5/7 - Barrel Racing Report

Beam & Mr JB Fire Fame Rocket to Stardom at Josey Reunion
By Tanya Randall
Professional barrel racer and trainer Janna Beam and Mr JB Fire
Fire (“Bentley”) blazed their way to the winner’s circle at the 20th
Annual Josey Reunion, held May 3-5 at R.E. and Martha Josey’s
picturesque ranch in Karnack, Texas.
After running a 16.3 and 16.4 in the qualifying rounds, they won
the final round with a blistering 15.786.
“I was totally shocked,” said Beam, Hallsville, Texas. “It’s not
that I didn’t think he could do it, but I just didn’t expect it. It was so
smooth. I honestly don’t know how to describe it. When I looked at
the clock, I thought did the clock not work?”
Beam, 30, is no stranger to running fast times at Josey’s. When
she was 9, she ran a 15.720 to set an arena record at the Josey Jr
World that held until Whitney Wells lowered the bar with Nate
Shilabar (“Hotshot”) in 2000.
“I’ve never run anything there since then that was faster than
a .9,” she recalled, noting even her great rodeo horse and AQHA
World Champion Perks Advantage (“Willie”) hadn’t clocked that
fast.
Beam was confident she could at least run a 16.0 if she got her
first barrel right.
“At Josey’s the first barrel is kind of tricky,” she explained. “What
he kept doing on his first runs was he kept trying to take a step out
going to the left, so I felt like the whole way to the first barrel I
was having to bring him to it and when I would get there I was too
tight and he would take a step by and a step off. So in the Finals, I
took him in the alley and stopped him and let him look around, and
then I turned him around and made sure he was headed to exactly
where he was supposed to be. I knew if I could get the first barrel
the rest would be a piece of pie. His second barrel is always wicked.
The third barrel, you just have to make sure he finishes it straight—
which he usually does.”
Sun Frost
Frenchmans Guy
Frenchman’s Lady
Mr Jb Fire Fame
2006 Palomino Gelding
Dash Ta Fame
si 113
Shgorease Famous
Shorease
Rider: Janna Beam; Owner: Gerald Williams;
Breeder: Joe & Dee Lynn Braman
Doc’s Jack Frost
Prissy Cline
Laughing Boy
si 85
Casey’s Ladylove
First Down Dash
si 105
Sudden Fame
si 98
Sold Short
si 97
Winters Ease
The Reunion victory was Beam’s first at the Josey Ranch.
“I’d won a lot of rounds between the Junior World and Reunion
but I’d never won the whole thing,” she said. “When I was 9, I won
the first two go’s and that horse ducked on my third run. The next
year I won the first round on that horse and he ducked in the second.
It would always be something. I’d go from the very top to the
very bottom. It was nice to finally win the whole thing.”
Beam, the daughter of barrel horse trainer Paula Owens, went to
a Josey clinic when she was 13 specifically to become eligible for the
Josey Reunion Continued on Page 20
Barrel Racing Report May 7, 2013 Page 19