Lovell and Arnold Run Away With $100,000 Riata Pro Futurity

GUTHRIE, Okla. — Colby Lovell and Ty Arnold never gave the field a second look. The Midway, Texas, pair won the Riata Stallion Incentive Pro Futurity at the WSTR Riata Qualifier with 34.82 seconds on five head, collecting $100,000 and finishing two and a half seconds ahead of everyone else.

Lovell headed on Royal Underdog, by Metallic Payday, a horse he has had his hands on since he hit the ground. The duo have had a nearly perfect 2026 Futurity season and Colby owes it all to horsemanship and understanding. Arnold heeled on Sugga Boom Boom, by Metallic Boom. They opened with a 6.79, took the lead with a 6.44 in the second round — the only team under seven seconds on both of their first two steers — and never gave it back, adding a 6.55 and a 7.63 to come into the short round at 27.41 on four, 2.57 ahead. A 7.41 on the last steer closed it out.

Brayden Schmidt of Benton City, Washington, and Jeremy Buhler of Maricopa, Arizona, were second at 37.31 for $51,000 on Jess A Dash Of Sass and Dt Hickorys Stinger. Jaxson Tucker of Carthage, Missouri, and Billie Jack Saebens of Nowata, Oklahoma, took third at 40.39 and $38,000. Andy Holcomb and Dakota Kirchenschlager were fourth at 40.72 for $25,000, and Casper Ringelstein and Cade Passig fifth at 41.49 for $13,000.

Sixty-eight teams started, every horse sired by a Riata stallion, and 20 came back to the short round on a 42.08 cut. Hickory Holly Time was the leading sire of the roping with seven horses entered and four in the short go, including Buhler’s Stinger and Kirchenschlager’s Dt Holly Time Ruby. Metallic Payday matched him with four in the short round, two of them Royal Underdog, which Lovell also rode to the 20th callback with Paul Eaves.

The fastest run of the week belonged to Cody Snow and Wesley Thorp, 5.37 in the third round on Wildcattter and Smart Lil Malice. Lovell and Eaves were 5.79 in the second, and Tyler Wade and Eaves set the first-round pace at 6.48.

Shay Carroll rode the only Riata stallion in the field, Watch The Lane, to a 7.88 in the first round.

PRO FUTURITY AVERAGE