Kevin Dukes and Ride The Blue Sky Win Senior Pleasure Driving at 2014 AQHA World

By: Brittany Bevis

Preparing a horse to compete at the AQHA World Championship Show is a process that requires a daily level of dedication, countless hours of hard work, and a clearly laid out plan for success. However, one should never underestimate the power a little good luck can provide.

Kevin Dukes understands this all to well, because he received a bit of extra help, in the form of a lucky rabbit’s foot his son Clay affixed to his belt loop, before he headed into the pen for Senior Pleasure Driving with Ride The Blue Sky.

“I felt him back there, and I asked him what he was doing,” Dukes says. “He said, ‘Nothing… I’m just fixing something.’ He had that hooked on me, and it was there the whole class. I told him, ‘Don’t you dare lose it; that thing is full of luck!’ I may have used it all up today; I don’t know.”

Dukes was holding the reins of “Star” today for owner Linda Lindsey of Nacogdoches, Texas. Just a few weeks ago, Stephanie Lynn drove Star to a win in Senior Pleasure Driving at the All American Quarter Horse Congress.

“Linda brought him to me about a year and a half ago,” Dukes says. “He showed here last year and placed in the top five. I was Reserve at the Congress last year with him, but he was just kind of coming into himself. Stephanie Lynn showed him for me at the Congress this year and won, so I had big shoes to fill.”

Interestingly enough, all of the top three horses in Senior Pleasure Driving this afternoon are by the late stallion Skys Blue Boy. Star is by Skys Blue Boy and out of Whoopi Ima Writer. She was bred by Joan Franklin of Alba, Texas. The Reserve World Champion was Jason Martin with Go Big Sky. The third place team was Chuck Briggs with Blue Sky Serenade.

“They are beautiful horses, and they are usually really extreme trotters, which is really good for this class,” Dukes says. “Most all of them are real quiet, but they have a little playful streak that kind of stays hidden in there. This horse does. Last night, in the warmup, I brought him in the arena and he was full of it. But once they get down to business, they do it.”

This is the first World Champion title Star has won for his owner. Next year, Lindsey may have plans to try her hand at Amateur Pleasure Driving… “I drive, but never before with other people,” she says. “It’s a lot of fun.”

While the discipline is elegant and certainly fun to compete in, Dukes stresses the importance of having a horse properly prepared for the event.

“It’s a huge responsibility to take a horse in that pen, to me,” he says. “Even if you have all your things done right, they are horses and they can get scared. You sure want to hedge your bets before you go in there.”

Senior Pleasure Driving-

1-Ride The Blue Sky/Kevin Dukes

2-Go Big Sky/Jason Martin

3-Blue Sky Serenade/Chuck Briggs

4-Good Lukin Lark/Melissa Dukes

5-Dirty Sexy Money/Brian Holmes