Eagle, Colo.-It's no surprise to find Pueblo, Colo., cowgirl Kelly Yates in the winner's circle. The talented barrel racer has four Wrangler NFR qualifications to her credit and has trained countless winners in both the futurity and rodeo ranks. Her career earnings are well over $1 million and she has a WPRA Reserve World title to her credit to boot earned aboard her outstanding mare Firewater Fiesta, an AQHA/WPRA Horse of the Year.

So finding her name at the top of the results for the 71st edition of the Eagle County Fair and Rodeo was not unusual. The only thing different about this particular win was that it came aboard a horse that she did NOT train nor does she own.

"I rode Kenna Squires' horse," Yates says, "she was getting a little fed up with him in the outdoor arenas plus she is riding another nice horse at the rodeos. She asked me to take him for a little while."

Dash to the Flame already has quite a record in the barrel racing industry. The seven year old gelding won the 2007 WPRA World Finals Futurity Championship, the 2008 Silver Cup Derby, and the 2009 WPRA World Finals Derby. Chief, as he is known around the barn, is also no stranger to winning.

Yates first climbed aboard the grandson of Flaming Jet at the 2007 Lance Graves Pro Classic $100K Slot Race in Kinder, La. Squires had another great prospect that she wanted to run and rules at the time allowed just one horse per rider. Yates won third on Chief but hadn't been on the horse's back since then.

"I picked him up on July 16 during Pikes Peak or Bust, and I won third that night on him in Gunnison," says Yates, an Equi-brand, Sea Buck, and Direct Action Company endorsee. "We placed sixth in the first go at Colorado Springs and split fifth the first round of Cheyenne."

Yates and Chief made the short round at the latter but didn't have a great finish. They made up for it with a blistering run of 17.37 seconds that won the rodeo in Eagle. The win paid $1,422 and held Yates in second for another Mountain States Circuit championship. She has won the title three times in 1990, 2001, and 2003.

"I was first out in the Thursday night performance," Yates explains her winning run in Eagle, "and in the previous runs, I hadn't had to hustle him much. But there I had to kick into each barrel. He made a very nice run, he just did it effortlessly."

"It was fun!" Yates says, giving credit to the Eagle rodeo committee for their hospitality and the $100 bonus she picked up for being the fast time of the performance.

Yates and Chief's time was short lived: the gelding has already gone home to Texas and Yates is looking forward to the Colorado fair run with a pair of up-and-coming stars.

IC Elegance or "Skye" won fifth at Rodeo de Santa Fe back in June and Bronze Dude, "Turbo," made his rodeo debut in May at the Royal Gorge Rodeo in Canon City. Along with Go Figure Fiesta-"Popsicle"-her 2009 futurity prospect who is currently racking up the wins with her brother JD in the roping pen and another Fiesta baby who is coming five, Yates has plenty of talent in her barn to come back to full time rodeoing in the next few years and is characteristically optimistic about the future.

"I want to thank Kenna for giving me the opportunity to ride Chief the last couple of weeks," said Yates. "It was nice to be able to help someone else out and I have my own coming along too."

For more information about the Eagle rodeo please visit them on-line at www.eaglecounty.us/fairrodeo/.