Travis Freiheit, of Fountain, Minnesota, and Morgan Flint, of Morgan Mill, Texas, topped the Open Sort class, sorting 30 head in 155.74 seconds over three rounds at the 2026 Cinch RSNC World Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, for an $8,248 winners check.
Betting on a Rough Draw
The Open Sort pen hadn’t been kind to many teams at the 2026 Cinch RSNC World Finals. For Flint and Freiheit, it was worth a gamble, going up against a particularly troublesome cow that other teams had steered clear of. It worked, even though Freiheit’s horse was already gassed by the time they got there.
“Morgan did a good job waiting on me,” Freiheit said. “We got lucky we made it through.”
They got even stronger each round, culminating in a win that had long since been due.
“I always ride to win, and it’s nice when it all works out,” Flint said. “So ride confidently and hope for the best.”
A High Brow Cat in High Regard
For Flint, the win may have marked an exciting moment for his mare’s future. Purrfectly High (High Brow Cat x Purrfectly Risto) came from friends of his wife and RSNC judge, Marti. The mare has carried Flint for the past three years, when the couple put a goal on the line.
“We made a deal that if we got first in this class at the Finals, we’d breed her, and that’s been standing for three or four years now,” Flint said. “I think we’ll let her have a baby next year.”
They haven’t picked a stallion yet. “There’s so many new stallions out there and old stallions,” said Flint, who already considers High Brow Cats to be “the pinnacle of the industry.”
“We’re going to have to take a close look now that it’s a reality,” he added.
Doubling Down on ‘Hottie’
Freiheit was also facing an important choice: which horse to ride.
Freiheit won the Open Sort World Championship in 2020 and 2023, but for the last round at the 2026 Finals, he climbed on his mare, B Freakish CT (Hottish x Sallie B Rey), a 2019 sorrel he calls “Hottie,” breaking a rule he rarely does.
“I normally never run her two runs in a row because she’s pretty hot and falls apart,” Freiheit said. “But she felt so good, and it worked out.”
Winning never gets old, even for a veteran.
“Sometimes you don’t feel like you’re good enough,” Freiheit said. “But it was good to win that.”
Freiheit also claimed Reserve Champion honors in the Open Sort, teaming with Trever Field for a finish that brought his take-home earnings from the class to $7,306. It capped a big week for the Minnesota rider, who also finished second in the Pro Futurity and caught a fast time in the Spalding Labs Western Heritage All Levels, pushing his total World Finals earnings to $10,172.
Open Sort — 2026 World Finals Champions
| Champions | Travis Freiheit (Fountain, Minnesota) & Morgan Flint (Morgan Mill, Texas) |
| Winning run | 155.74 on 30 head |
| First-place payout | $8,248 |
| Total class payout | $28,904 |
Payouts
| Place | Team | Payout |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Travis Freiheit / Morgan Flint | $8,248 |
| 2 | Travis Freiheit / Trever Field | $6,364 |
| 3 | Joe Burns / Nelson Mas | $4,096 |
| 4 | John Spencer / Juan Carlos Gonzalez | $2,212 |
| 5 | Danilo Rodrigues / Shiann Buckner | $1,990 |
| 6 | Tanner Keith / Jared Lesh | $1,768 |
| 7 | Jessie Wolfe / Logan Wolfe | $1,326 |
| 8 | Ryan Smith / Reece Stanfill | $1,106 |
