APHA Stallion Carries Kaci O’Rourke to Historic 2024 NRHA Futurity Win

By Jessica Hein, PHJ News:

Glass ceilings were broken December 7 in Oklahoma City, when Kaci O’Rourke became the first woman to win the NRHA Futurity Level 4 Open championship. Kaci accomplished the feat aboard her Paint stallion The Fireman (APHA: Mr Fireman), taking home $420,000 for the win.

Paint Horses took center stage across the National Reining Horse Association’s two-week-long competition, November 25–December 7. Twenty-eight of the 32 horses in the Level 4 Open Futurity finals were APHA-bred, and many others secured championships of their own.

2024 NRHA Futurity

Level 4 Open

Kaci O’Rourke’s historic run on December 7 came aboard her 2021 sorrel solid stallion The Fireman; he’s registered with APHA as Mr Fireman. The stallion is by Inferno Sixty Six and out of Redhot Walla (QH); Peter and Courtney Morgan of Ocala, Florida, own the Paint, who was bred by Tamarack Ranch LLC of Alvarado, Texas.

“I have no idea how he could hear me. It was so loud, I was just praying he was going to stay with me,” Kaci said in an NRHA press release. “As I was going through my run, I kept thinking, ‘Wow, he’s there.’ He gave me confidence throughout the run. He kept checking back in and telling me it’s all good. It was an amazing feeling.”

The team took home $420,000 for the Level 4 championship, more than doubling Kaci’s NRHA lifetime earnings.

“I’m speechless. It’s all been a blur,” she said. “I’m just so thankful for this horse, and I’m so thankful that God placed him in my life because he’s incredible.”

“Stay true to yourself,” Kaci continued as she reflected on being the first woman to win the Level 4 Open title. “If you want something … be willing to work for it and stick to your dreams, and it will come. It felt like everything fell into place and happened how it was supposed to happen.”

Level 4 Non-Pro

With a record-setting purse on the line in the Non-Pro Futurity, APHA member Tish Fappani of Scottsdale, Arizona, scored another win for the ladies aboard Wish I Was Yours. Bred by Tamarack Ranch, Wish I Was Yours is a 2021 gray overo mare by Colonels Shining Gun and out of Whizzen For Chex (QH); Tish owns the mare with her husband, Andrea. The pair scored a 222 to clinch the championship, taking home $75,000.

“It’s incredible because we raised her,” Tish said in an NRHA press release. “It’s always super rewarding to be able to come and get it done.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Tish continued about Wish I Was Yours. “She’s a keeper.”

________________________________

Earlier in the week, APHA celebrated additional Paints who scored exclusive Chrome Cash payouts for top scores in the Open and Non-Pro preliminary rounds. Full results from the 2024 NRHA Futurity are available at nrhafuturity.com.

Images by Waltenberry, courtesy NRHA