FullBucket's Pink Buckle Picks: The Horses and Humans You Need to Watch

Your Pink Buckle Watch List!

Pink Buckle kicks off October 3rd in Guthrie, Oklahoma. If you follow barrel racing, you already know what that means. If you're new to it, buckle up.

The Pink Buckle Futurity and Derby is one of the biggest barrel races in the country, and it keeps getting bigger. The 2026 event has a guaranteed $4.3 million minimum payout, up from $4.8 million actually paid out in 2025 and $4.1 million in 2023. It started in 2018 with just over $1 million paid out and has grown every single year since.¹ It draws the best horses, the best riders, and some of the most competitive runs you'll see all year.

Each year we have a full roster of FullBucket athletes at Guthrie who have a history of showing up and laying down history-making runs. This year is no different.

Consider this your unofficial Pink Buckle fantasy team.

The History

Before we get to the picks, you need to understand what Pink Buckle means to the barrel racing world.

It started as a boutique futurity and grew into something that now commands national attention. The money is big. The competition is deep. And the horses that win here have a way of going on to do great things. NFR rounds, WPRA earnings titles, and careers that people still talk about years later.

For the last several years, one program has dominated the owner and breeder standings more than almost anyone else.

The Legacy: Busby Quarter Horses

Andrea Busby | Brock, Texas | Barrel Racing, Breeder, Trainer | FullBucket code BQH20 

If you want to understand Pink Buckle, you have to understand Busby Quarter Horses.

From 2018 to 2024, Busby Quarter Horses accumulated $429,807 in Pink Buckle earnings, putting them number one among all owners on the all-time list.² That's not one good horse. That's a program.²

Jets Heart N Soul kicked things off in 2018, earning over $73,000 in a single Futurity and eventually topping $235,000 in career earnings. In 2019 Jets Letters Ta Abby won the Open Championship with a 16.792, the fastest time of the entire event. That same year Promise Me A Jet won the 1st Go and Jets Heart N Soul placed in the average. Four horses, one event, massive showing. By 2020 Blazin Jetolena was the No. 2 sire in the country with over $1 million in progeny earnings and Busby Quarter Horses finished as the No. 2 breeder and No. 2 owner in barrel racing nationally. Then in 2024, Fiesta By Design won the Pink Buckle Futurity Championship with a 16.732 first go, earning $146,188 during Pink Buckle week alone. That same year Andrea took Benny to the NFR herself for the first time and broke the Thomas and Mack aggregate record in her debut. The horse she bred and raised carried her to Las Vegas and cracked $1 million in lifetime earnings that week.³
[Andrea and Benny at the 2024 National Finals Rodeo]

In 2025 Andrea qualified for her second consecutive NFR on a string she built while Benny recovered from surgery. And in September 2026, just days before Pink Buckle, she won the Governor's Cup in Sioux Falls on Benny to lock her third consecutive NFR qualification.

That's what a program looks like. Andrea Busby isn't just competing at Pink Buckle. She helped build what it means to compete there.

The Comeback Story: Mindy Holloway and Cornbread

Mindy Holloway | Mineral Wells, Texas | Barrel Racing, Trainer | FullBucket Code MINDY20

Mindy Holloway's story at Pink Buckle is really Cornbread's story. And Cornbread's story is one of the best in barrel racing.

Heavens Got Credit came into Mindy's life when he was a three-year-old. She helped prepare him for his futurity year, watched him earn over $90,000 that season, and saw something in him that she couldn't let go. Then he fractured his leg. Then he went through kissing-spine surgery. When Tiany Schuster called Mindy and said he was for sale, Mindy and her husband Cutter brought him home. As Mindy put it, Cornbread just needed to come home.

At the 2023 Pink Buckle, Mindy and Cornbread won a round with a 17.004, earning $13,438 in a single payout. Then came 2025. Reigning World Champion Kassie Mowry needed a horse after hers stayed home due to the EHV-1 situation. She called Mindy. Cornbread went to Las Vegas and won Round 6 of the NFR with a 13.42, earning Mowry over $36,000.⁷ The entire rodeo world was suddenly talking about an 11-year-old gelding from Mineral Wells who had survived everything and was still getting better. That same year at Pink Buckle, Cornbread posted a 34.038 Open average, finishing among the top horses in the field.

In 2026, Mindy and Cornbread qualified for The American and made it to the Showdown round. We are excited to watch the string that Mindy brings to Guthrie this year. 

The Process: Ceri Ward

Ceri Ward | Ardmore, Oklahoma | Barrel Racing, Trainer, Breeder | FullBucket Code CERI20
[Ceri Ward and GamblingSlick win 2025 Pink Buckle Futurity | Lexi Smith Media]

Ceri Ward doesn't just ride great horses. She makes them.

Her program is built on a simple philosophy: find talent, develop it, trust the process, and let the horse get better over time. From Hiccup, a horse she bred and trained herself who went on to become the 2023 National Junior High Finals Rodeo barrel racing champion under another rider, to Slick Swingin Gypsy, who helped her finish No. 5 among the nation's futurity riders with $227,663 in earnings in 2023, Ceri has repeatedly shown she can take a young horse and turn potential into performance.

Then came Gamblingslick. A 2021 mare by Slick By Design, Ceri owned her, trained her and rode her to the 2025 Pink Buckle spotlight. Gamblingslick ran a 16.969 in the first go before coming back with a 16.558 in the second go, the fastest time of the entire 2025 Pink Buckle. She won the round and then won the Futurity Average. By the end of the week, Ceri had earned approximately $197,000. That's not luck. That's true horsemanship that has been building toward that moment for years.⁴

The Quiet Force: Kit Johnson

Kit Johnson, Rockin X | Purcell, Oklahoma | Barrel Racing, Horsemanship, Trainer, Breeder  | FullBucket Code ROCKINX20

Kit Johnson grew up on a ranch in North Dakota riding young horses before most kids knew what a futurity was. Today, she and her husband Isaac run the Rockin X program in Purcell, Oklahoma, and Kit has carved out her own reputation as a trainer and competitor on some of the most exciting young horses in barrel racing.

She has been quietly and consistently building her reputation as one of the most talented trainers in the business long before the spotlight found her. The horse that put her name in the headlines is Wolverrine, a Goodbye Lane stallion owned by Mill Iron Livestock. At the 2025 Pink Buckle Young Guns League Futurity, Wolverrine ran a 17.084 to finish second in the 1D. By 2026 he had become a $100,000-plus earner and was winning rounds at major events including Royal Crown Rapid City, where Kit and Wolverrine ran a 14.716 to win the Derby second round for $10,085.⁵
[The Breeder's Challenge, Kit & Wolverine | Traci Davenport Photography]

The Long Game Queen: Stephanie Fryar

Stephanie Fryar | Waco, Texas | Barrel Racing, Trainer, Breeder  | FullBucket Code STEPHANIE20

Stephanie Fryar's story isn't about one big horse or one lucky season. It's about what happens after you lose the horse you thought was going to make you great.

She grew up in rodeo, qualified for the NFR in 2008 aboard a mare named Selena, and spent years building her program the hard way. Then Romeo died unexpectedly in September 2022, and the horse she believed would carry her back to the NFR was gone. What stepped into that space was Some Streakin French, known as Frank, a quiet traveling companion who had never been her first-string horse.

Frank changed everything. He and Stephanie won the 2023 Rodeo Carolina and the 2024 Stampede at the E, putting her within one win of the WCRA's $1 million Triple Crown bonus. In 2026 they set an arena record at the Xtreme Million in Waco with a 14.512 and won Rodeo Corpus Christi. At the 2024 Pink Buckle, Stephanie competed on Karl Lee, a Furyofthewind stallion she co-owns, keeping her program active in the major incentive races while Frank does his work on the rodeo side.
[Stephanie Fryar winning Corpus Christi 2026 on Frank | Click Thompson Photography]

The 5-Star Young Gun: Dusky Lynn Hall

Dusky Lynn Hall | Stephenville, Texas | Barrel Racing  | FullBucket Code DUSKY20

At 12 years old, Dusky Lynn Hall is not a curiosity. She is a threat, in every arena, with every run.
[Dusky at her 3rd American Rodeo Showdown by the age of 12 | Photography by Katie Grassi KG Creatives]

By age 10 she had become the first barrel racer of that age to surpass $1 million in lifetime earnings. She has done it across multiple horses, multiple divisions, and against adult competition. Aint Seen Famous Yet, known as Wally, won the Pink Buckle Youth Average in both 2023 and 2024. KD Baby Driver, known as Enzo, won the Pink Buckle Youth 1D in 2025. Jets Letters Ta Abby, the same Busby Quarter Horses horse that won the 2019 Pink Buckle Open Championship, is also in her string. She has competed on all three in Guthrie.

In 2026 she won the Royal Crown Futurity at Rapid City with The Tornado Lane, running a 14.692 that was the fastest time of the entire week and earning $115,812 in a single event.⁶ She also qualified for The American in 2026 and made it to the Showdown round. She is not simply winning because she has great horses. She is winning because she's a 5-star competitor with the nerves, horsemanship, and maturity that most riders twice her age are still working toward.

Who’s Your Pick? 

The legacy. The comeback story. The process. The quiet force. The long game. And the 12-year-old who is taking names. 

We can’t wait to cheer each one and see all that they accomplish. 

Pink Buckle starts October 3rd. Watch the runs, follow the results, and come back here after the event. We'll be recapping how our ambassadors did and shining a light on whoever made their mark in Guthrie.

Who are you pulling for?

The Program They All Depend On

From the barn to the trailer to the pen in Guthrie, every FullBucket athlete on this list depends on the same foundation.

Shop the pro stack here and save with your favorite ambassador's code!

• Andrea Busby: BQH20
• Mindy Holloway: MINDY20
• Ceri Ward: CERI20
• Kit Johnson: ROCKINX20
• Stephanie Fryar: STEPHANIE20
• Dusky Lynn Hall: DUSKY20
  
  

REFERENCES

1. Pink Buckle Futurity. Official payout records and event history. pinkbuckle.com. 2018-2026.
2. Pink Buckle Futurity. All-time owner earnings standings. pinkbuckle.com. Accessed September 2026.
3. BarrelRacing.com. Busby Quarter Horses earnings and NFR records. 2024-2026.
4. BarrelRacing.com. Ceri Ward and Gamblingslick 2025 Pink Buckle results. 2025.
5. BarrelRacing.com. Kit Johnson and Wolverrine Royal Crown Rapid City results. 2026.
6. BarrelRacing.com. Dusky Lynn Hall Royal Crown Futurity results. 2026.
7. BarrelRacing.com. NFR 2025 Round 6 barrel racing results. 2025.