Age is nothing but a number!
At 61-years-old, Dona Kay Rule qualified for NFR for the first time and she didn’t stop there. With a time of 13.69 seconds Friday night, she won Round 2 of barrel racing by four-tenths of a second.
“I’m not sure you can ever put that into words, we all work our tails off and we hope that as a little girl riding our ponies around the backyard that that’s us someday and it’s me today,” she said of her win. “I’m not sure I completely soaked in that yet but, you know, we all hope for it and with this group of ladies I’m pretty tickled with it, the way it went this evening.”
Rule was riding High Valor, the 2019 Purina Horse of the Year, whom she called “beautiful” and “wonderful.”
“I’ve really enjoyed him,” she said.
Dona Kay Rule was not the only NFR rookie with a stellar Round 2 performance. Emily Miller, who won Round 1 Thursday thanks to a blistering ride of 13.63 seconds, took third. Her time of 13.74 put her just behind Hailey Kinsel who came in at 13.73. Miller now ranks No. 4 in the world standings and Kinsel is No. 2.
Lisa Lockhart remains in first place in the world standings after a sixth place finish Friday.
Barrel Racing World Standings (NFR money in parentheses)
1. Lisa Lockhart - $181,313 ($34,961)
2. Hailey Kinsel $179,597 ($30,730)
3. Nellie Miller $175,610 ($21,000)
4. Emily Miller $150,029 ($51,884)
5. Dona Kay Rule $132,738 ($36,230)