The month of July is always exciting in the PRCA Standings as many changes take place and tend to give some contestants the shot in the arm they have been waiting for all year.
The travel schedule getting to all of the rodeos seemed harder than most years with the Fourth falling on a Thursday. Many rodeos overlapped and contestants used many resources of transportation to get to the ones they could.
It seemed like from Reno on it has been a whirlwind for contestants to keep up with the travel schedules. As always, the timed event contestants have things a lot rougher, making sure their horses are at the right places for them as they fly to many of the rodeos either getting mounted or catching up with one of their own mounts that someone has hauled for them. In some cases, it takes many members of the family to transport the mounts and sometimes paid carriers or good friends.
The month of August seems to put the writing on the wall for the the top contestants and if they aren’t in the top 25 in the official standings, it is looking pretty bleak for a chance to make the Wrangler National Finals. For those that are fortunate enough to be in the top 15, the struggle is real to remain there, knowing all those below you are going as hard as they can to get into the top 15. Bodies, mounts, and equipment tend to show some signs of road wear about this time of year but one has to keep going into September to remain competitive.
Looking at the current Team Roping standings we see that Clay Smith is leading the heading by over $19,000 at this time. Clay has recently teamed with Jade Corkill and they recently took home some checks from Salinas and Nampa, Idaho. Jade is now sixth in the world standings as of this writing. Many teams have switched and changed partners this year and right now there are only five teams of the top 15 who have been together all season. The Minor brothers are currently third in the standings as one of those teams along with Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira, who are sixth and seventh respectively. Clay Tryan and Travis Graves hold on to the ninth and 10th positions right now. Jake Cooper and Caleb Anderson are 11th with $50,339 won so far. Paul David Tierney and Tanner Braden hold on to the 12th place in the standings. The team that is in 16th has also roped together all year. That is the team of Brenten Hall and Chase Tryan who will be a threat to other teams in the coming months.
Kyle Lockett holds onto the number one spot in the heeling with over $93,000 won to date. He is being trailed by Ryan Motes at $84,000 plus followed by Brady Minor at $80,000 plus. This will be a tight race up until the end.
It is strange not to see Paul David Tierney in the steer roping standings, seeing that he does so well at the Timed Event Championship every year in that event. Trevor Brazile is leading the steer roping during his semi-retirement year and is sitting 10th in the all around race.
Stetson Wright is number one in the all-around at this time, with most of his money being won in the bull riding, where he is currently sitting third. At this time it doesn’t look like he will make the Finals in any other event. Tuf Cooper is in the fourth position for the AA and looks like he will make it to the Finals in steer roping and tie-down roping. Tuf is currently fourth in the TDR and third in the the SR.
The barrel racing standings are close with three of the best battling for the number one spot. Hailey Kinsey holds onto the lead over Nellie Miller by just under $5,000, while Lisa Lockhart is setting in third only $8,000 out of Hailey’s number one position with over $130,000 won so far this year. There is a big gap to the fourth place position held by Shali Lord who is some $39,000 behind third.
I was very sad to hear of the passing of my friend, Dr. J Pat Evans. J Pat, as he was known to the rodeo world, was a very important part of modern-day rodeo as he was the man behind the Justin Sports Medicine Program. He, along with Don Andrews, founded Justin Sports back in the 1980 and has played a big part in the program ever since. Be sure to read his obit in this issue as he was a real person and a great friend to many contestants over the past 40 years. I used to love to visit with him about some of his travels. He enjoyed traveling in his RV and seeing the sights along the way. RIP, Dr. J Pat.
I heard that over the Fourth the Ranch Rodeo at Bridgeport was bigger and better than ever and continues to grow each year. Many thanks to Marcus Bunn and the Centennial Ranch for hosting this great event. If you have never been to the Eastern Sierras, you need to put that on your bucket list. Awesome place. Taylorsville was also a big success this year so be sure and check out the results of both in this issue.
For all of you jackpotters going down the road this next month, travel safe and be careful during the hot travels. Remember to keep those horses as cool as you can in the trailers and water as often as possible.