Page 154 - October 2023

RACING NEWS
Cowboys Gun Z with jockey Agustin Silva and owners Joe D. Brooks, Jaime and Scott Bryant of West Texas Racing Partners.
six-for-six. She won the Remington Park Oklahoma Bred Futurity-RG1 by 2 1/2-lengths and the Rainbow Futurity-G1 by 3 1/2-lengths. Then she qualified the fastest of both days of trials and was the overwhelming favorite in the final at 1-10.
Cowboys Gun Z had a lesser resume, but he was developing into a top-class runner for West Texas Racing Partners under Joiner’s patient handling.
In his very first race, Cowboys Gun Z
had to face Dark NME in a trial for the Ruidoso Futurity-G1. Fractious at the gate, he nevertheless finished second to Dark NME. Neither’s time qualified for the final.
Joiner and owners Joe D. Brooks and Scott Bryant decided to geld Cowboys Gun Z after that first start.
“I had left him a colt till we got to Ruidoso,” Joiner said. “His first out was as a colt. But he had little gate issues, and so we decided to geld him because we wanted a racehorse instead of a slow stud. I knew he had a lot of talent.”
Next came the trials for the Rainbow Futurity. Cowboys Gun Z was again fractious at the gate and finished second. But this time the margin was just a neck. Joiner and his team went to work with Cowboys Gun Z, schooling him at the gate and preparing him
mentally as well as physically for the demands of the All American.
“When he did really good in the gates in the trials, I felt like we had a chance,” Joiner said. “He was right beside a really nice horse that he wound up beating about a length.”
On the second day of trials, Cowboys Gun Z defeated 1-2 favorite Irish Seis, winner of the West Texas Juvenile Stakes and third in the Ruidoso Futurity. His time of :21.576 for 440 yards was the fastest of that day.
The All American win was a victory for Joiner’s entire crew. That includes his wife, Linda, who “pays the bills,” he said, and his
152 SPEEDHORSE October 2023
Susan Bachelor, Speedhorse Linda Earley Speedhorse