The 2025 6666 NRHA Derby presented by Markel wrapped up on Sunday, June 22, with action in both the Adequan® Arena and the OG&E Coliseum. This time around, the Non Pro division took to the arena dirt for the first time, trying their hand at running a pattern in the new arena.
NRHA 8 & Up Non Pro Maturity Levels 4-2, Intermediate Non Pro Slate 2 Champions: Elena Hurd and Magnum Style
2013MG (Magnum Chic Dream x Easy Whiz My Money)
Score: 217.5
Owner: Mark Hurd, Wilmington, Delaware
Breeder: Kathy Hinton, Whitesboro, TX
Aboard her “heart horse,” Elena Hurd swept the top levels of the 8 & Up Non Pro Maturity on the final day of the 6666 NRHA Derby presented by Markel. Hurd, who grew up on the East Coast, found her way to reining in high school.
“I started reining my sophomore year of high school, so 2014,” she said. “I got into like the green reiner, the youth, and then when I went to college at TCU [Texas Christian University]. I moved to Texas and started riding with Josh [Tishman] and just have absolutely fallen in love with it since.”
She and Magnum Style, sired by NRHA Hall of Fame inductee Magnum Chic Dream, have partnered for eight years. “I’ve had this horse since he was the end of his 4-year-old year, and he’s 12—he’s been perfect the entire time,” Hurd said. “We have our ups and downs, but he always gives me his all, and I really couldn’t ask for more in a horse.”
Their first competition in the OG&E Coliseum, the pair marked a 217.5 to claim the three titles. Until Saturday night, Hurd said the horse only had light work, so he was slightly fresh.
“He’s a pretty chill horse, so we just lope around and then last night I ran him in here, stopped him,” Hurd said. “Today he came in and he was pretty honest. It was a good day. I really like the arena. The shape is perfect. I love just the look of it all. It’s been really fun.”
Hurd has more than $72,000 in NRHA lifetime earnings and adds more than $4,500 from today’s wins.
“This horse is especially my heart horse,” she said of Magnum Style. “I’ll keep him until he’s no longer here. In reining, it’s the people [that keep me involved]. The Tishmans, especially, have become family. I really couldn’t ask for a better community around us. And the excitement of just going in the show pen and never knowing how it’s going to turn out, even if you know you have the horse there, you just wait to see, you know, is it your day or not?”
8 & Up Non Pro Maturity Level 1 Champions: Donna Duvall and Xtra Beetle Juice
2017G (Tinker With Guns x Bella Juice)
Score: 209.5
Owner: Donna Duvall, Cedar Hill, TX
Breeder: Silver Spurs Equine, Purcell, OK
“I’ve had him for almost five years now, and started out a little rough, but we came together last year and won three saddles in the Southwest Reining Horse Association, and he’s just been showing up for me,” said Duvall. “He’s 8 years old and still an incredible show horse. I just bought a 4-year-old, so I kind of want to step up in the derby stuff. I just love showing this horse—he’s been fun, he’s very quirky, but even after I’ve shown him so much, he’s still so honest in the show pen, and I love that.”
By NRHA Press Release
