Heidi Gunderson and Wonder If Im Lucky won the 2026 Ruby Buckle Central Derby average on Tuesday in 33.634, with the Round 2 winner clocking the fastest run of the Derby on a standard pattern in 16.693.
The pair stacked an eighth-place 16.941 in Round 1 with the Round 2 title for an unofficial $24,564 across the event. The average paid $12,500 to owner Shannon Kulseth of Purcell, Oklahoma, plus $1,563 each to the Myers family for Lucky Wonder Horse and breeder Stephanie Langford-Cleveland of Bristow, Oklahoma.
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The 16.693 was a personal best for the 5-year-old gelding on a standard pattern. Gunderson said she knew the speed was there before she got to the alley.
“Mark texted me this morning and he said, ‘What’s Casey gonna run today?’ And I said, ‘A 16-7.’ But in the back of my mind, I didn’t want to say it out loud. I was like, but he can run a 6. And he ran a 6 today.”
The Round 2 trip itself was clean from the first barrel.
“He came in so hard. And when he come around the first, he just didn’t step out,” Gunderson said. “He just came around it and ran hard across the pen. And I feel like leaving the arena, he was just hitting gears. He did not let up the whole way to the line. And I was excited, I fist pumped.”
Wonder If Im Lucky, a 2021 bay gelding by Lucky Wonder Horse out of Ts Sunnys Superstar by PC Mr Sun Peppy, has been one of the most decorated young horses in the sport since his first timed runs. He won six futurities in 2024 and took the Young Guns League title before being named the 2025 Futurity Horse of the Year. The honor caught Gunderson off guard. The gelding had been sent home from BFA and missed the Oklahoma City finale, leaving her assuming the title was out of reach.
“Shannon and I thought that he would need those for him to be Futurity Horse of the Year, ” Gunderson explained. “HP HotRod had a lot of money won last year, and Kathy Grimes’ (KG Just Money) had a lot of money won last year. We thought they were ahead of us. But when it was just for charity money, when they called me, I was like, ‘Are you sure? Did you add it up right?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, it is.’ That was something I never thought I’d get to do in my career.”
This spring, the gelding has only added to the file. He took the National Western Stock Show in Denver, and most recently won the American Central Regional Finals in Oklahoma City. The regional title qualifies the pair for The American Rodeo in Arlington next month, where $2 million is on the line. By Tuesday at the Lazy E, Gunderson said, the gelding had every reason to be tired.
“I knew today, we’re going home after this and you’re gonna get a break before the American finals,” Gunderson said. “And he just was like, ‘I’m not done yet.'”
For Gunderson, the gelding feels different than anything she’s ridden.
“I’ve never rode a horse like him before. I rode good horses and trained good horses,” Gunderson said. “But as a trainer, when you get to get on a horse like this, it’s just dreams coming true, run after run. Sometimes I think, okay, when is it gonna end? Horses only have so many runs, and you’re just taking care of them as good as you can and keep them as happy as you can. And he just keeps getting stronger and better.”
His running style has thrown people off since his juvenile year.
“For him, ever since we started from his first run at the juvenile, people would say, ‘Oh, it doesn’t even look like he’s going that fast.’ I’m like, ‘Well, I think he is.'”
The team behind Wonder is small. Mark started the gelding. Heidi trained him. Kulseth lives nearby in Oklahoma and lets the Gundersons make every call.
“Shannon’s just really given us free reign to do whatever we think is best for him,” Gunderson said. “We’re just a team, all of us together. I couldn’t do it without her. And I couldn’t do it without Mark.”
The wins came in a week marked by family loss. Gunderson recently lost her sister-in-law, Lindsey Anne, and Tuesday’s title carried that weight.
“This last week for our family has been kind of emotional. There has definitely been a divine intervention these last couple weeks. And she’s with us. This one I think was for my nieces Carly and Maya and my nephew Bentley. This one was for them.”
Lindsey Anne, used to be the loudest in their cheering section. Her niece Carly was one of the first to text after Tuesday’s win.
“Oh, Carly was watching the laptop at school,” Gunderson said. “She’s probably not supposed to be watching the live stream, but she was one of the first texts I got. So her mom used to cheer for us so loud. So now they get to.”