PRORODEO Sports News - June 6, 2025

won't soon forget. Tuf and his newest horse, Hammer, set the uncatchable standard - an outcome Roy would've likely predicted. Last year, it was Roy who convinced Tuf to learn about Hammer and see if the horse was worth adding to his arsenal of equine partners. Roy, a combined eight-time world champion between tie-down, steer roping and all-around, saw something in the animal he thought would fit his son's style. It appears he was right. The duo have already picked up wins in San Antonio and Austin this season, giving Tuf more than $44,500 in earnings already and a spot in the Top 15 of the PRCA | Bill Fick Ford World Standings. "He would say, 'Junior Garrison (1966 and 1970 Tie-Down World Champion) told me it takes six months to a year to get with one,'" Tuf recalled when discussing how long a partnership with a new horse takes to develop. "So, here we are right at the year mark of owning him. He had big dreams for me on this horse And hopefully we can find out what he was talking about." Tuf has a PRORODEO résumé other competitors dream of. He owns four total world championships between tie-down roping and all-around suc

Smith for creating a rodeo that felt more like a late round at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge than a first-time event.

It's all reinforcing what was already obvious - this isn't the end of anything, but the start of something new. And even though Roy won't physically be in the build ing, he's never far away when Tuf starts swinging a rope. "I have to wake up and go after success because it's not coming after me. I want to win. Every day, the PRCA provides an opportunity to rope and win, and that desire, that passion, is growing more and more every day since the passing of my father," Tuf said. "(This win,) it feels like I made my dad proud." Other winners from Nashville were all-around cowboy Stetson Wright ($6,378 in saddle bronc riding and bull riding) bareback rider Sam Petersen (88 points on Brookman Ro deo’s Lunatic Heaven); steer wrestler Rowdy Parrott (3.7 seconds); team ropers Cody Snow/Hunter Koch (3.8 seconds); saddle bronc rider Sage Newman (87 points on Penthouse Pro Rodeo’s Bad Habits); barrel racer Makenzie Mayes (12.94 seconds); and bull rider Wacey Schalla (88 points on Korkow Rodeo's Wasted Nights).

cess and he's won nearly every historic

regular season rodeo on the schedule. Tuf's run in Nashville came exactly one month since Roy's passing from a house fire in Decatur, Texas, on April 29. It was also just three days after a memorial service brought together thousands of family and friends at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, to celebrate the life of one of the sports all-time greats. For Tuf, the whirlwind of emotions has been a difficult path to navigate. Having his family in Nashville to cheer him on was a big help. The showcase itself also created a new vibe, as Tuf offered high praise to organizers and stock contractor Stace

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