The transition from precocious 3-year-old to successful 4-year-old can be challenging for some cutting horses, but Rebellicious showed she continues to mature with flying colors.
The daughter of EquiStat Elite $3 Million Sire Metallic Rebel and trainer James Payne bagged another aged-event win during the Arbuckle Mountain Futurity 4-Year-Old Open finals on Tuesday, Feb. 21, in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
They won with a 224. It earned a paycheck of $32,000 for owner Kathleen Moore, of Madill, Oklahoma.
It came on the heels of a good 3-year-old season, where Payne campaigned the daughter of Style My Lizzy (by Lizzys Stylish Player) in the early futurities. They won the Southern Cutting Futurity 3-Year-Old Open, and were Reserve Champions in the same class at that year’s West Texas Futurity.
Payne said he always felt like Rebellicious was going to make a good Open horse, but he likes to take Open-caliber horses to the early futurities their 3-year-old year. It can be a good way for them to stand out.
However, being a good derby horse requires a horse to show more responsibility than they did at 3.
“It takes a little bit of a transition from doing the small futurities to being in the 4-year-old derbies,” said Payne, a winner of more than $4 million. “So much of the small futurities, you’re just kind of try to make them listen and not make a mistake. And, once they turn 4, it’s kind of like you better go hold the cow and just read the cow and be accurate.”
Rebellicious showed she’s up to the job. She’s also cowy and quick, which doesn’t hurt either.
In the 4-Year-Old Open finals at the Arbuckle, Payne said the mare was the best he’s had her be walking into the pen — meaning, she wasn’t too fresh and she wasn’t too tired. Rebellicious was just right.
“It’s the best … that I’ve had her to where she’s been very steady, but also very explosive and very bright like what she is,” he said.
The $32,000 first-place paycheck at the Arbuckle pushed her lifetime earnings to more than $84,721.
Payne will continue to show the Tim Drummond-bred mare in the 4-Year-Old Open. The plan is that her owner, Moore, also will show her in some Non-Pro events.
The Arbuckle Mountain Futurity 4-Year-Old Open Reserve Championship went to Nineteen 43 and Wesley Galyean, who marked a 223 for owner SMF Cutting Horses, LLC. Nineteen 42 is a son of Hottish and out of Lil Rattler (by Dual Rey).
Click here for the full order of finish from the 4-Year-Old Open finals at the 2023 Arbuckle Mountain Futurity.
