CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Stephanie McCready of rural Marshalltown and her horse Sadie, pictured, are on pace to win the Iowa Rodeo Cowboy Association (IRCA) barrel racing championship for 2024 before the finals have even started in Oskaloosa this weekend.

When the Times-Republican last caught up with Stephanie McCready back in 2022, the rural Marshalltown resident and Class of 2002 MHS graduate had placed in the top 10 in barrel racing for the Great Lakes region. She has since taken a bit of a step back from national competitions to focus on her professional obligations and let her 12-year-old mare Sadie heal from an injury, but McCready is on track to win the state barrel racing championship for Iowa in 2024, which would be her second after winning with a horse named Bailey back in 2014.

“I worked with my other backup horse, and he carried me to the (Iowa Rodeo Cowboys Association) finals. With just less than half the season left to go, he qualified for the finals in 2023,” she said.

During the downtime, McCready, who was the IRCA Rookie of the Year all the way back in 2001, taught barrel racing lessons and hosted clinics in the area to help others improve with their horses, and she’s also been training a young horse named Bean to take a spot on the trailer for next year. As she got busy with her job as a registered nurse for Suncrest Home Health, she opted to compete on the IRCA circuit as opposed to Pro Rodeo, which is a much more time consuming endeavor, and started to win at some area events in places like Toledo and Maxwell with Sadie after she had recovered from the aforementioned injury.

The finals are set for this weekend in Oskaloosa, but if McCready’s numbers are correct, she believes she already has the overall title in the bag.

“There’s quite a few people around the area that do rodeo and work towards it, so it’s kind of fun,” she said. “I’ve been working hard to get better and better and better. And I try to put myself in a position to go on the pro circuit again, it’s just a really hard road to do with one horse, so I’ve been training a young horse to go on the road with me before I can do it again.”

Despite her win being all but certain, there are still plenty of reasons to compete as McCready will be looking to score some cold hard cash with thousands of dollars in prizes up for grabs. Next year, her goal, as previously mentioned, is to return to the Pro Rodeo circuit with both horses in tow.

“I’m getting a little better each year the more I work at it,” she said.

It’s been a long road for McCready through various horses over the years, but she’s proud to be back on top and doing what she loves. She recalled Bailey winning “Horse of the Year” back in 2014 and hopes Sadie can bring home the same award in 2024, which would be well deserved.

The goal is to get back to the top 12 and make the barrel racing finals again in the Great Lakes Pro Rodeo Circuit, and McCready always aims to be a resource for anyone who might be interested in following in her footsteps.

“I guess I would say that if something like this is your goal, that you would get in touch with somebody that was reputable and could give you the best education, the training, the knowledge, all the tools that you need to be successful and help you put all those tools together,” she said. “I want to get to the point where (the girls I teach) open up and just take in all the information and they’re able to work on it — perseverance, determination and making sure that you’re getting help from the right people and that person that you’re seeking advice from has maybe not necessarily been there but has proven themselves to a point as well… If they’ve been there (and) done that, and they’re willing to open their mind and educate you, your chances of success are probably higher.”

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.