Utah Bareback Rider Kicks off Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo in Fine Fashion, Crawford Sets Arena Record in Breakaway Roping

SALT LAKE CITY – The 2022 Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo presented by Zions Bank kicked off in fine fashion with top rides and an arena record time at the Days of ’47 Arena in Salt Lake City.

A Utah bareback rider finished atop the leaderboard on opening night. Dean Arthur Thompson of Altamont rode Bar T Rodeo’s Outlaw for 86.5 points. Bar T Rodeo Company also calls Utah home in Chester. Thompson has now punched his ticket to the Gold Medal Round on Monday, July 25. Donny Proffit of Diamondville, WY took second with an 84 on Legend Rodeo’s Garden Party.

The Gold Standard in Rodeo features a total of 288 competitors, who will take their shot at a share of the $562,500 in prize money and a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal that will be awarded on Monday, July 25. There will be 32 competitors in each of the following events: bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, women’s breakaway roping, barrel racing and bull riding.

It was lightening quick in the breakaway roping with 20-time world champion Jackie Crawford setting a new arena record in a time of 1.91 seconds. Crawford won a silver last year but she has complete focus on gold this year. Another run like tonight and she will be tough to beat. Taylor Hanchey was second in a time of 2.17 seconds. Her husband, Shane, competed in the tie-down roping and is currently second as well. They will both have to sweat out three more performances before they will know if they will be back here on Monday.

The full field of 32 competitors is divided into four groups of eight each and compete in one of the first four performances (July 20-23). The one (1) highest score/fastest time from each discipline of each performance will advance to the Gold Medal Round along with the three (3) highest scores/fastest times overall, from all four combined Semi-Final performances that have not yet advanced. In addition, the #1 ranked athlete in each discipline (for team roping it is highest ranked team after pairing) of the final audited standings of the WCRA Days of ’47 Rodeo Leaderboard will be automatically qualified for the Gold Medal Round making a total of eight (8) contestants in each discipline to compete in the Gold Medal Round. Scores/times from the Semi-Final performances will NOT carry forward to the Gold Medal Round (only to break ties). The 8 competitors in each event in the Gold Medal Round will compete in a sudden-death format with the winner collecting a Gold Medal and $25,000 cash.

The name Duvall is synonymous with steer wrestling and Riley is continuing the family legacy. Duvall took the win on night No. 1 with a 4.28 second run and keeps his hopes alive for being Triple Crown Rodeo Eligible. Duvall, of Checotah, Oklahoma, won the WCRA Rodeo in Corpus Christi, Texas, in May and is looking for a win in Salt Lake City to make it two in a row. He will be back on Monday to try to keep it quick and land atop the medal platform. His next closest competitor tonight was Tucker Allen with a 5.94-second run.

It was a rough night in the team roping with only three qualified times. World Champions Clay Tryan and Jade Corkill made it look easy on Wednesday night stopping the clock in 5.43 seconds to easily advance to the finals on Monday where they will rope for gold. They both have three PRCA World Champion Gold Buckles but neither have ever collected a Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo Gold Medal. They hope to change that on Monday.

Chase Brooks of Deer Lodge, MT, beat his traveling partner Sage Newman for the win in the saddle bronc riding with an 86.5-point ride aboard Bar T Rodeo’s Vain Reflections. Newman took second with a score of 85.5 on Macza Rodeo’s Lucky Cab. Brooks won $1,600, while Newman added $1,200 to the traveling rig. Brooks will be back in Salt Lake City on Monday and Newman is hoping his score will be enough to get him back as well.

Ace Slone took home the win in the tie-down roping on opening night with a time of 8.4 seconds. Shane Hanchey was a close second at 8.87. Slone of Cuero, TX, now has the opportunity to win a gold medal in Salt Lake City. Hanchey is hoping his time will be quick enough to earn him a spot on Monday as well but will have to wait until Saturday night to know for sure like his wife, Taylor, in the breakaway roping mentioned above.

Tiffani Sonnier was the only barrel racer to post a sub-eighteen second on night one in Salt Lake City. Sonnier, of Boling, Texas, stopped the clock in 17.80 seconds to punch her ticket to the Gold Medal Round on Monday. Her next closest competitor, Kaitlin Schuck, ran right after her stopping the clock in 18.076 seconds. Sonnier and Schuck were the final two runners on opening night.

Deklan Garland of Marlow, OK, closed out the night with an 89-point ride on Bar T Rodeo’s Goofy as the last bull rider out. No one had covered a bull until Garland rode the full eight seconds to easily advance to the Gold Medal performance on July 25.

The Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo presented by Zions Bank, is taking place at the $17.5 million state-of-the-art Days of ’47 Arena at the Utah State Fairpark, custom designed and built for rodeo. The venue—an outdoor arena located in the heart of Salt Lake City—features over 10,000 stadium-style seats.

For only the seventh time in the history of rodeo, riders will have an opportunity to compete for Gold, Silver or Bronze Medals. The first two times were in conjunction with the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary (1988) and Salt Lake City (2002), when rodeo was part of the Cultural Olympiad and the other four times being the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games and Rodeo 2017-2021. 2022 marks an official name change of the event to Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo. This will be the third time for breakaway ropers as their event was added to the roster in 2019. The medals that will be awarded at the Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo will be produced by OC Tanner, the same company that made the Olympic medals for the champions of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

Tickets are still available at www.axs.com. For more information on the event visit www.utahdaysof47rodeo.com.

For those unable to attend in person the Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo is being live streamed on RidePass PlutoTV-Channel 720 nightly at 7:30 p.m. MT. CBS will air the Gold Medal Round of the Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo on July 31 at 11 a.m. MT.

Action at the Utah Day of ’47 Rodeo continues July 21 at 7:30 p.m. MT.

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Results: – Performance 1 – July 20, 2022

Bareback riding: 1. Dean Arthur Thompson, Altamont, UT, 86.5 points on Bar T Rodeo’s Outlaw, $1,600; 2. Donny Proffit, Diamondville, WY, 84 on Legend Rodeo’s Garden Party, $1,200; 3. Taylor Broussard, Estherwood, LA, 81 on Bar T Rodeo’s Red Lady, $800; 4. Colton Crawford, Walsh, CO, 79.5 on Bar T Rodeo’s War Widow, $400.

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Dean Arthur Thompson, RC Landingham

Steer wrestling: 1. Riley Duvall, Checotah, OK, 4.28 seconds, $1,600; 2. Tucker Allen, Oak View, CA, 5.94, $1,200; 3. Tait Kvistad, Wiggins, CO, 7.04, $800; 4. Hazen Smith, Holbrook, ID, 9.58, $400

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Riley Duvall, Sam Powers

Team roping: 1. Clay Tryan, Billings, MT/Jade Corkill, Lipan, TX, 5.43 seconds, $1,600 each; 2. Tanner Green, Cotulla, TX/Trey Johnson, Weatherford, TX, 10.78, $1,200; 3. Anthony Lucia, Brock, TX/Speed Williams, Comanche, TX, 16.58, $800; no other qualified times

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Clay Tryan/Jade Corkill

Saddle bronc riding: 1. Chase Brooks, Deer Lodge, MT, 86.5 points on Bar T Rodeo’s Vain Reflections, $1,600; 2. Sage Newman, 85.5 on Macza Rodeo’s Lucky Cab, $1,200; 3. Jarrod Hammons, Stephenville, TX, 85 on Bar T Rodeo’s Lady Vain, $800; 4. Cameron Messier, Herald, CA, 83 on Bar T Rodeo’s Light My Fire, $400.

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Chase Brooks, Kody Rinehart

Tie-down roping: 1. Ace Slone, Cuero, TX, 8.4 seconds, $1,600; 2. Shane Hanchey, Sulphur, LA, 8.87, $1,200; 3. Cooper Martin, Alma, KS, 10.74, $800; 4. Shad Mayfield, Clovis, NM, 13.56, $400.

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Ace Slone, Riley Webb

Breakaway roping: 1. Jackie Crawford, Stephenville, TX, 1.91 seconds, $1,600; 2. Taylor Hanchey, Carmine, TX, 2.17, $1,200; 3. Lari Dee Guy, Abilene, TX, 2.34, $800; 4. Shelby Boisjoli, Calgary, AB, 3.60, $400.

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Jackie Crawford, Josie Conner

Barrel racing: 1. Tiffani Sonnier, Boling, TX, 17.800 seconds, $1,600; 2. Kaitlin Schuck, Wickenburg, AZ, 18.076, $1,200; 3. Brittney Hipp, Tuttle, OK 18.279, $800; 4. Lorie Diodosio, Fowler, CO, 18.634, $400.

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Tiffani Sonnier, Jana Guthrie

Bull riding: 1. Deklan Garland, Marlow, OK, 89 points on Bar T Rodeo’s Goofy, $1,600; no qualified rides

Gold Medal Round current qualifiers: Deklan Garland, Rafael Jose De Britto Vinagre