Blake Ash Keeps Momentum Rolling with Deadwood Victory
Despite finishing 38th in the 2021 PRCA | RAM World Standings, Blake Ash did not plan to rodeo full time in 2022. But after a massive win streak in late July, the Great Lakes Circuit Champion is rethinking that plan, particularly after picking up the win at the Deadwood (S.D.) Days of ’76 Pro Rodeo on July 30.
“The season has drastically changed for me in the last three weeks and my goals have changed,” Ash, 31, said after earning $7,477 in Deadwood along with important NFR Playoff Series points. He placed in both rounds to win the average in 17.5 seconds.
“I drew two pretty good calves and I just tried to knock them both down,” Ash said.
The Deadwood win, which was a stop on the NFR Playoff Series presented by Pendleton Whisky, was part of a whirlwind of success for the Aurora, Mo., cowboy which kicked off in earnest at the NFR Open in Colorado Springs, Colo., July 13-16.
“I didn’t have a lot won when we went to Reno (in late June) but then I won about $10,000 in Colorado Springs,” he said. “It just set sail from there.”
Ash crisscrossed the country in the two weeks following the NFR Open, competing in Cheyenne, Wyo., Salinas, Calif., and Ogden and Spanish Fork (Utah) before heading to Deadwood.
The long hours on the road were worth it for Ash as he picked up nearly $30,000, moving him to 23rd in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. And that is before any Cheyenne earnings are counted in the mix.
“My horse just peaked,” Ash said from Cheyenne where he was waiting to compete in the Finals on July 31.
“We started clicking at the right time and then we were drawing the right calves when the horse was working, so it was the perfect storm,” he said of the turnaround. Tuna Fish is a 13-year-old gelding owned by La Reina Ranch who just recently came to Ash.
“I left for the summer run with him,” Ash said. “He was a little green when we took off, but he just keeps getting better and better.”
“He probably had 80 hours in the trailer the last week,” Ash admitted. “I could have flown to some of those rodeos, but we were hitting our lick and doing so good that I wanted to keep him under me.”
Ash will head back toward his home circuit for a few weeks before turning to the Northwest to close out the season, hoping to earn a spot at the NFR Playoff in Puyallup, Wash. in Sept. 8-11.
“We’re not going to get stupid, but we’ll hit the Playoff rodeos and try to get to that deal,” he said.
Ash is happy to be able to possibly go to his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo but understands the roller-coaster ride that can be the rodeo season.
“You can have dry stretches for weeks, but you just have to be ready for the next one,” he said. “I’ve rodeoed long enough to appreciate when it does come together.”
Other winners at the $291,353 rodeo were all-around cowboy Chet Weitz ($3,817, tie down roping and team roping); bareback rider Cole Franks (88 points on Harper & Morgan Rodeo Co’s Apollo); steer wrestler Tyler Pearson (8.0 seconds on two head); team ropers Jake Clay and Billie Jack Saebens and Tyler Wade and Trey Yates (9.1 seconds on two head); saddle bronc rider CoBurn Bradshaw (89 points on Burch Rodeo’s Lunatic From Hell); barrel racer Margo Crowther (17.35 seconds); steer roper John E. Bland (35.9 seconds on three head); and bull rider Tyler Bingham (88.5 points on Dakota Rodeo’s Pookie Holler).
Courtesy of PRCA