Horses of the 2024 BFI
It’s all about the horsepower at the BFI, and Jake Cooper Clay’s RLLittleBit and Trey Yates’s Marlboro Cat were named Head and Heel Horse of the 2024 BFI presented by Dixon Flowers Rope Horses. Both cowboys have quite the horse history at this roping, as it was Jake’s third Head Horse of the BFI award and Trey’s second Heel Horse of the BFI honor.
Clay, who won the 2022 BFI with Billie Jack Saebens, made this year’s short round with Yates heading on a 9-year-old sorrel he calls Louie.
“My cousin Wayne Clay sent me this horse when he was 6 to make a head horse out of him to sell,” Jake said. “He was a ranch horse that hadn’t been roped on until he was 6. We pig hunted on him before I started roping on him. He liked the roping, and I didn’t think we should sell him. So Wayne told me we’ll just be partners on him as long as I want to ride him. And here we are.
“Louie’s just easy to rope on. He scored really good today, was really good in the field and faced good. He just gives me the opportunity to do my job every time. I don’t know how anybody else would like him, but he’s good for me.”
This was Clay’s fourth-straight BFI short round, and the head horses he’s ridden have everything to do with that. Jake took Head Horse of the 2021 BFI honors on Kevin Williams’ LeRoy, then Head Horse of the 2022 BFI on his horse Sun before this third horse award on Louie.
“I started heading in 2020, and have been super blessed to ride some great horses,” he said. “Sun’s 19 now, and I’ll still rodeo on him some. But this is a tough day on a head horse, so Louie got the call. Louie and Sun share a pen at home, so I figure Sun talked Louie into doing good today.”
Zac Small and Wesley Thorp won the 2016 BFI with Small on Sun, right before Small put his ropes up to go to vet school. When Driggers and Nogueira finished fourth in the 2018 BFI average, Kaleb was riding Sun.
“A head horse is everything at this roping,” Clay said. “The steers run hard, it’s the longest barrier of any roping we go to, and it’s all day long. The BFI is the hardest setup, and it takes a special horse to be good at this roping. They have to be able to do it, and they have to be tough.”
Three generations of the Yates family, including patriarch Dick, JD and sister Kelly (in 1984, the three of them became the first and only father-son-daughter combo in NFR history), and now Trey are all about the horses. Trey calls this year’s Heel Horse of the BFI Sugar Daddy down at the barn, and the 10-year-old blaze-faced chestnut with two white socks is a former futurity and show horse that’s been in the Yates remuda three years now.
“There were times I about gave up on him,” Trey said. “But this horse has got grit and heart, because every time I about gave up on him, he did something amazing. He wants to do right, he wants to win and he puts me in a position to win. When I don’t win, it’s not his fault.
“Sugar Daddy was amazing all day today. He stay collected the whole time, and gave me 150%. That’s what makes great horses—they give you their all every single time. And this horse does that.”
Yates won his first Heel Horse of the BFI award in 2020 on Nic Of Shine, a black horse he called Tux.
“Tux was one in a million, too,” Trey said. “This award means a lot to my family. When your horse stands out over 125 horses, that’s a pretty big accomplishment. My dad won Head Horse of the BFI twice, and a Heel Horse of the BFI award (JD and cousin Jay Wadhams won the 2010 BFI with Jay riding JD’s Colonel Cal Dee, aka “A”; JD’s Head Horse of the BFI awards were won in 2008 on Buster, and in 2018 on Turbo), as well. We take pride in our horses as a family. If I get my butt kicked, it won’t be because I didn’t show up prepared and my horse wasn’t ready.”
Clay and Yates were presented $2,000 bonus checks, Lost Prairie Bronzes by Steve Miller, Best Ever Pads, Classic Equine Horse Blankets and Equinety.
| Year | Roper Name | Horse Name |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | RILEY MINOR | KETCHUP |
| BRAD CULPEPPER | PREACHER | |
| 2013 | BRANDON BEERS | LACEY’S FAST JEWEL |
| CODY COWDEN | RATTLER | |
| 2014 | ADAM ROSE | |
| RYAN MOTES | CD STARBUCKS | |
| 2015 | ERICH ROGERS | BUGS NIGHT ROBBER |
| CLAY COOPER | LB | |
| 2016 | RILEY MINOR | RK TUFF TRINKET |
| ZANE BRUCE | VALHALLA FOXY SHINER | |
| 2017 | COLEMAN PROCTOR | LIKE A CAT |
| BILLIE JACK SAEBENS | DOMINO LENA | |
| 2018 | JD YATES | BRONZE DUDE |
| BILLIE JACK SAEBENS | JACKS PROBABLY BACK | |
| 2019 | RILEY MINOR | RK TUFF TRINKET |
| Lane Siggins | Amigos Sonita Last | |
| 2020 | Chris Francis | Ima Monty Leo |
| Trey Yates | In The Nic Of Shine | |
| 2021 | Jake Cooper Clay | Shining Freckles |
| Kory Koontz | Mr JB 0839 | |
| 2022 | Jake Cooper Clay | Streakin Sun Dew |
| Joseph Harrison | Freckles Instant Coffee | |
| 2023 | Clint Summers | Mr Joes Shadow Bar |
| Logan Medlin | TRR Freckles Holidoc | |
| 2024 | Jake Cooper Clay | Rllittlebit |
| Trey Yates | Marlboro Cat |
By BFI