Petry Gets 2015 Season Off to Strong Start

HEMPSTEAD, Texas – Like every cowboy who tries his hand on the ProRodeo trail, Darrell Petry has gold buckle dreams.

He just needs to get to the sport’s championship event first. In his distinguished career, Petry has yet to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He hopes that changes in 2015, and he got the season off to a good start Oct. 2 during the first performance of the Waller County Fair and Rodeo. The Beaumont, Texas, cowboy wrestled his steer to the ground in 4.0 seconds to take the lead.

“It wasn’t pretty, but they don’t put pictures on checks,” Petry said. “That’s what I’m hoping is that I get a check so nobody will know.”

He’ll wait through the final two performances – set for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3-4 at the Waller County Fairgrounds in Hempstead – to see if his time will hold up for the victory.

“This has been a good rodeo for me,” he said, noting that this is the first week of the new season, so he needed a solid start if he hopes to secure a spot in Las Vegas in December 2015.

Petry finished the 2014 season way down the money list. In fact, he didn’t conclude the campaign among the top 50 in the world standings.

“I’ve got a good horse going now,” he said. “We went through a year and a half of training. I took him out on the road last year to get him seasoned, and this year I think he is 10 times better, so I’m hoping he packs me to the finals.”

“I’ve had him about two and a half years. He was pretty ornery when I got him. He turned out to be a really nice horse.”

It showed during Thursday’s run.

Courtesy of PRCA