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DeMoss, Cooper Enjoy Merriest Cowboy Christmas

by ProRodeo.com | Jul 06, 2015

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Many cowboys took in large hauls during the week of Cowboy Christmas, but none prospered more than Cody DeMoss and Tuf Cooper.

With $3,568,182 up for grabs at 32 Christmas rodeos, there was a lot of cash to be won.

DeMoss entered the June 29 through July 5 week already leading the saddle bronc riding in the Windham Weaponry High Performance PRCA World Standings with $68,171. Thanks to a large amount of success in Canada, he earned $22,791 – the most of any PRCA competitor during Cowboy Christmas.

DeMoss won both the Ponoka Stampede and Airdrie ProRodeo in Alberta, which made up the bulk of his big week. The $17,720 he earned in Ponoka was punctuated with an 88.25-point ride on Outlaw Bucker’s Lunatic Party to win the showdown round July 1.

He added another $3,772 in Airdrie, and picked up $1,299 at the Cody (Wyo.) Stampede. In total, his lead in the world standings grew to $19,512 over Taos Muncy, who earned $16,376 during the Fourth of July run.

Cooper wasn’t far behind his roughstock counterpart, earning $22,640. However, he needed to hit more rodeos to be the top timed-event cowboy of Christmas in July.

The three-time world champion tie-down roper cashed big checks in several places, led by $5,847 at the St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo, $5,405 at the Greeley (Colo.) Stampede and $4,939 at the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz.

“It’s great to have a big week any week during the year, but to do it during Cowboy Christmas, our biggest week of the year, is really great,” Cooper said. “The most important thing is having a positive attitude, and I went to all the big rodeos and I drew well, and things worked out.”

The only rodeo title Cooper captured was at the Molalla (Ore.) Buckeroo Rodeo, where he earned $2,559 for tying Hunter Herrin for the title after both men made runs of 7.6 seconds.

The defending world champion also made $2,360 in Ponoka and $1,530 at the Home of Champions Rodeo in Red Lodge, Mont. He moved from sixth to fourth in the July 6 world standings. It’s the second-straight season that Cooper has been the top PRCA timed-event performer during Cowboy Christmas.

Other cowboys who had fruitful Christmas runs were team roper, tie-down roper and steer roper Trevor Brazile ($21,668), team ropers Aaron Tsinigine and Ryan Motes ($20,010 each) and tie-down roper Caleb Smidt ($18,994). Evan Jayne was the best bareback rider with $18,285 and Tanner Milan was the top steer wrestler with $18,063. Shane Proctor was the only bull rider in the top 20 of PRCA earners with $15,952.

Jayne, a Marseille, France, native, vaulted to the top of the bareback riding world standings, and holds a $1,298 lead over four-time World Champion Bobby Mote. Jayne is seeking to become the first European-born bareback rider to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

  • Trevor Brazile went over the $100,000 mark in season earnings for a record 18th consecutive year. It is the sixth time in the last eight years that he has surpassed $20,000 in Cowboy Christmas earnings. His total of $21,668 for the Fourth of July run this year isn’t much off his average in those eight years (2008-15) of $24,231.
  • By earning $15,935 over Cowboy Christmas, 2004 World Champion Tie-down Roper Monty Lewis surpassed the $1 million mark in career earnings and stands at $1,009,134. He is the 128th cowboy to reach that milestone. Next up? That would be 2009 World Champion Team Roping Header Nick Sartain ($991,555) and 2012 World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Jesse Wright ($988,539).
  • The dominant brother combination over this Fourth of July week wasn’t the Wrights, Tryans or Crawleys. Nope, that distinction belonged to Manitoba’s Orin and Tyrel Larsen, who combined for $29,899, each finishing among the top 10 roughstock cowboys. That was more than $4,000 ahead of Jacobs and Sterling Crawley, and a bit over $8,000 over the five Wright brothers (plus Cody Wright’s son, Rusty). Jake Wright earned $11,954 over Cowboy Christmas, which was more than Cody, Jesse, Spencer, Alex and Rusty combined.
  • As expected, the injury report for Cowboy Christmas was quite long. Four-time World Champion bareback rider Bobby Mote is questionable with a concussion and an injury to his spine/shoulder. WNFR bull rider Josh Koschel is out with a fractured right leg, which he suffered at the Greeley Stampede. Fellow WNFR bull rider Bobby Welsh has an impingement of his left hip and is listed as out, as are steer wrestlers Darrell Petry and Juan Alcazar – who both have sprained right knees. Bareback rider Teddy Athan is out with an injury to his ribs, while team roper Blaine Linaweaver lost the top half of his right index finger, and had it reattached by surgeons.

Courtesy of PRCA

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