And that is exactly what Jenna Salmond and her horse Jack did Sunday evening at the Invermay Fair.
Running for the buckle in the top division the tandem turned in a crisp 16.75, the best time of the fair, to take the prize, sponsored by Tasha and Hugh Jack.
“I was happy. I was really happy,” Salmond told Yorkton This Week Monday morning. “On the same pattern I had run a 16, so I was hoping.”
The run came in front of packed bleachers during the intermission of the Eastern Professional Chariot & Chuckwagon Association racing.
Salmond said the atmosphere added to the night.
“It was awesome. Especially it being my hometown. It was exciting,” she said. “… It was lots of fun, but a lot of pressure too.”
Salmond was quick to praise her mount Jack for the win.
“I knew Jack was feeling good. He was really listening to me,” she said, adding he really ran well. “He always does.”
Salmond has always been a barrel racer.
“I grew up barrel racing. I did a lot of riding kind of all my life,” she said.
And then she married Shayne Salmond and joined a family synonymous with chariot and chuckwagon racing in Saskatchewan.
And there was a tie to barrel racing too.
Bertina Olafson recently won the $50,000 top prize at the Calgary Stampede in the sport. The Hudson Bay, SK. rider is the daughter of driver Larry Salmond, and cousin to husband Shayne.
Naturally the family was following action at the Stampede.
“I was very excited for her,” said Jenna Salmond who added she has a couple of younger horses with Olafson breeding that she called “up and coming.”
As for watching Olafson, well it wasn’t easy, but they did it.
“We were running in Yorkton that weekend,” she said, adding they still followed the event via their cellphones.
“We happened to be racing in Yorkton on ‘Championship Sunday’ (at the Stampede) .We were all glued to our phones and when she made her last run and won the $50,000 we all went crazy with excitement.”
Of course Salmond wishes she had been at the Stampede with Jack.
She gone to a qualifier Innisfail, AB., trying to make it to the Stampede.
“When I heard about the qualifier for the Calgary stampede I thought what an opportunity. Possibly a once in a life time opportunity for someone like me,” she said.
“I decided to enter because I felt like Jack deserved it. He deserved a chance to run against the best horses in the country.
“It was pretty short notice so we didn’t have much time to prepare for such a big event. We qualified for round II and our two-run average was just a bit off the top time so we didn’t qualify for the final round.
“But I was proud of Jack. I felt like we did very well against such a tough group of barrel racers. Definitely a highlight of my barrel racing career, and it made it pretty special to travel up to it and compete with my sister in law Twyla Salmond.”
If it seems like Salmond and Jack are close – well they are.
“He’s so awesome. He’s a huge part of the family ... He was part of our wedding. He’s special. He’s part of all the family pictures,” she enthused.
Interestingly Jack did not arrive as a barrel horse, arriving as a chuckwagon horse for husband Shayne.
“I was looking for another saddle horse and he said why not break him,” she explained.
So she did, and Jack became her barrel horse, well eventually anyway.
“We just shared him for a couple of years,” said Jenna, explaining Jack would run as part of Shayne’s chuckwagon hitch, then be saddled up so Jenna could ride barrels.
It was a good arrangement since the chuckwagon association and the Eastern Gymkhana Club typically run the same towns on the same weekends.
The dual event work out well for Jenna and Shayne, as the family gets to follow their perspective passions, but still be together.
“I choose to ride most weekends with our eastern gymkhana club so Shayne and the girls and I can race and ride together,” she said, adding the barrel racing is also very competitive.
“When our members enter other jackpots, slot races or bigger events they show up very well.”
