Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi and her family’s homebred Blazzin The Way put a stamp on the 2026 Ruby Buckle Central Futurity at the Lazy E Arena, taking the 1D Round 1 and the 1D Average.
The 5-year-old sorrel stallion by Blazin Jetolena and out of Ima Famous Babe—Tonozzi’s late NFR mare known to her family and her fans as Katniss—went 16.956 in Round 1 and 17.023 in Round 2 for a 33.979 aggregate, a $16,000 Average payout to Brittany and Garrett Tonozzi of Lampasas, Texas, and another $4,000 split between Blazin Jetolena’s stallion incentive and the Tonozzis as the breeders.
Across three Futurity payouts plus rollover money in the Open class go-rounds and Average and the Owner/Rider sidepot, Blazzin The Way produced $34,622 in owner, stallion incentive, and breeder dollars over the week.
The Futurity money accounted for $32,750. Full payout breakdown here. The Round 1 16.956 also saw money earned in the Open and Owner/Rider rolls.
“I don’t know how you get a faster second barrel,” Tonozzi said after the Round 1 win. “He’s just so easy, riding to the third you can ride him one-handed. This horse just makes barrel racing fun. He’s impressed us so much, and we love him.”
The mare line behind Blazzin The Way is one of the most decorated in barrel racing. Tonozzi bought his great-granddam, Streakin Six Babe, from Charmayne James the year after her rookie season—around 2004 to 2005— when she decided to get into the breeding business. Streakin Six Babe had been claimed off the Los Alamitos racetrack on Charmayne’s behalf by Danyelle Campbell.
The first foal Tonozzi got out of her was Ima Super Fly Guy, who carried her to a placing at the National Finals Rodeo. From there, the line built one decorated daughter after another, including Babe On The Chase, the family’s leading earner, and Ima Famous Babe, the mare Tonozzi competed at the NFR and called Katniss.
“Without her, my program wouldn’t be anywhere near what it is today,” Tonozzi said of Streakin Six Babe. “She’s been in some different hands, and it’s just a neat little circle that all the girl racers have got to enjoy her.”
Tonozzi only got three foals out of Katniss before the mare’s death in 2022. Blazzin The Way is one of those three. He came from a double flush — Tonozzi kept one recip pregnancy, and Andrea Busby got the other. Busby ended up with the filly, Tonozzi ended up with the stud. The full sister futurity-ed last year for Busby and ran well.
The Blazin Jetolena cross was a deliberate decision. Tonozzi had ridden her great Benny on the Blazin Jetolena over Dash Ta Fame cross at the NFR, and that experience set the direction for the breeding program.
“I just knew that was the cross I wanted to carry on with,” Tonozzi said. “They’re just so trainable and so reliable, and they make barrel racing fun. I think Kat has put her little spin on Blazin Jetolena, and it’s just the perfect match.”
Losing Katniss has shaped how Tonozzi has built around her offspring.
“We only got three babies out of her, and that was the devastation to our program,” Tonozzi said. “I’m really excited about putting him back into my program and putting Katniss back into my program, because losing her was such a devastation.”
Brittany doesn’t take all the credit for getting Blazzin The Way to championship form. Her husband Garrett rode him through the entire 3-year-old year. Brittany didn’t get on him until the middle to end of his 4-year-old year, and Garrett had been roping on him in prep this week.
“He just will do anything you ask him to do,” Brittany said. “Garrett rode him his whole 3-year-old year. He made my life as a trainer of Blazzin The Way just so much easier.”
Tonozzi has won three WPRA World Championships and made 18 trips to the NFR. The mare line behind Blazzin The Way runs through her entire career, and the breeding program she started in the mid-2000s has become as central to her identity as her rodeo record. At the Lazy E this week she rode multiple Streakin Six Babe grand-get in the draw.
Blazzin The Way is currently Ruby Buckle eligible. Next year he will add Pink Buckle, Riata Buckle, and Young Guns enrollment, with Garrett expected to rope on him during Riata week. Brittany’s daughter Tinlee has bred her pony to Blazzin The Way, and the resulting foal is set for a future Pink Buckle Sale.
For Tonozzi, the Buckle events have changed what’s possible in the industry, and what’s possible for the next generation in her own household.
“Because of these guys at the Pink Buckle and Ruby Buckle, I feel like my daughter can go on and make a good living for herself if she wants to running barrels,” Tonozzi said. “When I first started out, it was basically just the rodeos, and you broke even or lost money until the NFR. These events have elevated the industry, and they’ve made other producers step up. We get to have four or five futurity NFRs every year, and that’s really cool to see.”
