Colby Lovell’s third Riata Championship win meant a little more because the horse underneath him came straight out of the program he and his wife have spent years building.
Lovell rode Royal Underdog to the Pro Futurity win at the 2026 Riata Championships, helping secure the $100,000 payday. But the story behind the win stretches back much farther than Guthrie. Royal Underdog’s dam has been in the Lovell family since she was 3, while sire Metallic Payday was a horse Lovell bought as a yearling and believed in early.
On this episode of The Score, Lovell talks about watching those breeding decisions turn into winners, what he looks for in truly special horses and the responsibility he believes falls back on the horseman when developing them.
“If I see something that I think has greatness in them, I don’t care what it costs, I’m going to get that horse because it’s not up to the horse, it’s up to me,” Lovell said. “It’s not how many numbers you ride, it’s how many numbers you show up with.”
He also gets into his own continued education as a horseman, including stepping outside the rope-horse world to work with cutting-bred colts and putting himself in situations that force him to keep learning.
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