Junior Country Girl, QData’s No. 9 all-time leading barrel racing dam with $1,141,138 in offspring earnings and a legacy of talented offspring, died on Apr. 15 at the age of 29.
Longtime owner, Karma Loftin shared the news on social media the evening of , announcing her devastation at the loss of “Country Girl.”
“I lost my heart tonight,” Loftin said. “Goodbye my love, my Country Girl.”
Junior Country Girl is one of the modern matriarchs fans have come to know of and adore thanks to the massive successes of her lineup of foals. Her foals have had success not only in the United States, but have been sold across seas to China and other countries and continued to expand her reach in the industry. Her legacy started many years ago, when Loftin noticed the standout athlete at a local barrel race.
“I saw Country Girl when she was 3 and tied to a girl’s trailer. I was like ‘Wow, what a good looking mare!’ At the time, they had exhibition stakes right where they had the barrel stakes for the open. Her time (in exhibition) outran 300-400 people….She was perfect for me, but I couldn’t get her bought. No money could have bought her until that girl finished with her. She actually didn’t belong to her, she belonged to a man in North Mississippi. A little time later, I found out she’d actually been turned out to pasture. So I called him up and asked if I could buy that mare. Now, I wanted to pay less and he wanted me to pay more than what we settled on, but we were both happy with the deal.”
Karma Loftin, The Money Barrel
KL Touch Of Heaven
KL Touch Of Heaven weighs in as the winningest of Country Girl’s offspring at $552,625 in QData’s recorded lifetime earnings. After years of success with Mowry, multi-time NFR qualifier Carlee Otero took the reins in 2023 and has sense made waves at major jackpots and rodeos as 2024 rolled over.
The Ride TV Replay: Carlee Otero Talks NFR Runs, Blingolena and KL Touch Of Heaven
FireWaterMakesMeHappy
Better known as “Happy,” the NFR go-round winning stallion amassed $433,319 in earnings in his lifetime before his foals began doing their own winning inside the barrel racing arena. He represents Country Girl’s cross on Robyn Herring’s FireWaterOnTheRocks.
Country Girl has eight money-earning AQHA foals in the barrel racing with average earnings of $142,642 per money-earner.
Here’s her earning breakdown by stallion cross.
JL DASH TA HEAVEN: $552,625.00
FIREWATERONTHEROCKS: $433,319.00
PERKS MASTER: $64,500.00
EPIC LEADER: $58,515.00
CONFEDERATE LEADER: $7,302.00
BLAZIN JETOLENA: $2,113.00
Check out Junior Country Girl’s Full QData Report as of April 2024 here.
