Nellie Miller - Barrel Racer Unstoppable

Nellie Miller has approached the 2019 Rodeo season with the finesse of a chess-playing grand master: will her calculated game propel her to the top?

- Susan L. Ebert

Nellie Miller comes to National Finals Rodeo with one goal in mind: Second. Not second place, mind you: This soft-spoken, gritty cowgirl and her blistering blue roan mare Sister (Rafter W Minnie Reba) are hunting their second World Champion Barrel Racer title, having won their first in 2017. And Sister—the 2017 WPRA/AQHA Horse of the Year—is a master at hunting barrels.

Nellie ground out summer’s swelter with a game plan worthy of a statistician. She and her husband James, along with their two daughters Payton, 7, and Hadley, 4, embarked on a “road trip with a purpose,” departing Cottonwood, California, in late June for a series of summer rodeos—all with eyes on the prize: a second win at the National Finals Rodeo.

Still, as Dwight D. Eisenhower so wisely noted, “Planning is everything; the plan is nothing.” Adapting her game plan to what the situation calls for is one of Nellie’s many strengths.

Nellie launched her summer circuit already in good stead, having garnered $56,000 for her second championship win at the 2019 RodeoHouston. At the 2018 RodeoHouston, Nellie had bested Hailey Kinsel, who would become the 2018 World Champion Barrel Racer, by a mere two hundredths of a second.

This big win, early in the season, helped pave the way for her to qualify for NFR with far fewer rodeo attendances than any of her competitors; fewer, in fact, than her next 30 competitors in the rankings as of late August.

At the Reno Rodeo, Nellie and Sister finished fourth with a combined score of 51.88—just three-tenths of a second behind winner Ivy Hurst’s 51.58 seconds for her three runs. Then, on to the Molalla, Oregon, Buckaroo Rodeo over the July Fourth holiday, where she and Sister placed fifth. She placed fourth in the first round at the Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo and won seconds in rounds one and two at California Rodeo Salinas.