SENIOR BARREL RACING

MAKE THAT A THIRD.

BY CHRISTINE HAMILTON, JOURNAL EDITOR

AQHA Executive Vice President Don Treadway Jr. presents the trophy to Lance Graves and Famous Ed.

It was a third consecutive barrel racing world championship for Lance Graves and Famous Ed when they won the finals in senior barrels on November 6 at the 2009 AQHA World Championship Show: The pair won the junior barrel racing world championship in 2007 and 2008. They had the fifth-fastest time in the prelims with a :16.475; their finish time of :16.175 took their combined time to a :32.650 and the win. With family and friends in the stands, including the horse’s 12-year-old owner, Madison Montchal of Atalissa, Iowa, Lance signed his world champion’s T-shirts and threw them to the stands. His hands were shaking – a world championship win never gets to be old hat. Lance’s parents, James and Chan, were at home watching via the Fort Dodge Web Cam. Lance also finished sixth in the finals on his dad’s horse, 2003 junior barrels world champion What Fame. The Journal caught up with him just after the win.

Q: Three in a row! Tell me a little about you and this horse.

Lance: This horse follows a little bit different competition schedule each year. I sold him when he was a 5-year-old to the Montchal family of Iowa. And the goal for that horse was to be a nice, solid horse by the time she got older, she could grow up with me while she grew up, I was coaching her and they could come together. So she rides him for a couple of months every year, and then in the fall I get him ready for the championship shows – the AQHA, the (Barrel Futurities of America) and a couple of others. It has been pretty good, we’ve had some ups and downs like every young horse, but he’s an unbelievably talented individual. He’s really willing and he’ll give you every ounce that he has.

Q: Who is here to cheer you on?

Lance: Madison (the owner) is here, she just turned 12 a couple of weeks ago, and she got to be here. They brought her down and left her with us at the ranch; she stays with us quite a bit. She got to come, but her mom and dad didn’t get to come. And my wife (Stacy) she has been here for all of these world championships; my brother-in-law, Pete Oen, is here; Shelly Stewart who is our right hand at the farm is here; and both of my daughters, Kelsey and Masie Marie, the little one.

(Masie) She doesn’t understand what a world championship means, she just understands that the trophies are really pretty, and she’d really like for “Da-da” to get one! Last night she said, “Are you going to get the trophy tomorrow night, Da-da?” And I said, “Oh, honey, we’re going to try to do the best we can, and we’ll just see what happens.” It’s kind of funny through a child’s eye; it doesn’t mean quite the same thing as it does to us.

Q: So, what does a world championship mean to you?

Lance: Maybe there’s nothing more self-satisfying than knowing you’ve poured your heart and your soul into an animal, and you can come together on a level to perform that way when it really counts. And he has always been the kind of little horse that when it really mattered, I could really count on him. He runs with no tie-down and with his ears down. He’s out of a cow horse mare and by the great Dash Ta Fame, which has been a blessing to my family’s life; he’s unbelievable. The little horse, to get to have that relationship with an animal, where they really want to give it to you when you really need it, is, not heart-warming, but a world championship like that, it’s hard to explain. ... It’s special when you count on an animal (for a performance) and he gives it to you, just because you want it.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add about your program?

Lance: I just really appreciate – we have 140 horses on our property, and – my mom and dad are watching from home, my dad has had some trouble with illness, but he’s picking up and doing a lot better. I’m so happy that they can watch this through the miracle of the Internet, and they can see – but with 140 horses to take care of, we don’t have a staff, it’s just us. And whether I’m here competing or we have to get back to the ranch to feed broodmares and foal foals, it’s the same four of us all the time. So, my wife, my brother-in-law and Shelly are a family that most people would dream of. I’m so blessed to have them to help with what I do and what we do as a family. I am the happiest guy in the world, today.

Fun Fact: Madison also barrel races on Lance’s stallion, Rios First Flit Bar.