San Antonio Roughstock Finalists Will Pick their Draws
By Matt Naber
SAN ANTONIO – Like the city it’s in, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo has a unique flavor, and the final round has a new twist for the roughstock finalists.
Bareback riders, saddle bronc riders and bull riders will pick their ride from a list of 11 options for the 10 competitors in each event.
The luck of the draw is still in play to an extent as the order of who picks first has been determined by drawing names from a hat. The remaining animal not selected will be the first re-ride.
Healthy Dakota Eldridge qualifies for finals at San Antonio
San Antonio is one of a few PRCA competitions with a bracket system. The 14-time Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year starts with five brackets with three performances in each bracket that narrows to four semifinal rounds that were held Feb. 19-22.
As the rodeo progressed, payouts increased for the top four places, with first place in the first bracket paying $2,500, then $5,000 in the semifinals and $15,000 in the final round Feb. 23.
The 15 bracket rounds added up to $780,000, the four semifinal rounds combined for $416,000 in prize money and the final round will be worth $312,000.
Results from San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo
The roughstock cowboys who qualified for San Antonio’s final round are excited for the new method of drawing rides.
“I love that, I think it’s a lot of fun,” said four-time world champion bareback rider Kaycee Feild. “When you do it that way and get to pick your stock, it seems like it’s a better short round with the best cowboys on the best horses.”
Feild tied with Richmond Champion on Feb. 22 with an 89-point ride on Frontier Rodeo’s Delta Ship. Both cowboys are set to compete in the final round.
Feild, who won the world title in 2011-14, also pointed out that all the choices were top tier. Of the bunch, Feild said his top three choices are C5 Rodeo’s Virgil, Frontier Rodeo’s Gun Fire and Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Junior Bonner.
“I think it’s going to be a good match-up with the right guys on the right horses,” Feild said. “It’ll be a short round with good watching – a world record or arena record could be broken.”
Zeke Thurston, the 2016 world champion saddle bronc rider, shares Field’s enthusiasm. Thurston will be among the 10 final saddle bronc riders thanks in part to his 88.5-point ride on C5 Rodeo’s Make Up Face, Feb. 22.
“It’ll give a chance to see who is there to safety up and who is there to be a cowboy,” Thurston said. “It’ll be fun.”
When asked which broncs he had his eye on for the draw, the Canadian cowboy enjoyed his event’s options.
“They’re all good, but there are a few that stand out – but I’ll save that for tomorrow,” Thurston said.
“I don’t know that it will be a lot different (from a normal final round) other than there are some guys who will pick one they know they can ride. It’s still the luck of the draw, you could be in the bottom and still win.”
Bull rider Parker Breding was just as surprised by the change as he was excited after winning Friday night’s round with an 88.5-point ride on Powder River Rodeo’s Firewater.
“I think that’s pretty awesome,” Breding said.
Breding’s top three picks are Powder River Rodeo’s SweetPro’s Bruiser, Andrews Rodeo’s Wild Onion and Andrews Rodeo’s Risky Business.
“I’m sure everyone will tell you that one (Bruiser as top choice),” Breding said, adding that he’s ridden Wild Onion before and has seen other bull riders score 89 points on Risky Business. “It’ll dang-sure make it more interesting. In the past, you could have the No. 1 guy with the hardest one by the luck of the draw, but this will eliminate that, so there’ll be good match-ups and high scores.”
Whether or not Feild, Thurston, Breding and the rest of the roughstock finalists get the draw they want can be watched via live stream from the Wrangler Network, Feb. 23, at 4 p.m. (CT).
FINAL ROUND DRAW OPTIONS
Bareback Riding
C5 Rodeo’s Virgil
Calgary Stampede’s Special Delivery
Calgary Stampede’s Xplosive Skies
Calgary Stampede’s Tootsie Roll
Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Commander
Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Ain’t No Angel
Frontier Rodeo’s Gun Fire
Frontier Rodeo’s Full Baggage
Frontier Rodeo’s Tip Off
Korkow Rodeo’s Onion Ring
Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Junior Bonner
Saddle Bronc Riding
Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Womanizer
Calgary Stampede’s Stampede Warrior
Cervi Championship Rodeo’s 2 Cookies
Cervi Championship Rodeos Hitman
Powder River Rodeo’s Show Me Again
Powder River Rodeo’s Rich N Fancy
Frontier Rodeo’s Medicine Woman
Andrews Rodeo’s Fire Lane
Frontier Rodeo’s Maple Leaf
Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Resistol’s Top Hat
Frontier Rodeo’s Delta Force
Bull Riding
Powder River Rodeo’s Hard To Twist
Powder River Rodeo’s SweetPro’s Bruiser
Powder River Rodeo’s Valhalla
Powder River Rodeo’s Hocus Pocus
Powder River Rodeo’s Strange Cargo
Andrews Rodeo’s Cool Arrow
Andrews Rodeo’s Wild Onion
Andrews Rodeo’s Do Wa Diddy
Andrews Rodeo’s Truly Scrumptious
Andrews Rodeo’s Velocity
Andrews Rodeo’s Risky Business
FINAL ROUND QUALIFIERS AND TOTAL WON SO FAR
Bareback Riding
Orin Larsen – $14,500
Kaycee Feild – $12,917
Tilden Hooper – $10,917
Richmond Champion – $10,875
Ty Breuer – $9,750
Austin Foss – $9,000
Steven Peebles – $7,167
Tanner Aus – $6,875
Seth Hardwick – $6,500
Connor Hamilton – $5,250
Steer Wrestling
Trevor Knowles – $9,750
Tanner Milan – $9,000
Chason Floyd – $8,875
Dakota Eldridge – $8,750
Curtis Cassidy – $8,635
Justin Shaffer – $8,500
Tyler Waguespack – $7,750
Aaron Vosler – $7,500
Scott Guenthner – $7,000
Jacob Talley – $5,000
Team Roping
Derrick Begay/Cory Petska – $11,000
Tate Kirchenschlager/Ross Ashford – $10,750
Charly Crawford/Patrick Smith – $9,250
Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira – $8,250
Tyler Wade/Billie Jack Saebens – $8,250
Luke Brown/Paul Eaves – $7,750
Matt Sherwood/Tyler Worley – $7,000
Riley Minor/Brady Minor – $6,750
Garrett Tonozzi/Dustin Davis – $6,500
Chad Masters/Joseph Harrison – $6,333
Saddle Bronc Riding
Bradley Harter – $14,500
Zeke Thurston – 12,250
Wade Sundell – $11,500
Dawson Hay – $10,000
Ryder Wright – $9,083
Spencer Wright – $8,250
Jake Watson – $8,000
Jake Wright – $7,500
Sterling Crawley – $6,250
Rusty Wright – $5,625
Tie-Down Roping
Shad Mayfield – $10,000
Haven Meged – $10,000
Tuf Cooper – $9,750
Timber Moore – $9,000
Shane Hanchey – $8,500
Tyson Durfey – $8,000
Adam Gray – $7,250
Seth Cooke – $7,000
Taylor Santos – $6,750
Dane Kissack – $5,250
Barrel Racing
Hailey Kinsel – $14,500
Amberleigh Moore – $10,250
Dona Kay Rule – $9,750
Callahan Crossley – $9,250
Jessie Telford – $8,750
Ericka Nelson – $8,000
Jimmie Smith – $7,750
Kathy Grimes – $6,875
Nikki Hansen – $6,500
Shali Lord – $6,500
Bull Riding
Josh Frost – $15,000
Joseph McConnel – $14,500
Stetson Wright – $12,500
J.W. Harris – $10,250
Brady Portenier – $8,750
Koby Radley – $8,250
Parker Breding – $7,750
Roscoe Jarboe – $7,750
Jeff Askey – $5,875
Aaron Williams – $5,500
Courtesy of PRCA