at a futurity,” Baker laughed. “Like, I bet 10 or 15 times, and majority of them are behind Trevor (Brazile). So I hate to say that I’m glad he’s at home, but it was nice to not win second for once. But I guess that’s when you know your program’s working when the only time I win first is when my partner’s not here.”
Baker had seen the horse, by CSR Dual Glo out of Sevens Tootsie Time, out and about in the summer of 2023, and he recognized the horse’s 777-brand. He pointed the bay gelding out to Brazile, who didn’t need to have him at the time knowing he was having shoulder surgery. But Baker persisted, knowing he’d be a good one, and he eventually traded for him from clients Matt Liston and Bob Tonkin.
“I didn’t know he was a full sibling until I owned him,” Baker said. “Literally looking at the two horses, they’re so polar opposites. I looked at his papers and thought there’s no way. I knew he had, you know, Marshall’s brand, and I knew he was by the same sire, but I had no idea it was the same dam. He’s a dang sure, gritty, tough, little horse.”
Baker had the help of ARHFA World Champion and three-time NFR heeler Dakota Kirchenschlager on the back side.
Pride And Joyy and Jeremy Buhler
2019 STALLION owned by the Relentless Remuda, Solo Select and Kaleb Terlip by STEVIE REY VON x FUN N FANCY FREE (PEPTOBOONSMAL)
Baker got a hold of Jeremy Buhler just a week before the Royal Crown in Buckeye to see if he’d be interested in piloting the Relentless Remuda’s two superstar stallions, The Darkk Side and Pride And Joyy, in the 6-&-Under Heeling. While Baker spends nearly equal time on the studs on the heel side as Brazile, he wanted to give the young studs a gold-buckle-style chance at the futurity, and Buhler fit the bill just right.
Watch Baker Throughout Pride And Joyy’s Training Process ONLY on Roping.com
“I just think he rides a good horse, and he’s real quiet about how he does it,” Baker said. “A lot of guys can do a lot of stuff with the rope, but they ride real loud. And for you know, Trevor had shoulder surgery, and in this deal, I mean, this is more or less a jackpot. It’s whoever can ride one that’s good enough to let you go up around there and throw fast, and the the judges are gonna mark that here. He’s always in a good position. He’s got so much coverage with his rope, and he rides horse quiet, and I just thought I thought it’d be a really good fit. And, man, it was fun heading for him.”
For the 2016 PRCA World Champion Buhler, the phone call for the jump-ride was a little nerve-racking.
“There’s a lot of pressure because I know how good those horses are,” Buhler said. “I know how good their program is and how much time those guys put into it and all the people who are involved and invested. So, I darn sure wasn’t scared, but I was nervous and I was excited. Trevor doesn’t know this, but all his videos that come on with him heeling, I’ve kinda have a little stockpile of them. And I know his heeling a little better than he thinks I do. I’m just really grateful they called me to ride him.”
With rain and mud spoiling most of the outdoor roping for the week across Arizona, Baker and Buhler didn’t have a chance to connect for him to try the horses out before coming to Buckeye. Buhler swung a leg over both horses just 20 hours before show time at the warm-up jackpot the Royal Crown puts on the night before the futurity, running just a few on each stud.
“Last night, those steers were really, really fresh,” Buhler said. “It was honestly probably one of the harder scenarios to just get on a horse, especially a futurity horse, to see how they felt. But I knew after riding them that they were.”
@teamropingjournal CLEAN SWEEP 🧹🧹🧹 the @RelentlessRemuda gets the 6&Under Heeling win on Pride And Joyy with @jeremybuhler at the helm. This 5-year-old stallion is owned by @Miles Baker and Trevor Brazile in partnership with Kaleb Terlip and @Solo Select #heelshot #roanstud #aqha #cowboy #cowboystuff #royalcrownfuturity #ropehorse ♬ Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
With Baker on the head side, Buhler won the first round of the 6-&-Under with a 153.45—a full three points ahead of the pack—worth $2,000. Pride And Joyy marked a 156.55 in Round 2—the highest score of the entire event—for another $2,000 to widen his lead. In Round 3, Baker swooped in to get his own $2,000 day-money on the heel side on Remuda-owned 2018 gelding Gunners Nite Train with a 153.96, edging out Pride And Joyy to second with a 153.13 for another $1,200.
The short round steer stepped into Baker, but he got him headed and Buhler put Pride And Joyy’s big stop on display with a short-round best 153.94. The win, worth $7,440 for the owners, $1,368 for owners of stallion Stevie Rey Von and $912 for breeder Ty Smith, brought Pride And Joyy’s lifetime earnings to $164,090. That’s including $32,500 he won with Chris Dawson for third at the 2022 NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity, the tens of thousands he picked up in the futurity incentive at the Riata Buckle with Baker, more than $14,000 for his bronze trophy with Brazile in the heeling at the AQHA World Show and $4,800 he won in the #14.5 with Baker at the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale in 2023.
“He’s very trained and obedient. Like, very trained,” Buhler said. “I don’t think he was in a bad spot one time. He was in a great spot. It felt like heeling a fast lane to me. You know? He’s just a very, very easy horse. And then on top of being easy, he’s got all the moves too. So it’s a pretty cool combination. A lot of times, you’ll get one or the other.”
Buhler will next ride Pride And Joyy in Scottsdale, Arizona, March 2-4.
