Family Tradition: Franco Bertolani Cruises to 100X Brazos Slide Open Futurity Win Riding Blueyedboy

Franco Bertolani and Blueyedboy topped the 100X Brazos Slide Open Futurity Levels 3 & 4 with a 226, earning a total of $30,178 for owner Bruna Bertolani in the stallions’ first official trip into the show pen.

A Hot Win in Waco

Temperatures soared at the Waco show, but Bertolani said the conditions didn’t take the shine off the win.

Riding NRHA pattern eight, Bertolani focused on making the run a good experience for the stallion, pushing for higher degrees of difficulty in the turns and stops, and letting off the pressure in the circles to preserve his stamina and not over-excite the young horse. The approach paid off.

“He’s a very solid horse, and he shows me [in the show pen what he shows me at home],” Bertolani said. “I didn’t push him too hard, and that made me feel good. A horse like that is special, so you have to be careful. You cannot overdo it on them the whole time you show, or they won’t last as long as we want them to.”

Family Ties Run Deep

Blueyedboy (Inferno Sixty Six x Blueyedgirl x Gunners Tinseltown) carries a pedigree Bertolani is deeply familiar with, having trained and ridden both his parents. According to Bertolani, that knowledge gave him a head start when it came to starting the young horse.

“That helps a lot,” Bertolani said. “If you train the mom and dad, the offspring might not be the same, but they have a lot of things that are pretty similar. And you know if you can push a little more or not on certain things.”

Bertolani, based at his training facility in Pilot Point, Texas, broke Blueyedboy as a 2-year-old and has had him in the program ever since. The colt, he said, blends traits from both sides: the maneuvers and quiet, respectful nature of his sire Inferno, paired with the stopping power, and a touch of spice, inherited from his dam, Blueyedgirl.

Next Stop: Tulsa

Bertolani’s next steps for Blueyedboy include the rich 100X Invitational in Tulsa at the end of August.

“If he does good in Tulsa, I probably will save him and won’t take him to Congress,” Bertolani said. “I have other 3-year-olds that I’m planning to take to Congress, but not him.”

The reasoning is about preserving the horse for the NRHA Futurity rather than piling on runs. Congress typically means two go-rounds, and Bertolani doesn’t want to risk a decline in form heading into the bigger prize.

“If I have two good runs on him, there’s no reason to put another two runs on him and maybe send him downhill into the futurity,” Bertolani said. “I want him fresh in Oklahoma City.”

Quality Over Quantity

In the past year, Bertolani has also reshaped his own program. After running as many as 60 horses in training, he has cut back to roughly 30, with plans to pare down a little more, choosing to concentrate on fewer, higher-caliber prospects rather than a full barn.

“I’ve been doing this for 35 years and the [competition] has gone so high,” Bertolani said. “The way they’re judging horses now, the horse has to be fluid, pleasing to watch, everything. If you have so many horses in your barn, it’s impossible to have all good ones. So I’m trying to focus on more quality than quantity.”

Finally, he credited the win to more than just the horse and rider in the arena.

“Thank you to everybody who helped me get here,” Bertolani said. “My crew, my family, the owners. Even if you have all those things, it’s hard to make a run like that. But when you do, everybody’s involved in helping you get to that point.”

100x Brazos Slide Open Futurity Level 4 Results