‘Round the Barrels
By: Ruth Nicolaus
Some of the best barrel racers in the world to compete at Phillipsburg rodeo
The number six-ranked barrel racer in the world, Hailey Kinsel, will compete at Kansas Biggest Rodeo this week. The Cotulla, Texas cowgirl is also the 2021 Kansas Biggest Rodeo champion barrel racer. Photo by Kent Soule.
Phillipsburg, Kan. – Some of the fastest horses in the nation will be in Phillipsburg for this year’s Kansas Biggest Rodeo.
And they’re bringing their cowgirls with them.
Out of the top fifteen barrel racers in the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association (WPRA) world standings, the Phillipsburg rodeo will host seven of them during slack competition and the rodeo, which runs August 4-6.
Last year’s Phillipsburg rodeo barrel racing champion returns to defend her title.
Hailey Kinsel, the three-time world champion, will compete in Philipsburg during slack on August 3.
She’ll be on one of her young horses, a five-year-old mare named Valentina.
Kinsel is ranked sixth in the world standings right now, and because of strong winnings this winter, is choosing to rodeo on younger, less experienced horses.
That’s for two reasons: to give her main horse, Sister, a break, and to give younger horses, like Valentina, more experience.
“I’ve stayed off of Sister more this summer,” Kinsel said. “I plan to bring her out, but it’s a nice thing to get out of your comfort zone and ride other horses. I have these really nice young horses that would be sitting at home.”
In Phillipsburg, she’ll be on a five-year-old mare named Valentina.
Her younger horses require more work of Kinsel, she said. “It’s definitely not as easy to show up and win on them, but it’s stretching me as a jockey and giving them good experience.”
Last year, in Phillipsburg, Kinsel set a record with her 16.61 second run: the second fastest run on a WPRA standard pattern at a rodeo.
Kinsel also holds the record for the fastest run at a rodeo: at the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (16.56 seconds) and the third fastest run at a rodeo: at the 2020 Dodge City rodeo (16.63).
It’s all due to Sister, whose registered name is DM Sissy Hayday and who was her mount for her 2021 Phillipsburg win.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get on a faster horse than that,” she said. “I don’t know any horse on the planet as talented as she is. She’s so special to me.”
Kinsel will compete in Hill City on August 2 before coming to Phillipsburg on August 3.
The reigning world champion barrel racer Jordon Briggs has made numerous trips to Phillipsburg.
The daughter of world champion barrel racer Kristie Peterson, Briggs was a kid when she tagged along with her mother to Phillipsburg, which Peterson won in 1995 and 1997.
Now she’s followed in her mother’s footsteps as a professional barrel racer.
Briggs leads the 2022 world standings, and in Phillipsburg, will be riding Rollo, her eight-year-old gelding and the 2021 Barrel Racing Horse of the World.
Rollo, whose registered name is Famous Lil Jet, loves the Phillipsburg arena. “He likes the harder ground, and (Phillipsburg) is kind of a hard setup,” Briggs said, with barrel racers entering through the corner and barrel pattern being set up a little crooked.
Briggs also appreciates Phillipsburg and calls it a “fair” rodeo for her event, meaning that ground conditions are constant during the entire rodeo: no matter what performance or slack a cowgirl might compete in, she has a chance to win.
“My mom came to that rodeo all the time,” Briggs remembered, “and she always loved the Kansas rodeos and Phillipsburg especially. I just grew up liking that rodeo.” Briggs will compete during slack on August 3.
The 2019 Phillipsburg barrel racing champion Michelle Darling will also compete at Kansas Biggest Rodeo.
The Medford, Okla. cowgirl is ranked the highest she’s ever been in the world standings, in tenth place, and hopes to be headed to her first National Finals.
She’s riding the same horse that carried her to a 2019 Phillipsburg win, Martini, a twelve-year-old mare.
Martini, whose registered name is Morning Traffic, is described by Darling as a “unicorn,” she said. She’s “very fiery,” Darling said. “She has a lot of quirks and is pretty ornery. She’s a busy horse, always into something. She does her job but you have to work for it,”
Darling won the 2019 Phillipsburg rodeo with a time of 16.88 seconds.
Shelley Morgan, Phillipsburg’s 2020 champion (16.76 seconds), will also return to Phillipsburg. She will compete on August 5.
Seven of the top fifteen barrel racers in the world will compete in Phillipsburg. They include Briggs (ranked #1); Stevi Hillman (fourth); Hailey Kinsel (sixth); Morgan (seventh); Emily Beisel (eleventh); Darling (twelfth); and Kylee Scribner (fourteenth).
The rodeo won the 2021 WPRA Justin Boots Best Footing Award for the Prairie Circuit. The Best Footing award is given to rodeo committees that go above and beyond to ensure safe and consistent ground for the animal athletes of rodeo, specifically the barrel racing horses.
The Phillipsburg rodeo runs August 4-6, with performances beginning nightly at 8 pm. Tickets range in price from $13-$20 and are available online at KansasBiggestRodeo.com and at Heritage Insurance in Phillipsburg
For more information, visit the website at KansasBiggestRodeo.com or call 785.543.2448.