ProRodeo Sports News - October 2, 2020

BY MATT NABER

Jacob Talley was like a stealth bomber, slipping under the radar in the first two rounds but then coming out on top at the Tour Finale. The Louisiana cowboy didn’t place in the first two rounds, but he entered the semifinals sixth in the average. “When you’re with the best guys, the main thing is horsepower,” Talley said, referring to his mount, Baby, Sam Dixon’s 10-year-old American Quarter Horse. “She’s the right kind of horse for any setup.” Talley won the semifinals with a 3.7-second run and the finals in 3.6 seconds to take home $8,801, moving from third to second in the world standings. “Winning here is definitely important, financially,” Talley said. “You always want to win big money, and that jump in the world standings helps.” Talley is a two-time qualifier for the NFR (2016 and 2018) with more than $430,623 earned since his rookie year in 2011. The 2019 season didn’t go as planned, finishing 50th in the world standings due to injury. “We stayed in the top three all year, but it was tough driving all over the country with everything going on,” Talley said. The 29-year-old got a jump start on the 2020 season by winning the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth and is eager to return to that part of the Lone Star State for the Wrangler NFR. “It’s awesome and sets you up to practice and not work as hard in the fall,” Talley said. “My main goal is the gold (buckle), and this is inching closer to that goal.” Tallying horsepower

Jackie Jensen photo Jacob Talley waves to the crowd after winning the Tour Finale for an $8,801 jump toward his goal of winning the 2020 steer wrestling world title.

For the first time since 2012, Washington brothers Riley and Brady Minor won’t be team roping at the NFR, but finishing the 2020 season with a $9,788 check at the Tour Finale might help soften the blow. “It’ll hurt not to make the Finals, but it’s no guarantee when roping against the best guys,” Riley said. “With COVID, it was hard to make the ground up, and a lot of good guys didn’t make the Finals.” The Minors have competed at the NFR together 10 times (2008-09, 2011 and 2013-19). Brady also qualified in 2006 when Riley started his rookie year halfway through the season. “We contemplated not even going (to the Tour Finale) since it was 16 hours from Ellensburg (Wash.),” Brady said. The Minors made a statement by winning the first round in 4.3 seconds and followed that with a businessman’s run in the second round where a 5.0-second run gave them the lead in the average with more than a second to spare between them and the No. 2 team. “With the best 24 guys there it can be awfully tough, but the main goal is to make it back to the top-eight round since that’s where the most money is at,” Riley said. “But in our situation, we didn’t have a chance to make the Finals (NFR), so we were trying to win as much money as we could.” After placing fourth in the semifinals in 4.9 seconds, they broke out their best run of the week to win the finals in 4.1 seconds. Their Rapid City efforts pushed Riley and Brady from 27th to 23rd in the world standings for team roping heading and heeling, respectively. “It was just a good little year-end topper,” Brady said. “I hadn’t roped good the last couple months, and that was aggravating. To catch four in a row was a nice ending to top the year off and start with some good vibes for next.” No Minor rodeo feat

Jackie Jensen photo

ProRodeo Sports News 10/2/2020

ProRodeo.com

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