A week after locking up Tricia Aldridge’s second National Finals Rodeo qualification at the Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, S.D., Adios Pantalones swept the 1D of the Young Guns League Derby at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Okla., winning both rounds and the average for $36,400 to open Pink Buckle week Oct. 4–5.
And somebody had to wake him up for it.
The 6-year-old palomino stallion (Tres Seis x French Bar Belle x Frenchmans Guy) has run at the Lazy E his whole career, and he treats the place like his nap spot.
“He takes his nap time very seriously,” Aldridge said. “I was like, ‘You’re going to have to play some good get you going music, because otherwise Adios is just going to lope through.’”
He didn’t lope. He ran 16.885 Sunday morning to win Round 1 by 0.088 over Sting Operator and Taylor Rivera, came back Monday with a 16.951 to edge DLF Cash Two Annie and Jesse Harris by 0.025, and took the average on 33.836.
“I honestly feel like this was just a Sunday stroll for him,” Aldridge said. “And then he just walked out at the end too. He was like, ‘Okay, thanks. I’m going to walk back to the stall now and take a nap.’”
In February, none of this was a given. Adios fractured a hock at San Antonio and went to surgery with Dr. Marsh. He didn’t run again until the Reno Rodeo at the end of June, made the finals there on his first run back, then won Salinas in July. Aldridge went down the road hoping to stay in the top 30. She ran him once or twice a week, never entered a safety rodeo and finished No. 15 in the world with $128,747, cashing fourth in Round 2 at the Governor’s Cup for $3,133 to hold her spot.
“I just had faith and I was like, if he makes it, he makes it. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t,” Aldridge said. “I’m not going to run the crap out of him to get it done. He don’t owe me anything.”
He came off that summer sound. Dr. Sharp looked at him four or five times on the road, nobody had to inject him or do any vet work all summer, and Dr. Lee trotted him a week before Guthrie and liked what he saw. That’s the part Aldridge wants to breed on.
Then Guthrie paid him. Each Young Guns round was worth $9,100 to Aldridge, $1,138 to Tres Seis and $1,138 to breeder Leslie Bailey of Pauls Valley, Okla. The average paid $18,200, $2,275 and $2,275. The same runs carried into the Pink Buckle Derby on Tres Seis’ eligibility, where Adios added 11th in the Round 1 1D for $3,218, $402 and $402, and ninth in the 1D average for $8,190, $1,024 and $1,024. That’s $47,808 in owner money across the two derbies.
Aldridge said the week pushed the winningest stallion of all time in the arena past $1.2 million.
“Very thankful for the opportunity to run for this kind of money,” Aldridge said. “I’m pretty sure I just won a third of what I did all year.”
He won Round 2 with a bell boot flipped up. Adios took an odd step at the first barrel and Aldridge rode out not knowing she had the lead. When he gets in a jam, he doesn’t tense up and he doesn’t panic, making it harder to identify.
“He’s so committed to his job,” Aldridge said. “It’s nice that he can take some missteps in the run and he’s still always going to come back true and honest.”
And his babies get to run for this kind of money too. Adios is a Young Guns League and Ruby Buckle stallion, and he goes into the Pink Buckle next year. His first five foals are 3-year-olds now and getting ready to run, including one Aldridge has with Jolene Montgomery. An embryo by Adios out of DesignerLeapToHeaven, the mare she calls Penny, sells in the Pink Buckle Horse Sale on Wednesday.
The Lazy E is also where he found Pop-Tarts. Blueberry, as a 3-year-old, and he’s been picky about flavors ever since. By last December the whole NFR knew it.
“I was in the tunnel and they started talking about Pop-Tarts and it audibly got louder,” Aldridge said. “It was such a surreal feeling to know all these people are here to cheer for him.”
Cathys Kandy and Carlee Otero were second in the Young Guns 1D average on 34.041 for $12,376, and Wolverrine and Kit Johnson were third for $9,464. Kissmybuttgoodbye and Taylor Langdon placed fourth for $6,698, with Wonder If Im Lucky and Heidi Gunderson fifth for $5,460. For full results, visit younggunsleague.com and pinkbuckle.com.
“I always joke that it’s Adios’ story and I’m just the way he tells it,” Aldridge said.
Pink Buckle coverage presented by Classic Equine.