Barrel Race Newsletter
Welcome to all of you that came last
year, and a Special Welcome to all of you who are here for the first time.
It has been a lot of fun for Connie and I getting to know most of you.
Some of you we’ve know for quite some time but for the majority, this is
our first real contact. Like all recreational competitors, few dare claim you
can break even or much less make a living barrel racing. For those of you
that can, hats off to you, but I think you know we are in the process of building
a major race to give you an opportunity at big money without chasing a rodeo
schedule.
And by the way, thanks to all of you
that participated in our poll and cooperated in getting the payoff
altered. After swapping emails with a few dozen racers, I feel more
comfortable now in providing payoffs that are attractive to you in the future.
Adding $41,000 this year was just something that we felt was necessary
during the building years to get the Futurity racers to give us a second
glance. This race has gone over the $100,000 cash mark, up from $40,000
last year. And clearly the total payout will exceed the total entry fees, which
is a really good deal for you.
I will not do another payout update
until you show up for the race as result of late entries and potential
draw-outs. Late entries absolutely END on November 25th, the day before
thanksgiving.
Hotel Check-in at Stall Barn
We are excited that the South Point
will make it easier for you to check-in with “full service” operation.
The show office is just inside Barn A (next to the Feed Store), will now have
hotel check-in services. While you are placing horses in stalls, someone
else in your party can also check you into your hotel room. The bellman
will take your bags to your room, so hopefully by the time you feed and park
your trailer, your clothes will be in your room. The special
accommodation hours for Hotel Check-In in the barn will be 10am to 6 pm,
on both Tuesday, Dec 1nd and Wednesday, Dec. 2nd.
This is meant to speed up the process
and to be more convenient for you. We do ask that if there is only one of
you in the vehicle, that you NOT block the unload alley while you situate the
horse and then check-in to the hotel. This will slow things down for everyone.
If you are by yourself, please place your horse in the stall and then
check-in at the hotel front desk, the old fashioned way.
Welcome Party
You may have noticed that there is a
welcome party scheduled at 5 pm on Wednesday, December 2nd. This is
really just a hospitality welcome for contestants and sponsors. There
will be last minute updates and we will be available to answer questions on the
race. Please try to make it as we would love for you to join us!
Stall Barn Hours
If you had a stall, you should have
received a post card in the mail with your stall assignment and the event
schedule. The stall barn will open at 10am on Tuesday, December 1st to
accept horses for those of you arriving early. The stall barn closes each
night at 8 pm. If you arrive prior to 10 pm, security will contact our
barn manager, which may take awhile but we’ll get you in. The stall
barn Opens at 7am on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
Since there is another event at the
South Point beginning on Saturday, everyone must move their horses out of the
stall barn no later than noon on Saturday the 5th. Any horses left in the
barn noon on the 5th will be with buckets to the outside warm-up arena by the
hotel security staff.
Location of Office
During the event the main office is
located on the top deck of the arena on the north end, right above the arena
exit. The show office in Barn A will only be used for your check-in
process, as a convenience to you. Please direct any subsequent shooting/event
business to the main office in the arena.
Competition Schedule
The draw will be random and will be
posted online tomorrow November 22nd. The second round will run fastest to
longest, as will the short round. The rounds will run in two sections
each day. Section one will be primary horses, and section two will be
second horses. I will allow a little time between sections for you to
properly warm-up the second horse. On Thursday, we will run one round of
the Team Bronc Riding between sections. This should only take a few minutes
but might be entertaining.
Please Note - Round two will begin at
approximately 1 pm, at the conclusion of the Mounted Shooting and the first
round of Team Bronc Riding on Thursday. We will have a live webcast going
and a direct feed into the hotel and casino. You should have good warning
when the event is about to end. The last division for the mounted
shooters is the open women. This division will take one hour to complete,
so this should be your warning track for the start of the barrel race.
Open Arena
We will have Open Arena for Barrel
Racers on Tuesday afternoon from 3pm to 6pm. The inside warm up arena is
available all day, every day. On Wednesday, December 2nd we anticipate
the barrel race to be over around 2 pm. The main arena will be open from
2pm to 4 pm on Wednesday.
We have seen this rule before and I
think you all understand from a safety point of view why it is necessary:
No Barrels, No Cones, No trashcans are allowed in the arena during open
arena.
EquiGames Tickets
This year, each contestant will receive
one free EquiGames ticket for the December 4th performance. Additional
$20 tickets are now available for sale online at www.southpointeventscenter.com,
at the South Point box office in the casino as well as the EquiGames Main
Office. Your complimentary tickets may be claimed after lunch on
Thursday, December 3rd at the EquiGames Office in the main arena.
Vegas Strip Zoning
If you haven’t been to the South Point,
then we need to inform you of a unique situation that exists there. The
specifics of the deal would bore you, but when the equestrian center was built
certain deals were struck with Las Vegas zoning that the hotel strives to honor.
Quite simply, they do not want horses outside of the buildings. If
they see someone riding outside the building, security will quickly direct you
back to the stalling area. If they see a horse tied to a trailer, they
will quickly grab the horse and tie it in the outside warm up arena. We
tell you this just in cased you misplace your horse during the event.
Animal Health
The Nevada Livestock Board requires
Coggins within the last six months and current health inspection. This is
a brand state and generally all of the brand states require permanent hauling
papers. But don’t fret over this one, especially those of you from
non-brand states. If you ever get stopped they will inform you about the
hauling papers and would never issue a ticket unless you get a second stop.
Those of you from non-brand states may purchase permanent hauling papers
from the Nevada Livestock Board if you like. Generally there is very
small fee.
Thank you so much for playing with us
this year. We look forward to seeing you all in Vegas and have a very safe
trip!
Sincerely,
Denny
