Texas Barrel Racer Dominating Denver’s National Western Stock Show

Talk about fast! Brittany Fellows from Whitt, Texas made an impressive entrance to the National Western Stock Show. The Colorado native has moved to Texas but still claims the Mountain States Circuit as her home.

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She made everyone on her team proud when she came back “home” and performed in the sixth bracket of the rodeo in Denver, Colo. The talented cowgirl came roaring down the alleyway in the first round and when she finished she was atop the leaderboard of not just her set but also the entire first round.

Fellows Succeeding on Brand New Purchase

Fellows was partnered with a 5-year-old mare, Neon Lites in her showing at the rodeo. The intereresting part is that Fellows didn’t qualify to the rodeo on the same horse.

Given that Fellows wasn’t among those qualifying to enter the rodeo directly, she had to earn her way to the performances through the qualifier held earlier this month. MJ Letta Lane Do It was her choice for the qualifier and was actually going to be the one to come running down the alley at the rodeo.

MJ did her part and qualified the duo to move on to the performances. Fellows had every intention to allow that mare the chance to go on and prove herself at the actual rodeo.

Fate came into play and looks like so far, it has been good to Fellows. Following the qualifier, Fellows was tagged in a post about a horse for sale. She loved the videos she saw and took immediate action to add Neon Lites to her crew.

“I actually bought her sight unseen, which is very out of the ordinary for me, but the stars aligned. I was tagged in the sales post a few days after the Denver qualifier and it was up for just a few minutes at that point. As soon as I saw the videos, I knew she was the one. I told Elaina I wanted to schedule a pre-purchase on her that night.”

The rest is history.

Fellows Success at Denver

In Round 1, Fellows ran the fastest time of the entire rodeo thus far in Denver. Stopping the clock at a smoking fast, 14.71 seconds, Fellows took a commanding lead. The next closest horses were two tenths slower at 14.91, which is still an impressive time, but not within touching distance of the newly paired talents.

Round 2 was also good to Fellows. Coming back the very same day, Fellows and Neon Lites set the crowd on their feet after posting another incredible run of 14.87 where she also took the lead of the second round. That means Fellows and her new mount have run the two fastest times of the entire rodeo.

“My original plan this year was just to make the Mountain States Circuit Finals. I’m going to go home after this and sit down and make a plan on if I need to shift gears a little,” Fellows said proudly.

She has likely already qualified for the Mountain States Circuit Finals assuming her upcoming winnings in Denver. Nothing is official yet, but the cowgirl is winning both rounds with just one set left to go. After that, she will just need to get her required rodeo count in if she maintains the goal of making the MSCF. She may need to re-evaluate that goal, though, and make it much larger.

With a showing like this after only owning the horse for a few weeks and making only a few runs, Fellows could be headed for the most successful campaign of her career.

“I’ve never pulled the trigger that fast on anything in my life. She got to my house about a week later, and I’ll admit I was questioning myself after my first ride on her. She kinda rides around like an old rope horse that doesn’t know anything fancy. She is one of those horses you have got to just ‘keep it simple stupid’ method.

“My first competition run, I caught a barrel on her to set the arena record at Park Your Pony in Stephenville. After that, it just took off. We went to a jackpot the day I left for Denver. We won it, and then she came to her first rodeo [Denver], and had a clean sweep of our bracket. She has just left me speechless. She has handled it all like she’s 10 years old.”

Fellows quickly gave credit to Elaina McKinney, who owned the mare and took her to the futurities last year. Neon Lites is by The Goodbye Lane, and per Fellows won about $40,000 at the futurities with McKinney aboard.

Now, Fellows will allow the mare to shine under the lights of rodeo, and if Denver is any indication, this will be a pair to watch all year.

Other Winners in Bracket 6 of Denver