Rylee Jo Maryman set the pace as the first girl out, and held to win win the Hooey Jr. Patriot 19-&-Under Barrel Racing Finals on Heaven Help Me Fly for $40,000.
From the time she took off in the alleyway of the Will Rogers Coliseum, Maryman has full intent to make the rest of the field chase her.
“I planned to just go in there and make the same run we’d been making,” Maryman said. “If you safety up, you’re going to take (the barrels) all out, so you might as well let him go run.”
Maryman, a 17-year-old from St. Francisville, Louisiana, and “Fly” clocked a 15.308—the fastest barrel run of the entire week of barrel racing action in Fort Worth, including Open and Youth action. Maryman has been attending the Hooey Jr. Patriot since its inception, so the win holds a special spot for her.
“I’m very excited,” Maryman said. “I’ve been coming since (the Hooey Junior Patriot) started. I made the finals the first year it started on another horse that’s now retired.”
The win is also significant to Maryman because she’s just beginning her partnership with Fly. The 9-year-old gelding is owned by Lindsey Netterville of High Cotton Performance Horses. Netterville approached Maryman in June 2024 about running the son of JL Dash Ta Heaven ouf of Gin N Firewater by Fire Water Flit.
“He’s not mine, but he is sure like ours,” Maryman said. “I don’t keep him during the week—he stays with his owners. She does all the work, and I just get to run him. I do ride a few more for her, she just keeps him there. He’s a lot to deal with some days, so she likes to keep him.”
Fly’s personality keeps Maryman on her toes, but understanding him has helped their partnership flourish.
“He knows he is the king, and he knows he’s pretty, so he can be a turd,” Maryman said with a laugh. “He does like to bite people. He’s just ready to run all the time. He’s a big teddy bear, though.”
When it comes to barrel horses, Maryman likes ones that runs hard across the pen but also can turn, even in tough conditions. Fly checks all those boxes.
“He’s real turny on the front end, and I think that’s why when you get in this deep stuff,” Maryman explained. “He’s so big that no matter how deep it is, he can run in it.”
