CARD HOLDER RACE TYCOON’S COMEBACK Ganter Wins Boot Barn Card Holder Race for Second Time in Career on Howes A Tycoon By Josie Fladager J ackie Ganter is now a two-time champion of the WPRA Boot Barn Card Holder Race at the WPRA World Finals in Waco, Texas. Ganter and her 13-year-old gelding Howes A Tycoon, or “Tycoon,” won the short round and the average inside Extraco
Events Center running against the toughest barrel racers in the world. Ganter won her first Card Holder Race title in 2018 on Tycoon, just a few months after Ganter purchased the gelding. But in recent history Tycoon has had several soundness issues. One injury after another kept him off Ganter’s roster, and she had originally planned to run another horse in Waco. A week before the WPRA World Finals, Ganter ran Tycoon at a jackpot in Vernon, Texas, and he was feeling like his old self. Ganter made the decision to run the 16.3 hand gelding again in Waco for the finals. “I didn’t really know what was going to happen,” Ganter said. “I have a lot of soundness issues with Tycoon and he hadn’t really been running like himself. But he ran really good at Vernon, so I had high hopes.” The pair had a solid start at the World Finals in the first round, running a time of 16.066 seconds, and finishing 20th out of 159 runners. They pulled a check in the second round, placing fifth with a time of 15.817 seconds after a last-minute curb chain fix with a piece of bailing twine during the drag before her run. Ganter was sitting fourth in the average going into the short round. “When [Tycoon] is sound, he just shows up,” Ganter noted. Ganter won the short round by almost two tenths of a second with
a time of 15.682 seconds — the second fastest time of the week behind Dena Kirkpatrick’s 15.681 from the first round. Ganter won the average with a total time of 47.565 on three runs. 2021 World Champion Jordon Briggs was second aboard Famous Lil Jet with a total time of 47.675 seconds. “I expected the short round to be incredibly tough just like the rest of the race was. I just kind of went for it and tried to make the best run we could and it worked out,” Ganter said. Since 2018, Tycoon has had three major injuries where he was off for 7-8 months at a time for each separate injury. “He’s fought a lot of battles, so for him to show up this year and still be as competitive, if not more, it meant a lot to me for him. I wish he knew what an unbelievable feat that was to show up and be that competitive,” Ganter said. Ganter’s Card Holder Race win earned her a spot in RodeoHouston for her first qualification since 2020. Ganter was winning her series when the rodeo was suddenly shut down for the COVID-19 pandemic. “I think he and I both are really excited to go back and get another chance at it because we kind of got our chance taken away from us,” Ganter said. “I could not be more excited to be going back.” Ganter is excited about the possibilities for 2023 and being able to run in the Texas building rodeos this winter. She wants to thank Randy Lewis, DVM, Chad Marsh, DVM, her farrier Shawn Turner, and her mother Angela Ganter for everything that they have done for her and Tycoon. Jackie Ganter back on top of the Boot Barn Card Holder Race at the WPRA World Finals aboard Howes A Tycoon. Ganter won her first WPRA Card Holder Race in 2018 on Tycoon and they returned in 2022 to duplicate that feat. WPRA photo by Rodeobum.com/James Phifer
Jackie Ganter (right) is hoping to parlay her WPRA Card Holder Race win into a profitable 2023 season that will end in another NFR qualification for the young talent. With her win, she earned a spot in RodeoHouston in March. WPRA photo by Rodeobum.com/James Phifer
40 WPRA NEWS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023
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