Race Division
Our racing division stands as a beacon of excellence in the realm of Quarter Horse racing, boasting one of the most vibrant and successful programs nationwide. Held at Arapahoe Park near Aurora, Colorado, from August to October, our live Quarter Horse racing events are nothing short of exhilarating. As these speedsters thunder down the track, they compete for over $500,000 in purse and stakes money, making each race a thrilling spectacle.
The RMQHA Racing Division comprises members who are deeply passionate about the breeding and promotion of the American Quarter Horse in sanctioned races across the country. With a commitment to excellence and a passion for the sport, our members epitomize the spirit of Quarter Horse racing.
If you’re captivated by the adrenaline rush of Quarter Horse Racing, now is the perfect time to join the craze. We invite you to connect with one of our officers or directors to learn more about RMQHA’s racing program. Whether you’re a seasoned racer or a newcomer to the sport, there’s a place for you in our dynamic community.
Stay updated on the latest news and happenings within the race division by clicking here. From race results to upcoming events, we’ve got you covered every step of the way. Join us in celebrating the unparalleled excitement of Quarter Horse racing with RMQHA’s Racing Division!
Race Events
Colorado Bred Program
To qualify as a registered Colorado Broodmare, the mare must be registered in the Association registry by December 31 preceding the year the foal is dropped. **Late enrollment can be made for mares registered after January 1, but prior to foaling.
To qualify as a registered Colorado Stallion, the stallion must be registered in the Association registry by June 1 and standing in the State of Colorado for current breeding season.
For a Foal to be eligible for Colorado Bred registration, the dam of the foal must be registered/enrolled in the program prior to foaling. To be eligible to enter Colorado Bred Races – Foal registration papers must be in current owner’s name and stamped. Owner and trainer must be RMQHA members.
Colorado Bred Quarter Horse Program Fees
EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2022
STALLION
- Lifetime Registration Fee unless change in owner (lessee)
- Due by June 1 of Colorado Breeding Season
- Current RMQHA member – $100.00
Click HERE for form
BROODMARE
- Lifetime Registration Fee unless change in owner (lessee)
- Due from January 1 – December 31 prior to foaling
- Current RMQHA Member – $50.00
- Flat transfer fee – $50.00
- Hardship application-$250.00 penalty + original fee of $50.00
- Late Nomination Fee – After January 1 but prior to foaling – Current RMQHA Member – $100.00
Click HERE for form
FOAL
- Weanling year (From birth to March 1st of yearling year)- $35.00 for Current RMQHA Member
- Yearling year (From March 1st to December 31st of yearling year) – $75.00 for Current RMQHA Member
- 2 Year old’s (From January 1st to June 1st of 2yr old year) – $150.00 Current RMQHA Member
- 2 Year old’s and older (after June 1st of 2-year-old year and older) – $250.00 Current RMQHA Member
Click HERE for form
Sponsored Races
This race is open to two (2) year old Registered Quarter Horse foals. To be eligible for this race, horses must be enrolled in the Colorado Bred Registry per RMQHA rules of registration, prior to nomination being accepted. It is a condition of this race that all owners or lessees and trainers must become 2024 members of the Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Association. Membership Fee $55.00
Nomination form click HERE
For the current entry list click HERE
Downloadable nomination form click HERE
CHERRY CREEK FUTURITY
LUCILE ROWE DEBRY
This race is open to three (3) year old Registered Quarter Horse foals. To be eligible for this race, horses must be enrolled in the Colorado Bred Registry per RMQHA rules of registration, prior to nomination being accepted. It is a condition of this race that all owners or lessees and trainers must become 2024 members of the Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Association. Membership Fee $55.00
Nomination form click HERE
For the current entry list click HERE
Downloadable nomination form click HERE
MILE HIGH QUARTER HORSE FUTURITY
2026 Season Starts Soon
2025 Point Standings
Final Standing
Contact the RMQHA Show office if you
have any questions or concerns
Executive Committee
Jimmy Daurio
President
Tanner Isaacs
Vice President
Racing
Kelley Simsonsen
Vice President
Show & Performance
Howie Chavers
Immediate Past President
Larry Terrell
Treasurer
Leslie Lange
Youth Chairperson
Race Board Members
Daniel Barron
Alma Olivas
Larry Terrell
2025 Board Members
2026 Board Members
Les Lindauer
Mark Shultz
Jill Cook, DMV
Tanner Isaacs
Susan Raymond, DMV
Mariano Cornejo
2027 Board Members
2028 Board Members
Matt Herrman
Victor Cervantes
Ross Alire
2025 RMQHA Committees
Stakes Committee
Howie Chavers
Les Lindauer
Matt Herrman
Mariano Cornejo
Ross Alire
Year-End Awards Committee
Kathy Stoker-Hill
Howie Chavers
Jill Cook, DMV
Nominations Committee
Tanner Isaac
Kathy Stoker-Hill
Victor Cervantes
Out Reach & Promotions Committee
Tanner Isaac
Alma Olivas
Forms & Documents
2026 Cherry Creek Futurity Nomination Form
2026 Lucile Rowe Derby Nomination Form
2026 Mile High Futurity Nomination Form
2026 Mile High Derby Nomination Form
Colorado Stallion Registration Form
Colorado Bred Mare Registration Form
Colorado Bred Foal Registration Form
Tanner Isaacs
Tanner Isaacs and his family reside in Carr, Colorado, where they raise quarter horses and seedstock range sheep. Since joining RMQHA in 2020, Tanner has played a pivotal role as the race director and is currently serving his second term as the Vice President of Racing in 2024. A graduate of Colorado State University, Tanner has dedicated the nine years to the equine industry in Colorado, including a seven years as the Breeding Farm Manager at Vista Equine Colorado, LLC.
Now with his own venture, Diamond Cross Ag Services, Tanner collaborates with fellow breeders to promote their horses and help them achieve their aspirations of raising future champions. Tanner and his family have successfully bred horses that have excelled at Arapahoe Park, and they continue to expand their program with a focus on Colorado Bred mares.
Howie Chavers
I am Howie Chavers. I have degrees in Business Administration and Computer Science. I have been a racehorse trainer for 37 years. My love for horses is the passion that drives me to accomplish any task.
Larry Terrell
Larry Terrell is a lifelong Western Colorado native who lives in Loma, Colorado, just west of Grand Junction. He is a retired CPA from the largest accounting firm in Western Colorado, where he specialized in taxation for natural resources as well as farm and ranch operations.
Larry earned his first Colorado Quarter Horse racing license in 1979, racing primarily on the Colorado fair circuit during his early years. Over time, his racing career expanded across Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Iowa, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, where he achieved his greatest success.
He has also served as Vice President of the race division for the Western Slope Quarterhorse Association, where the association sponsored and managed a 12-day fair circuit race meet, further supporting and growing the sport in the region.
Kelley Simonsen
Kelley Simonsen has been showing in RMQHA shows for close to 40 years as an Amateur exhibitor. Raised in the suburbs of Washington DC her early efforts were focused on English classes. After winning a Western show saddle at the Colorful Colorado AQHA show in Estes Park in the mid-go’s she ventured into the Western classes as well. Today she competes as a Select Amateur in the core All-Around classes.
Kelley served on the Board of RMQHA for many years, serving as Vice President of the Show Division from 2013-2016 and as RMQHA President from 2017-2018. With a background in Accounting her focus has been on the financial health of the Association. She is now an Honorary Vice President and currently serves as RMQHA’s Treasurer. .
Jill Cook, DMV
I am serving as a RMQHA Race Director because RMQHA and horse racing in Colorado has been an important part of my life and I want to do what I can to improve racing opportunities here. I am an equine veterinarian and started Royal Vista Equine with my late husband Vaughn in 1990. We offered equine reproductive services and stood many top race stallions including Super De Kas, Rocket Wrangler, Special Leader, and Moon Lark just to mention a few. The facility in Fort Collins continues to offer reproductive services as it is leased to Vista Equine Colorado.
We also raced horses both here in Colorado and in many other parts of the country. I think Colorado is a great place to raise top quality race horses and I strive to have better and more fair racing here.
Our daughters Bailey and Jamie showed extensively and one of my favorite things was being a “show mom” and watching them compete. Now my hobby is riding and showing reining.
I am also an AQHA national director and serve on the AQHA Racing committee as well as the director of the RMQHA Foundation. In addition, I serve on the CSU Research Advisory Committee for racing research funds.
Please contact me with questions or suggestions. We need more people involved in preserving our racing industry.
Les Lindauer
My wife Kimberly (Kim) and I share three daughters and one son, and five grandchildren. We have a small ranch in Pine, Colorado where we do our best to raise and breed race-bred Quarter horses. We still have four female descendants from the Lindauer Ranch in western Colorado and their lineage traces directly back 105 years to my dad’s first registered Thoroughbred mare in 1919 and the Thoroughbred Remount stallions he stood over the years. For over 35 years I worked with my parents to raise, breed and race Colorado Bred Thoroughbreds. Today, my focus has changed primarily to Quarter Horses. Kim and I try to breed one or two mares every year with the intent of getting their offspring to the racetrack or in the hands of our grandchildren to compete on.
My wife Kimberly is an Assistant Principal for Jefferson County School District. I am a retired school superintendent, principal, teacher and administrator. Being retired, I spend my time repairing and upgrading our ranch and trying to get another horse to the track. Certainly, a difficult task after 30 plus years of being dedicated to education.
I strongly believe that all horsemen, no matter which breed they represent, need to unite and lead the way to ensure that all horses are cared for in a manner that can stand the scrutiny of animal rights groups and the general public and the patrons that support the sport of horse racing. We cannot sit back and let lawmakers and special interest groups dictate the rules and regulations of horse racing. We must be proactive and lead the decision-making processes that govern horse racing.
Matt Herrman
My name is Matt Herrman, I am the Ranch Manager for the D&G Ranch LLC located in Platteville, Colorado. The D&G Ranch has been breeding, raising and racing Quarter Horses since the mid 1980’s across three generations. During this time horses bred by the ranch have accumulated numerous awards locally, regionally and nationally for their accomplishments on the racetrack with earnings of over one million dollars.
Throughout my time involved in the horse industry I have served on the RMQHA race board for over 15 years, the Colorado Horseman’s Association board for 3 years, RMQHA Race Vice President for two years and am currently on my 4 th year as an AQHA director. I have dedicated most of my life to the advancement and protection of the equine industry both locally and nationally.
I hold a Bachelor’s of Science degree with an emphasis in business marketing, and a Master’s Degree with an emphasis in Business Management. During my career, I have worked in advertising and marketing on both the agency side as well as the client side. Currently I am a professional farrier servicing over 80 clients and approximately 250 horses in the Denver Metro area. This allows me to keep my fingers on the pulse of the horse industry across multiple disciplines on a daily basis.
In my free time I am a volunteer high school football coach and enjoy supporting my two sons in their activities such as football, baseball, wrestling and theatre. My wife Amy is an elementary school principal in our hometown of Platteville. We are blessed to raise our family on the D&G Ranch property established in 1997 by longtime RMQHA members and my grandparents Richard and Genevieve Herrman. I look forward to the opportunity to continue my service on the RMQHA race board of directors.
Ross Alires
Ross Alires brings decades of professional and racing experience to the Quarter Horse industry. He retired from Chevron Corporation after 34 years as an Environmental Health and Safety Specialist, where he built a career rooted in precision, accountability, and long-term operational excellence.
Ross has been actively involved in Colorado Quarter Horse racing from 1982 through 2024, with extensive experience as an Owner/Trainer competing in California, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, and Utah. His longevity in the sport reflects both commitment and deep industry knowledge across multiple racing jurisdictions.
He also served as a Board Member for the Rocky Mountain Quarter Horse Association, continuing his dedication to supporting and advancing Quarter Horse racing in the region.
Susan Raymond, DVM
I was raised on a farm and was in the 4-H program for 10 years. I have a BS degree in Animal Science and obtained my DVM degree in 1980. Both were at CSU. I came back to the home farm when my father passed away in 1983 and started my own veterinary practice. I have been raising horses ever since. After raising performance and halter horses for a significant part of my years in the horse world, I became frustrated with the halter venue. I decided to cross my halter mares with a race horse. The result was a more versatile sound animal usable individual. So for the last 7 years, it’s been a great experience getting to know the race world and participate with horses I have raised. Colorado racing is facing some very real challenges for its very existence. There is so much potential for Colorado racing but I feel it is going to take people with some vision to make it come to fruition.
Victor Cervantes
Victor is a certified farrier with 14 years of hands-on experience in the hoof care industry, bringing a deep-rooted work ethic and lifelong horsemanship to his craft. Born in 1986 in Brighton, Colorado, Victor is the second of nine siblings and learned the value of hard work at an early age. His passion for horses began at age eight with his first horse and was shaped further through summers spent working on his grandparents’ farm and cattle ranch in Mexico.
By just 15 years old, Victor was managing a calf ranch, where his responsibilities included tagging, vaccinating, dehorning, and banding calves—experience that laid a strong foundation in livestock care and responsibility. After graduating high school, he worked at the Thompson Ranch in Merino for Pat and Lorain, a highly respected and successful breeding and training operation for racing quarter horses.
Since 2015, Victor has been actively breeding racing Quarter Horses while continuing his farrier career, combining practical ranch knowledge with professional hoof care expertise. Bilingual in English and Spanish, Victor is proud to serve a diverse equine community and remains dedicated to the soundness, performance, and long-term well-being of the horses in his care.