Miller Back to Defend Title in Cheyenne

By Jolee Jordan

Cheyenne, Wyoming — Exactly one year ago, the WPRA World standings were shaping up as a two-person slug fest for the championship between the reigning WPRA World Champion Nellie Miller and Reserve World Champ Hailey Kinsel. Kinsel was fresh off a huge win at the 2018 Calgary Stampede but Miller punched right back winning the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo.

Fast forward to the new season and the battle continues on but with another name thrown in the hat: Lisa Lockhart has been second in the final WPRA World standings on two occasions and is second on the WPRA’s career earnings list with $2.5 million won.

On Sunday, Lockhart won her second Calgary championship worth $107,500—$57,500 of that counted to WPRA World standings while Kinsel won second and earned $47,000. Those earnings allowed both cowgirls to slip past Miller in the current WPRA World standings, a position Miller had held since winning RodeoHouston in March.

Now third but with only $10,000 separating all three ladies, Miller already countered with her opening round run of the Cheyenne Frontier Days, known as the “Daddy of ‘Em All.”

Cheyenne is trying a new format in 2019, foregoing its previous setup with two go rounds and a finals for those cowgirls with the 12 fastest times in the two-run average. Instead, Cheyenne is now a tournament style format much like Rodeo Austin with several qualifying rounds that are each sudden death with no averages kept.

With no limits on the entries, all WPRA barrel racers began the Cheyenne journey in a progressive round held during a pair of slacks on July 12 and July 15. The first slack had more than 140 barrel racers while Monday’s slack was reserved for just 48 competitors. In total, nearly 200 barrel racers attempted to advance to the subsequent rounds.

Just as she did a year ago, Miller and her phenomenal mare Sister took the first round win. As the final barrel racer in the first slack on Friday, July 12, Miller snagged the lead from Kristy Maxwell, who had led for more than one hundred competitors.

Miller and Sister were smooth and never quit running, even after a brush of the second can, to stop the clock at 17.44 seconds; it was the second fastest time in Cheyenne in the last three years. Miller was competing in between her preliminary rounds in Calgary and Showdown Sunday, but the fast time in Cheyenne helped make the round trip to Calgary that much easier.

Maxwell was making her first appearance at the Daddy and she and her eight year old mare Buttons were quick inside the huge arena in Cheyenne. Their time of 17.49 seconds had them sitting good with just the final 48 cowgirls yet to run.

Halyn Lide, Ryann Pedone and Meka Farr rounded out the top five of the round standings as the Friday slack wrapped up.

At stake was not only the lucrative first go round checks but also the opportunity to continue to compete at Frontier Days in 2019. Only the top 72 from the progressive round would advance to the performances, divided equally into each of the first six perfs on July 20-25.

Following the first 143 cowgirls, the cut-off time for the next round was set at 18.44 seconds, giving the Monday competitors a mark for which to shoot.

That mark moved quickly once the Monday slack kicked off following the steer roping slack. Jessi Fish was the very first cowgirl down the long alley and she tied for second in the go with Maxwell after posting a 17.49 aboard her horse Showoff.

Fish had been battling through July after an odd step out of her trailer resulted in a broken foot; though doctors had recommended a much longer recovery time, Fish knew she couldn’t afford to sit out of rodeo’s most lucrative month. Trying to ride the super quick gelding had proven difficult for the Franklin, Tennessee cowgirl over the Fourth of July, her first runs back after just a short break following the accident, but she’d still managed to win close to $5,000.

“I’m getting around on my leg, starting to figure it out,” she noted after the fast time in Cheyenne. Fish is riding with a cowboy boot that had been redesigned with laces for support.

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi was back in Cheyenne on Monday as well. She won a go round here last season and picked back up where she left off with a fast time of 17.55 to tie Lide. The two-time WPRA World Champ was aboard Mona.

Lisa Lockhart was one of several ladies who made the long, all-night haul from Calgary on Sunday to Cheyenne. She rode her faithful gelding Louie, who had been spelled in the final rounds at Calgary by trailer-mate Rosa, landing in the first go money with a solid time of 17.69. She tied with Kelly Yates, who also ran Monday and was on her homegrown and trained mare Gucci, for the final money hole in the round.

With both Miller and Lockhart in the money in the first go—and Kinsel a turn out in Cheyenne, opting to give her mare Sister a rest—the battle at the top will only tighten as the week, and the season, wears on.

Meanwhile, the cut-off time to advance to the quarter-finals rounds was an 18.25. Cowgirls will be placed into the six quarter finals perfs via random draw.

The four fastest ladies from each performance advance on to the two-performance Semi-Finals July 26-27. With the slate wiped clean again, the fastest six from each of the two Semi-Finals perfs move on to the final round to be held on Sunday, July 28. The final 12 will race for the title of Frontier Days Champion in one final, sudden death round.

For more information on the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, visit them on-line at www.cfdrodeo.com and stay tuned to www.wpra.com for continuing updates from the 2019 edition of the rodeo.

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Results

1st Go

1. Nellie Miller, Rafter W Minnie Reba, 17.44

2. Kristy Maxwell, Fletchs Sally Cat, 17.49
Jessi Fish, Guys Night in Vegas, 17.49

4. Halyn Lide, 17.55
Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, 17.55

6. Ryann Pedone, Dash ta Jones, 17.56

7. Meka Farr, DD Dee Cee, 17.60

8. Kortney Kizer, Cerveza De Mulan, 17.63

9. Lacinda Rose, RR Meradas Real Deal, 17.66

10. Lisa Lockhart, An Oakie with Cash, 17.69
Kelly Yates, Fiestanozshezfamous, 17.69

Courtesy of WPRA