Winning the Non-Pro Heading at the Old West Futurity in Guthrie, Oklahoma with Laura Mote is a good headline.
But with Watch The Lane, wins are starting to feel more like a checkpoint than a breakthrough.
The 5-year-old stallion by The Goodbye Lane and out of Earlette, owned by Reliance Ranches, put together a 678.64 on three to win the Non-Pro Heading and $17,995 in Guthrie, after also showing under Rhen Richard in the Futurity a day earlier.
“He’s one of those horses that turns up and feels good in competition,” Richard said.
That’s proven out across the board. He’s been consistently in the mix in the futurities, and the Old West win just added to a resume that’s already pushed past $131,000 in lifetime earnings in just a year—including the Old West Pre-Futurity win with Richard in 2025 for $50,000.
What stands out isn’t just that he’s winning—it’s how little it takes to keep him there.
Mote, who rode him to the Non-Pro title, doesn’t spend her week roping on him.
“I ride him all the time, but I don’t rope on him hardly ever,” she said. “I think I roped one on him the week before the futurity, and that was it.”
That wouldn’t work on most 5-year-olds. On this one, it’s part of the program, after a start by Laura’s dad, Reliance Ranches’ trainer Bobby Mote.
“I just stay out of his way,” she said. “I don’t think I have clearance to tell him what to do. I just rope and let him work.”
That feel shows up when it counts. He reads a steer, stays underneath her and finishes without needing help. In the corner, he’s strong, but never too strong.
It lines up with what Bobby Mote and the Reliance crew saw early on.
“Monty McNair picked him out at the BFA sale—just a plain bay colt,” Mote said. “But from day one, he was easy, laid back, wanted to get along.”
He was supposed to lean toward the barrel side. Instead, he took to the rope naturally—and quickly made himself hard to ignore.
Still, the barrel horse hasn’t gone anywhere.
Watch The Lane is being futuritied on in both the barrels and the heading, and most of his day-to-day work actually leans toward barrels. It hasn’t taken anything away from his roping. If anything, it’s kept him fresher than most.
“He’s so trainable,” Laura said. “You show him something, and he’s going to do it.”
Physically, he’s what you want—strong, balanced, good-footed. But what keeps coming up is his mind.
“He almost feels like not enough horse because he’s so laid back,” Rhen said. “Then you get somewhere, and he’s perfect.”
That switch matters. Especially at futurities, where pressure exposes holes quick.
So far, there haven’t been many.
Now a 5-year-old with real earnings, a growing record and a schedule that includes both the arena and the breeding barn, Watch The Lane is starting to look like a long-game horse, not just a futurity horse.
