It’s not uncommon for one trainer to pilot multiple horses in the finals, but in the Open finals of the 6666 National Reining Horse Association Derby presented by Markel on Saturday, June 21, two trainers will be astride full siblings. In the first section of the finals, NRHA Million Dollar Rider Gennaro Lendi will ride three horses — all sired by NRHA Hall of Famer Gunnatrashya and out of Electric Barbie. In section two, NRHA Five Million Dollar Rider Casey Deary will show two siblings sired by NRHA Hall of Famer Magnum Chic Dream and out of Gunna Be Custom.
Repeating the successful pairing of two bloodlines isn’t unusual in reining, but the sibling rivalry has never been more apparent than this year’s NRHA Derby. While these horses share blood, Lendi and Deary are quick to point out that each horse is an individual in its own right.
All three of Lendi’s mounts — Draw 7, 5-year-old mare Smoken Barbie; Draw 21, 4-year-old stallion Gunabelectric; and draw 49, 5-year-old stallion Electric Gunn — are all owned by breeders Marc and Kathy Gordon. Marc purchased Electric Barbie, and Lendi has followed the mare since she was a 3-year-old.
“The three horses are different completely, different characters,” Lendi said. “The 4-year-old is very tall; his full brother, the stallion, is a small horse. All are different physically, but all have a lot of potential. I could say it comes from the mom. I never rode Electric Barbie, but I have known her since she was 3. Arcese was looking for a broodmare, and they thought she could be a great broodmare. They were right.”
Lendi, originally from Italy but now living in Scottsdale, Arizona, rode two of his three finalists last year during his first season in the U.S. Since 2023, Lendi has teamed up with Smoken Barbie to earn $21,600-plus. He showed Electric Gunn to the National Reining Breeders Classic Level 4 Open finals this year, and the stallion has earned more than $70,000. Gunabelectric has more than $16,800 in NRHA lifetime earnings, including performances with Lendi at the 2024 NRHA Futurity.
“They are all able to plus the maneuvers, but if I didn’t know they were from the same mom, I would think they were three different horses,” he said. “For me, when you ride a baby that comes from a good mom, you look at it in a positive way. It can also be [negative] because you expect a lot. Many times, like this time, they were all three good horses.”
Electric Barbie, who has more than $67,000 in NRHA LTE, is a 12-year-old mare by NRHA $4 Million Sire Jacs Electric Spark and out of Custom Barbie. For the Gordons, who always thought Electric Barbie was special, Lendi says she is proving their program.
“The vision of this mare from when she was younger, it is proving. Breeding, you have to wait years and years, and the time you spend thinking about your vision, they are very proud of this mare,” Lendi said.
Deary has three horses to show in the finals. The two palominos are similar enough that their close draws — Draw 26 on Custom Dreams and Draw 33 for Customize My Dream — isn’t as worrisome as it could be with unrelated horses.
“They are both really easy to get ready,” Deary said. “Drawing up in the finals where I did, I’m closer than NRHA would like me to be, and because they are both so easy, I kept the draw. I have full confidence to get them both ready. These horses, I feel like I’ve made the finals at a few events with them, like the Derby here last year and the NRBC this year.”
Aboard Custom Dreams, a 5-year-old stallion owned by Custom Dreams Brazil and bred by NRHA Professional Devin Warren, Deary topped the Open Derby prelim round with a 229.5. The stallion has shown to more than $300,000 in NRHA lifetime earnings, including reserve championships in the NRBC Level 4 Open, 100X Cowtown Classic Level 4 Open Stakes, NRHA Derby 4-Year-Old Open Stakes and The Run For A Million Open Shootout.
Customize My Dream, whose lifetime earnings are nearing the $300,000 mark, carried Deary to the 2022 NRHA Level 4 Open Futurity Reserve Championship. The duo also picked up third-place finishes in the 2023 100X Reining Classic Stakes and the 2025 NRBC Level 4 Open.
Though both horses have the ability to garner big checks, Deary points out that their personalities and physical appearances differ greatly.
“If you look at them in the stall, one is kind of a normal-size horse; the other is really big,” he said. “Their personalities are very different. Customize My Dream has a lot of personality, mouths on the lead rope and picks at you standing there, and you might as well give him part of the lead rope because he’s going to get it. Custom Dreams is like a soldier all the time.”
Deary said that while he didn’t seek out siblings to show, the horses are coming into his program and fit like a glove.
“I think that everybody has their own style of horse they get along with,” Deary said. “I like a horse that doesn’t take a lot of corrections, one that likes to do their job, that I can pet on and be nice to, that makes good choices.”
The family ties don’t end there in Oklahoma City. Warren also showed Do You Havethe Dream, a full sister to Customize My Dream and Custom Dreams, in the Open Derby. The 4-year-old homebred mare, who marked a 221 in the prelims, has amassed $37,000-plus in NRHA.
The rivalry will continue in the Open finals on Saturday, June 21, while also helping shine a light on the great bloodlines in the reining industry. Watch these siblings battle it out for top honors at nrhaderby.com.
