Sanoma Blakeley of Redmond rides to victory Aug. 17 in the Tevis Cup 100-mile horse endurance race in California. Her father, Wasch, rode the same horse, Goober, to third place in the 2018 event. (submitted photo/Sanoma Blakeley)

A Terrebonne family with a long history of success in endurance horse racing finally earned the top prize.

And it was its youngest member who did it.

Sanoma Blakeley and Arabian horse RA Ares Bey, also known as Goober, won the Aug. 17 Tevis Cup race, which takes riders from Robie Equestrian Park at a 7,000-foot elevation near Lake Tahoe, 100 miles down the often rocky and mountainous Western States Trail to Auburn, California, northeast of Sacramento. After racing for nearly 14 ½ hours, Blakeley defeated Jeremy Reynolds of Dunnellon, Florida, by about a horse length, for what Blakeley said was the closest finish in the race since 1995.

“It was a couple moments of disbelief — holy cow, I can’t believe this happened,” Sanoma recalled in an interview last week.

Beating out Reynolds, who along with his wife, Heather, have six Tevis Cup victories between them, made the win extra special. Sanoma rode with her headlamp turned off to make it harder for the past champion to see her and Goober.

“It came down to a sprint to the finish, which is crazy considering how long we were going,” she said.

The race started with 184 horses and riders from across the United States, as well as countries like China and Israel. But only 98 made it through the rigorous course that has more than 17,000 feet of elevation gain, only to lose 21,000 feet, traversing the Sierra Nevada mountains and three canyons, where temperatures can top 100 degrees.

“It’s kind of like the Kentucky Derby of long distance races,” said Sanoma’s father, Wasch Blakeley. “We got comments from South Africa, the Netherlands, that kind of stuff. It’s kind of a popular race.”

Racing is a tradition in the Blakeley family, where they have long ridden up to Gray Butte near Smith Rock from their potato farm turned horse pasture between Redmond and Terrebonne.

Goober, a 10-year-old gelding, owns Goober. Wasch rode Goober to third place in the Tevis Cup in 2018.

In 2014, Sanoma’s brother Barrak Blakeley, now 20, won the prestigious Haggin Cup, given to the Tevis Cup rider whose horse is deemed to be in the best physical condition. Sanoma and Barrak’s mother, Gabriela, has also finished in the top 10 in the event.

The Blakeleys have taken home 17 belt buckles at the event. But Sanoma was the first one in the family to take the top prize.

The Blakeleys found Goober being offered for free on Craig’s list eight years ago. While they’ve loved other horses, they haven’t had one quite like him.

“He can open gates and untie knots,” Wasch said. “That’s why we call him Goober; he’s such a character.”

Goober’s conditioning was a key to the victory. The race has two mandatory one-hour stops (along with several other shorter breaks), at the 36 and 68 minute marks, but they don’t start timing the hour until the horse’s heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute. Goober’s heart rate dropped so quickly that it allowed Sanoma to go from fourth to second place during the first break, she said.

“His heart rate drops really fast,” Sanoma said. “You can train them cardiovascularly and with speed work.”

The prize for winning isn’t exactly Kentucky Derby level. Sanoma will get her name on the Tevis Cup and a memento that’s removed from the cup. The victory also comes with belt buckles, horse blankets and ribbons.

“Not a whole lot but the pride of knowing you were the best,” she said.

Though the money offered for endurance horses is not on the level of top thoroughbreds, but Wasch has received offers for Goober from investors in the United Arab Emirates. He said thanks but no thanks.

Sanoma, a 2018 graduate of Redmond Proficiency Academy, trains horses while also taking classes as a Jehovah’s Witness. She eventually wants to be a missionary in another country, even if it means giving up horses.

“If it works out that I can have horses, I’d love to have horses the rest of my life,” she said. “I’d really like to pursue my missionary work and my relationship with God, so I feel like if horses are not in the equation, I’m OK with that.”

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com