Jake Smith and Douglas Rich win the Riata Buckle Pro Futurity
Dec 1, 2023
By Chelsea Shaffer
Time Toget Wreckless is by Hickory Holly Time, the same stallion who sired the first Riata champion heel horse DT Hickorys Mistycat, ridden by Dakota Kirchenschlager, to the same title in 2022. DT Horses' Hickory Holly Time was the leading sire of Riata Buckle horses in 2022, with offspring earning $222,700 across the roping.
In the short round at third callback, Smith and Rich made a 5-second run, the fastest of the entire roping, to win the roping with a 34.80 on five head worth $33,600, plus stallion and breeder payout.
"I got just an average start, but I could tell I was gaining fast," Smith said. "I wanted to press, but I wanted to make sure I opened everything and covered both horns. I wanted to pull him into his loop."
The steer was slower and straight, and it let them put the pressure on first and second call, who faltered. "We waited until the last day to enter," Smith explained. "I get it all done, I enter Doug, I enter everybody. I send it in,but tell him we should try to find a horse we know or he can ride, and I told him five different people to call. He don't call nobody, and finally I see Andy (Holcomb) at the ESA deal in Hamilton a couple weeks ago, and I said, 'Doug, call Andy. I guarantee he has a good one to ride.' He said, 'Oh, that's a pretty good idea.' He calls him, and he's got this yella that looks so easy, a good horse to ride, and I try to get him to go ride him, and he puts that off til the last minute and doesn't even get to ride him. So he got some videos of him, and we knew it would work good. The horse looked dang good."
The horse out of Wreckless Chic by Smart Chic Olena and owned by Melissa Fischer had $15,009 in QData earnings before the Riata (including wins in the reined cow horse), so Rich's win more than doubled Time Toget Wreckless's LTEs.
"Andy brought him, and I just went and got him out of the stall," Rich laughed. "I saddled him, loped him around. Andy did all the work."
In 2022, Smith and Rich won second in the Riata Buckle's Open Futurity, so the setup has proven friendly for the team.
