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Rubys Radar and Zane Davis won the first $150,000 Invitational Fence Work Challenge at The Run For A Million. • Photo by Molly Montag.

On Target! Rubys Radar & Zane Davis Win $150,000 Fence Work Challenge

Veteran bridle horse Rubys Radar and trainer Zane Davis are quite the team.

Davis, of Blackfoot, Idaho, and the 11-year-old son of EquiStat Elite $19 Million Sire One Time Pepto called on their decade of experience together to best 14 of the country’s best bridle horses at the inaugural $150,000 Teton Ridge Invitational Fence Work Challenge in Las Vegas.

The event, held during The Run For A Million, was open to the top 15 riders on the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA) Open Rider List. Trainers could pick any horse they wanted — so long as it was a bridle horse according to NRCHA rules — and Davis was right to choose Rubys Radar.

He and the red roan stallion marked a 224.5 in the reined work and 229 down the fence, which gave them the winning composite of 453.5. The $60,000 first-place paycheck pushed the lifetime EquiStat record of Billie Filippini’s red roan stallion to more than $259,431.

“I’ve had him since he was a yearling. He’s rarely ever been out of the money,” said Davis, who rode the horse to the 2014 NRCHA Hackamore Classic Open Championship. “As long as I prepare him right, he’s really hard to beat. He’s always been consistent.”

Although Filippini wasn’t able to be at the South Point to watch her horse win the Challenge, Davis was sure she was watching. The resident of Battle Mountain, Nevada, always watches Rubys Radar’s exploits, he said.

“She’s probably the happiest lady in Nevada tonight,” he said.

Davis also was happy.

Rubys Radar has come close to winning a number of big events – earning the Reserve Championship in the 2014 NRCHA Stallion Stakes and 2019 World’s Greatest Horseman Reserve Championship – but Davis was glad that in the Invitational Fence Work Challenge, the stallion got the win.

“He’s fallen short of a couple of big titles that I’d hoped he’d won, and I’m glad tonight is his night,” he said. “He needed it.”

Rubys Radar is out of Ruby Bagonia (by Peppy San Badger)

The Invitational Fence Work Challenge Reserve Championship went to Travelin Miss Jonez and Sarah Dawson, who marked a composite of 450. They earned $22,500 for the runner-up spot.

The final order of finish (horse/rider/composite):
3T) CSR Lay Down Sally/Chris Dawson/446
3T) Metallic Train/Clayton Edsall/446
5) Thecrowdlovesme/Corey Cushing/441
6) Quahadi/Boyd Rice/436.5
7T) Red Hot Jade/John Swales/435.5
7T) Im So Stunning/Erin Taormino/435.5
9) Duals Lucky Charm/Kelby Phillips/433
10) Shiney Outlaw/Clay Volmer/431.5
11) Smart Ladies Sparkle/Matt Koch/429.5
12) Mr Comin In Hot/Luke Jones/428.5
13) Light And Sassy/Justin Wright/425.5
14) Remember The Magic/Lance Johnston/424.5
15) High Stressin Cat/Nick Dowers/222

Looking for the latest happenings from The Run For A Million? Click here for QHN’s comprehensive coverage of the 2021 The Run For A Million.