PRCA/WPRA AQHA Horses of the Year
Announced...
From the PRCA...
Zan captures third straight AQHA Horse
of the Year award
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Rodney Burks
isn’t headed to the Wrangler National
Finals Rodeo later this year, but that
hasn’t stopped him from enjoying one of
his finest seasons.
That’s because Burks and his father Jim
own the great steer wrestling horse FF
Zans A Baron Jack, or “Zan,” who
recently earned honors for the third
straight year as the American Quarter
Horse Association Horse of the Year.
It marks the first time a steer
wrestling horse has been honored three
consecutive years. Team roping heading
horse Oklahoma Top Hat (Scooter), owned
by Charles Pogue, has the overall record
with six titles (1991-93, 1997-99).
“This won’t ever get old,” Burks said.
“I couldn’t say that one year is better
than the other, but I know I’ll never
find another horse like that. He’s a
once-in-a-lifetime kind of horse. It’s a
great honor.”
Zan has carried several of this year’s
top-ranked cowboys to major victories,
including standings leader Dean Gorsuch
of Gering, Neb., and Ronnie Fields of
Oklahoma City, who’s ranked third in the
standings and rode Zan last year en
route to qualifying for the Wrangler NFR.
Coming up next for Zan is the Wrangler
ProRodeo Tour Championship, hosted by
the Texas Stampede, Nov. 10-12 in
Dallas. The horse will carry Gorsuch,
Dean and Wade Sumpter in the American
Airlines Center and later Gorsuch and
Dean at the Wrangler National Finals
Rodeo, Nov. 30-Dec. 9 in Las Vegas.
Since 1989, the AQHA has annually
honored the top three steer wrestling,
tie-down roping, team roping, steer
roping and barrel racing horses in the
PRCA. Horse owners receive a bonus and a
bronze statue for their accomplishment.
The top PRCA and WPRA timed-event
contestants conduct the voting.
The other top vote-getters all won their
event for the first time: team roping
(heading) – Nicks Rockets Rojo
(Nickolas), owned and ridden by Matt
Sherwood; team roping (heeling) –
Baileys Cooper Doc (Diesel), owned and
ridden by Randon Adams; tie-down roping
– Express on Heir (Luke), owned by
Darren Blanton and ridden by Cody Ohl;
steer roping – Okays Sunbeam (Dunny),
owned by J.P. and Patt Wickett and
ridden by J.P. Wickett; and barrel
racing – Rare Fred (Fred), owned by
Ronald H. Martin and ridden by Mary
Burger.
Gorsuch turned his year around at
RodeoHouston in March when he joined
Burks and Fields as a traveling partner
and, with Zan’s help, earned the average
title and nearly $13,000. Fields claimed
his season’s biggest victory aboard Zan
at the Pace Picante ProRodeo Chute-out,
May 12-14 in Tulsa, Okla.
“Without him, I wouldn’t be where I am
today,” Gorsuch said. “At Houston, a
spot opened up in Rodney’s traveling
group, and I ended up getting in. I rode
Zan for the first time and won. He’s
good anywhere you take him.”
Added Fields: “I tell people all the
time that I’m the most fortunate person
in rodeo to have a horse like that. He
works in any condition, to Salinas
(Calif.), which has a really long score,
to a smaller arena like Tulsa. He can
outrun anything.
