ProRodeo Sports News - Nov. 1, 2019

TEAM ROPING HEADING • Fresh off winning the 2018 world title, Clay Smith claimed the top spot in 2019 by winning the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver in January – and he remained in the Top 15 while roping with three partners (Paul Kirchenschlager has an ace up his sleeve. He’s riding Smoke, the 2019 Purina Team Roping Heading Horse of the Year presented by AQHA. TEAM ROPING HEELING • Despite winning money at only 27% of the rodeos he competed at during the 2019 regular season, Cole Davison is headed to the Wrangler NFR. • Jade Corkill, left, jumped 29 places in the world standings in mid-April, from 45th to 16th, thanks to winning the Oakdale (Calif.) Saddle Club Rodeo and placing third at the Eaves, Jade Corkill and Jake Long). • Rookie team roping header Tate

Matt Cohen photo

Clark County Fair & Rodeo in Logandale, Nev. SADDLE BRONC RIDING

• 2016 World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Zeke Thurston, left, had the highest-scored ride of the 2019 regular season, a 94-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Special Delivery in Pollockville, Alberta. • With two months remaining in the 2019 regular season, Ryder Wright broke the regular-season earnings record for saddle bronc riding by $828 with $184,880 as of July 30. By the end of the regular season he had shattered the old record by $40,436 with nearly a quarter of a million dollars earned. TIE-DOWN ROPING • Shad Mayfield is the first cowboy in ProRodeo history to qualify for the Wrangler NFR and win the National High School Finals Rodeo in the same year. (On a side note, Mayfield won the high school finals while simultaneously competing at Cheyenne Frontier Days.) • Rookie tie-down roper Haven Meged, below left, does well under pressure. He won the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo and the ProRodeo Tour Finale for a collective $31,377. He also won the National College Finals Rodeo during the summer run. • Ty Harris made the fastest tie-down roping run of the 2019 season with his 6.7-second run in Hanna, Alberta. • Five of the 15 tie-down roping qualifiers come in as Wrangler NFR first-timers. STEER ROPING • On average, the Top 15 steer ropers competed at 40 rodeos during the 2019 season. Tuf Cooper competed the least, with 27 rodeos, and Chris Glover competed the most, with 48 rodeos. • Although he’s semi-retired and competed at fewer rodeos than nearly all the Top 15 steer ropers, Trevor Brazile ended the regular season atop the world standings. • Rookie Cole Patterson, qualified for the Finals alongside his dad, Rocky, and won the PRCA | Resistol Rookie of the Year title. • Landon McClaugherty made the biggest move within the Top 15 of the world standings twice during the season. In April, he jumped from 35th to 11th, and in September, he moved from 15th to fifth thanks to winning the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up for $10,839.

Billie-Jean Duff photo

Matt Cohen photo

ProRodeo Sports News 11/1/2019

ProRodeo.com

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