Burger eyes second title
National Finals Rodeo Barrel racing crown on the line

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BY ED GODFREY

Published: October 28, 2008

Editor’s note: This is the third in a weekly series on National Finals Rodeo qualifiers from Oklahoma.

Mary Burger

Mary Burger is hoping last weekend’s barrel racing victory at the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo is just a tune-up for the National Finals Rodeo.

Burger, of Pauls Valley, won the season-long crown and the aggregate title at the Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kansas City, Mo., a circuit for cowboys and cowgirls in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Burger, who has won several world quarter horse championships, has qualified for her second NFR.

Two years ago, she won the world championship in barrel racing in her first appearance at the NFR.

Her world champion horse, Rare Fred, was sidelined most of last year with injuries. This year, after a slow start, he’s back stronger than ever.

"It took him until May to get his confidence back,” Burger said of Rare Fred. "He’s done really, really well. I won 12 or 13 rodeos just in our circuit.”

Burger has been training horses and barrel racing most of her life. A native of Indiana, she and her husband moved to Oklahoma in 1985 to be in horse country.

Competing mostly in barrel racing futurities and quarter horse shows, Burger didn’t seriously try to qualify for the NFR until two years ago with Rare Fred.

She took a chance when she bought the sorrel gelding for a client, Ron Martin of Seal Beach, Calif., but Rare Fred now has more than $560,000 in career earnings.

"I would say he’s more than paid for himself,” she said. "I’ve trained a lot of horses and won several futurities through the years, but he’s always stood out for me because he’s just got a personality you can’t resist.”

Burger is seventh in the world standings with a chance to pick up ground in Dallas on Nov. 6-7 before the NFR in Las Vegas, Nev., in December.

At age 60, Burger will be the oldest competitor by far at the NFR, something that aggravates her whenever the media decides to make that the story.

After winning the world barrel racing championship in 2006, she was featured in AARP The Magazine.

"I’m sure they will play that up (at the NFR),” she said of her age. "I hate that.”

RODEO CHAMPS

Other Oklahomans winning Prairie Circuit titles last weekend were steer wrestler Sean Mulligan of Coleman, team roper Charles Pogue of Ringling and bull rider Blake Rowan of Muskogee.

Related Topics: Sports, Rodeo