Every Dollar Counts

Learn how to ensure your horse’s lifetime earnings are recorded accurately by Equi-Stat with these quick tips for entering barrel races.

• Enter your horse’s name exactly as it appears on registration papers. Be sure you’re including any initials and spacing correctly. For example, JL Dash Ta Heaven should always be entered with “JL,” Sadiefamouslastwords needs to be one word with no spacing, and Firewater Flit is an incorrect entry of Fire Water Flit.
• Ensure spelling is correct, especially if your horse has an oddly spelled name—don’t enter Heza Fast One as Hesa Fast One. Double check registration papers if you aren’t sure.

Equi-Stat statisticians input barrel racing results by hand into the database, so it’s important to enter your horse with the correct name at every race. Barrel Horse News photo by Abigail Boatwright.

• Use a consistent grade name for unregistered horses. Choose one name for your horse and enter it that way every single time you run. If you enter a grade horse as Pinto Pony at one race and Pinto at another, his earnings will appear in Equi-Stat as two different horses.
• If you know it, include your horse’s registration number and breed registry along with its registered name on entry forms. This will help Equi-Stat statisticians find your horse in a breed registry database if there are any discrepancies with how the horse’s name was spelled.
• Print neatly so that your horse’s name can be read clearly and entered correctly in results by event staff.
• Small jackpots matter, too. It may be tempting to enter your horse’s barn name at a neighborhood jackpot, but if jackpot producers are dutifully sending their results to Equi-Stat, your horse’s earnings will not be correct. For example, a horse named Dashing French Fame who’s won $50,000 during the year at big races and also earned $1,500 at a local jackpot series as “Dasher” would not be recorded as the same horse, and Dashing French Fame’s earnings would be $1,500 short.
• Ask race producers if they’re sending results to Equi-Stat. Equi-Stat accepts results from races of all sizes—even small local jackpots—as long as the race has 80 percent registered names entered in results. It is the race producer’s responsibility to send in their results. Be proactive by asking producers to submit results—every dollar your horse earns matters, and it’s important for the barrel racing industry to accrue these statistics.
• Always be consistent. Entering your horse’s full registered or grade name correctly and consistently every time you run is the best way to ensure lifetime earnings are accurately assigned to your horse.