Dominant Boore Wins RAM Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo
HEBER CITY, Utah – Allen Boore keeps adding to his list of accomplishments, and the up-and-coming saddle bronc rider enhanced his résumé in dramatic fashion Saturday night by winning the RAM Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo.
The Axtell, Utah, cowboy closed out a terrific three-day performance by winning the average with 256 points on three head.
Boore split the win in round one, then won the second and third rounds to dominate what is one of the toughest saddle bronc riding competitions in any of the 12 circuits. He finished a comfortable 14 points ahead of runner-up Spencer Wright, the reigning world champion.
“Everything kind of fell into place this week,” Boore said. “I was able to draw one of the best horses every night and was able to capitalize on it. I was surprised I won all three rounds, but it feels great.”
He entered Saturday night’s third round with a six-point lead over Wright, who was in second place. But Boore said he felt anything but comfortable.
“I was pretty nervous just before I got on,” he said. “Spencer went right before me and had a pretty good ride, so he put some pressure on me.”
Boore responded like a champion and won the third round when he rode for 87 points – the highest-scored saddle bronc ride of the rodeo – on Bar T Rodeo’s Pinto Pass.
“I had a pretty good ride, and I was relieved,” he said.
Boore rode for 83 points on Powder River Rodeo’s Shaken Not Stirred to tie for the first-round win with Spencer Wright and Rusty Wright. Boore won the second round when he rode for 86 points on Powder River Rodeo’s Double Take.
Boore’s victory wasn’t surprising, but it was certainly impressive. Any time a saddle bronc rider not named Wright wins the RAM Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo – well, it’s newsworthy, because a Wright had won every RWCFR from 2009-14.
Jesse Wright, the 2012 world champion, won three of those circuit titles (2009-10, 2014) while Cody Wright, the gold buckle winner in 2008 and 2010, won two others (2011, 2013), and Jake Wright, the 2013 reserve world champ, won the sixth (2012) in the previous six years.
“There is a whole bunch of them and they all ride outstanding, and they’re dang good people,” Boore said of the Wright family.
Boore was eighth in the regular-season Wilderness Circuit standings – trailing six members of the Wright family. That included Spencer and his older brothers Alex, Jesse and Cody; Cody’s son, Rusty, who led the regular season standings; and CoBurn Bradshaw, who is a brother-in-law to the Wrights and was second in the regular season.
Bradshaw, along with twin brothers Jesse and Jake Wright, didn’t compete in the RWCFR. Jake and Jesse each recently underwent surgical procedures.
Still, it was Boore who came through in the circuit’s biggest rodeo. By winning the average title, Boore also qualified for the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo next April in Kissimmee, Fla. It’ll be his first trip to the RNCFR.
“That’s one of the goals I’ve wanted to achieve since I started,” he said.
Boore, now 24, graduated from Oklahoma Panhandle State University (Goodwell) in 2013 with an agricultural business degree.
Boore and his wife, Katie, were married in 2011 and are expecting their first child, a girl, just before Christmas.
He said the $6,742 he won at the RWCFR “definitely will help with the baby expenses.”
Boore’s first year on the ProRodeo trail was 2014 and he won $26,134 despite missing the winter season due to injury. In 2015, he earned $56,072 and finished 18th in the world standings – $5,100 behind Tyrel Larsen, who qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Polaris RANGER in the 15th and final spot.
“I was a little disappointed not going to the (WNFR) but I stayed healthy and still had a dang good year,” Boore said. “Missing the Finals just gives me a little more incentive to make it next year.”
Other winners at the $171,531 rodeo were bareback rider Mason Clements (251 points on three head), steer wrestler Wyatt Smith (13.2 seconds on three head), team ropers Barak Freeman and Asher Freeman (19.1 seconds on three head), tie-down roper Matt Shiozawa (25.5 seconds on three head), barrel racer Vickie Carter (49.17 seconds on three head) and bull rider Joe Frost (243 points on three head).
Read more about the RAM Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo in the Nov. 20 ProRodeo Sports News.
Courtesy of PRCA