LaTricia Duke wasn’t going to rodeo in 2026, but she’s seated No. 2 in the World Standings and ripping through the winter rodeos, forcing a different conversation on a yellow gelding.

Duke has already stacked nearly $70,000 and trails only reigning World Champion Kassie Mowry on DM He Will Run Em, “Carlos,” a 6-year-old that wasn’t supposed to be her rodeo horse this year.

“I had no clue,” Duke said. “I thought this was probably going to be the last time I ever get to go to the (indoor invitational rodeos). I was just going to go and hang out with my friends, season my horse and enjoy it.”

Carlos wasn’t informed of the plan.

At Houston, Duke and Carlos won their Super Series, advanced through the semifinals and finished third in the final four, banking roughly $29,000. He followed it with a strong showing in Austin and opened San Angelo with a first-round win worth $5,923, pushing Duke firmly into the top of the standings.

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The path to that run wasn’t linear.

Duke came into 2026 off a 23rd-place finish in the world standings on DM High Roller, “Vanilla Wafer,” after making the decision to retire him sound and shift her focus back to training before the close of the regular season.

“I felt like God had given me such an amazing gift and it was my job to be a good steward of it,” Duke said. “His health was more important, and we came home. And we cried a lot.”

What followed wasn’t a pivot back to rodeo. It was a reset.

“I was really lost,” Duke said. “I’d rodeoed for a few years and that had become kind of a habit of where you’re going to be and when. And then all of a sudden, you’re not doing that anymore. I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

“So I showed up and just rode every day at Kyle Leleux’ place. That’s all we did. We just rode. And I kind of fell back in love with training horses again.”

That’s where Carlos came back into the picture.

Out of Happy To Run Em, the same mare that produced DM High Roller, Carlos comes from one of the most proven maternal lines in Duke’s program. But his path has looked different from the start. He was broke as a 2-year-old by JoJo LeMond and spent time heading as a 3-year-old before ever really focusing on the barrels. He didn’t follow the futurity route and spent most of his early career getting hauled and seasoned instead of being built for one season.

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“He’s actually a really nice head horse,” Duke said. “And then I picked him up at four and just kind of got him started. I had him kind of high and loping the pattern and he was doing good, but I didn’t think he was that special yet.”

Even as others saw it coming, Duke didn’t rush it.

“Kyle kept telling me, ‘I think this horse is special,’” she said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure.’”

Through last year and into the winter, Carlos stayed in that in-between space.

“I felt like I was three or four tenths off of a really wicked rodeo horse,” Duke said. “He was placing, but he wasn’t there yet.”

The shift didn’t come with a clean win or a big moment. It just happened.

“I got back on him after that break, and I don’t know what happened, but he was flying and turning,” she said. “He just felt different.”

The formula still isn’t perfected, especially in outdoor situations.

“I think I was 19 seconds at Tucson,” Duke said. “We chased butterflies and squirrels.”

But even in the inconsistency, Carlos is maturing.

“There are moments where they turn into a grown-up,” Duke said. “And it’s not always when you win.”

One of those moments came in Austin on a run that didn’t pay.

“A guy was climbing over right as I went by, and he flattened out,” she said. “I picked him up early, and we were out of position. Everything was wrong. I thought we were fixing to blow by the first.”

“And he just melted down in the ground and got round and turned it. I mean, I crawled off on the side of him, we were set up bad for the second, and he just finished it.”

“I came out of there and thought, my horse is turning into a grown-up. That was probably the most proud I’ve been of him.”

That maturity is starting to show up in the results now.

Carlos has handled the pressure of the winter run, backing up runs across Houston, Austin and San Angelo while still learning on the job. His style is different than “Vanilla Wafer,” but it’s working in this setting.

“He can run around the turns and still make the back side,” Duke said. “And I appreciate that about him. And he’s quiet. I mean, I could walk the whole pattern in a perf.”

“Those kinds of horses, they transition to rodeo a lot better because they don’t get so upset. They just go run the barrels.”

Duke credits that mindset, along with her tried and true training practices, for how quickly he’s come along.

“I let my horses run through the barrels at home,” she said. “I think they have to learn that running isn’t scary. We manage their bodies, but we also have to manage their minds.”

“And if one of them ever does something that’s amazing, I’ll stop right there and get off. I want them to know, that’s what we’re looking for.”

Now sitting No. 2 in the world, Duke still isn’t treating this like a finished product. She’s backed off entries, given Carlos time, and is letting the horse dictate what comes next.

“At this point, it’s up to him,” she said. “If he’s having fun and acts like he’s staying relaxed and walking flat-footed down the alley, we’ll keep going. If it feels like it’s coming apart, we’ll go home.”

Because none of this was supposed to happen.

“There was a point where I thought I should probably just turn out of the buildings and let somebody else have a chance,” Duke said. “I really thought that was it.”

“I’ve stopped saying I’m not rodeoing. Carlos had different ideas.”

Hear a full conversation with Duke about Carlos and her ProRodeo lessons on The Money Barrel, exclusive for their Patreon subscribers. Patreon.com/themoneybarrel

2026 WPRA World Standings

As of April 08, 2026, from WPRA.com