CIRCUIT FINALS: FIRST FRONTIER BARRELS BURNING RUBBER Jaime Fowler Earns Road Trip to NFR Open as First Frontier Circuit Barrel Racer By Josie Mac Fladager J aime Fowler of Henderson, Maryland loves to run in front of the sold-out crowd in the New Holland Arena. The fans in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania are electric at
every performance and make the rodeo special for the First Frontier Circuit contestants. This was Fowler’s seventh First Frontier Circuit Finals, but she was as excited as ever. “I feel like I’m always nervous the first run back in that building,” Fowler said. “It’s always sold out, so there’s a lot of nerves and excitement.” This year, however, was extra special for Fowler. Aboard TR Blazin Ta Cash, she secured the average win and a road trip to the NFR Open. She went to Greeley (CO) in 2020 (location of the national circuit finals that year due to COVID), and Fowler is excited to get to make the trip again this year. She plans to make the 25-hour drive with “Blaze” this July and is looking forward to the opportunity to run again with the best in the business from across the country. “It was very exciting. It was unexpected,” Fowler recalled of the 2023 average title. “I was just hoping to go in there and make three clean runs and [Blaze] really stepped up. He’s a cool horse.”
Jamie Fowler and Blaze definitely blazed a trail through the cloverleaf pattern at the First Frontier Circuit Finals capturing the average in at time of 42.40 seconds on three runs to earn a trip to the NFR Open in July. Photo by Casey Martin
He handled it like the champion he is, running the fastest time of the week and breaking the 14-second barrier in the second round with 13.96 seconds. Overall, the team placed in all three rounds and won just over $5,100 for their work over the weekend. Fowler grew up with her dad hauling her to 4-H shows where she mostly rode English. It didn’t take long for her to make the switch to running barrels and she has now been doing it for nearly 20 years. Her experience has made her quite the jockey, and her riding caught the eye of Ricky and Summer in 2022. After seeing Fowler win on one of her own mares at a barrel race, they wanted her to see what she could do with Blaze. The team clicked, and Fowler now also rides a mare for Ricky and Summer. Fowler has six of her own horses in her barn at home, and this year was the first time Fowler rode someone else’s horse at the circuit finals. Outside of running barrels, Fowler is the Deputy Town Manager for the town of Greensboro, Maryland. Fowler says she balances working, riding outside horses, and her own with the help of a good team around her. “I have a really good job and they’re flexible and supportive of it all. And I have good help in my boyfriend. If I’m getting home ten minutes before dark, he’ll have horses caught for me so I can ride real fast before it gets dark,” Fowler said with a laugh. Fowler is ready for an opportunity to run in Colorado Springs, and she says she’s ready for more of the rodeo atmosphere. “You’re more amped up and I think the horses run harder too when there’s a huge crowd and music blaring,” she noted. “The atmosphere is more exciting at the rodeos for sure.”
Fowler has only been on Blaze for about a year a half, but the duo clicked nearly instantly. Owned by father-daughter duo Ricky and Summer Moomau, the 8-year-old gelding had mostly been running at NBHA barrel races. Fowler and Blaze had won the NBHA state title in 2022 and 2023, but Blaze had yet to be in the hectic atmosphere that came with the circuit finals.
Jamie Fowler placed in all three rounds at the First Frontier Circuit Finals to land atop the average leaderboard and collected over $5,100 en route to a berth in the NFR Open in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She will be joined by Jodi Colton in representing the First Frontier. Photo by Casey Martin
12 WPRA NEWS FEBRUARY 2024
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