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In the final four at AT&T Stadium for the American Rodeo, Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins were the only teams without gold buckles on either end.

Yet, that didn’t matter much, considering their previous records and number of wins.

• They both ran 3.69 seconds to win $100,000 each.
• Their seven-day streak ended with winning the Lone Star Shootout and $65,750 each.
• They placed in each round and won the second performance outright to earn $5,750 more at RodeoHouston.

It comes just a few months after they broke the 27-year-old NFR aggregate record in Las Vegas.

Ward believes that they were meant to form a good team with Hawkins when they first started playing together, regardless of whether they were naive or not. There was no doubt from the beginning that the partnership would work, and they would catch an incredible number of cows.  

Their confidence in themselves pushed them to succeed even when they didn’t deserve it.

Ward and Hawkins came second out in the final round following Clay Smith and Jade Corkill’s no time. Although neither Junior Nogueira and Kaleb Driggers nor Wesley Thorp and Cody Snow was able to stop the clock, they watched them in action while seated at the back of the arena. 

Hawkins pointed out that even though they were not the favorites to win in that round, they were able to win because all they did was compete against the top athletes such as Junior and Welsey. He said winning against such competitors came down to luck and confidence. While they did not change their running patterns, they did it with agility and felt they were worthy of winning.

In the American’s semifinal round of 10, Ward and Hawkins finished third after one of the hottest rounds of team roping in recent memory.

Their time was 3.69, so they had to settle for third place behind Snow and Thorp’s 3.46 and Driggers and Nogueira’s 3.51. Smith and Corkill’s scooped the number four position with a time of 3.86. Due to the challenging conditions, Cory Kidd/Lane Mitchell, and Dustin Egusquiza/Travis Graves, couldn’t post times less than four seconds.

Rodeos sanctioned by the PRCA have been part of The American in the past three years. The PRCA calculated its world standings using some $50,000 of American earnings. We saw it happening to Erich Rogers and Paden Bray, Luke Brown and Joseph Harrison, and Coleman Proctor and Ryan Motes.

The American no longer belongs to ProRodeo after its ownership changed in 2022. Consequently, Ward and Hawkins must earn their third consecutive NFR berth the hard way.

Hawkins said he respects the rules put in place to make the rodeo finals stand out as a captivating competition, no matter how much money is added in the American Rodeo. Essentially, the American has two ways of getting in long and hard-fought battles. There’s a chance to win $5,000, $10,000, $15,000, $100,000. The payout in itself is substantial, so he doesn’t mind that it doesn’t count. He is just very grateful for the team victory.

Ward admits, however, that his brown horse, Biscuit, isn’t the perfect setup for running hard. He explained that he is prone to missing the barrier and causing his horse to go incorrectly. For the run to be successful, he must get a good start and close to the cow and keep him there as long as possible.

As luck would have it, Ward’s brother-in-law Hawkins knows the play and holds the steers straight to ensure their successful run. One thing that makes that run work is his grade gelding X.

Hawkins’ horse has been the most successful horse by far in the last four or five years, despite not being rodeoed long enough. He now has one of the most consistent horses. Hawkins stated that even though his horse isn’t the best at anything, he goes to a good spot that allows him to catch a cow. There is a lot of chemistry between him and the horse.

The 35-year-old Hawkins and his wife, Tori, have just started building a house in Stephenville, Texas. He will surely be able to cover those expenses thanks to an influx of funds last week. 

On the other hand, 31-year-old Ward and his wife (Tori’s sister) are currently based in Edmond, Oklahoma. They will feed their rodeo habit with the money won last week and may even purchase a home in Texas so that they are closer to winter rodeos and jackpots.

With $20,089.54 each, Ward and Hawkins rank 7th in the PRCA world standings. Despite the no-times, the American’s top four teams won $13,333 each for their spot in the finals.

Ward and Hawkins are likely to continue their reign at RodeoHouston, where they will rope again on March 16

There is no doubt that the Wrangler NFR is the most prestigious and richest rodeo in the United States and the world. This is because it features the top 15 competitors in Saddle Bronc Riding, Bareback Riding, Barrel Racing, Team Roping, Tie-Down Roping, Steer Wrestling, and Bull Riding.

A PRCA Gold Buckle and a share of the prize money, which grew to $13.3 million in 2021, is on the line at the Thomas & Mack Center. There was a total competition prize money of $10,257,048 that included $1.2 million in guaranteed prize money from all NFR qualifiers, as well as $9,057,048 in contest prize money.
The PRCA (ProRodeo Cowboys Association) intends to use the same payout structure as last year for the 2022 event scheduled to take place between Thursday, December 1- Saturday, December 10.

Over the past several years (2015-2020), the NFR has paid out a total of $10 million in guaranteed prize money and competition prizes, with $1.2 million distributed to qualifiers and $8.8 million distributed to winners.

So, we can expect a fierce and entertaining competition like never before at the NFR 2022, where contestants will compete for increased prize money.

With the increase, average winners will earn $69,234, and round winners will receive $26,997 each per round. The total amount paid per event is $261,261, while each round will cost a total of $87,087.

Additionally, the stock contractor pay is increased to $3,077,114. This amount is determined by 30% of the overall contestant payout.

Thousands of rodeo fans have come to Las Vegas for the 10-days of the NFR at the Thomas & Mack Center, which accounts for the increase in payout.

For more information visit prorodeo.com or NFRexperience.com for more information or news about the Wrangler NFR.

The National Western Stock Show came to end this weekend with smaller crowds than in years past due to the ongoing pandemic.

Despite the smaller turnout, those who did attend said they had a great time enjoying the festivities and getting to see all the animals.

This year, the highly infectious omicron variant of COVID-19 swept through the state, causing more than a hundred thousand people to stay away from the National Western Stock Show.

About 586,000 people visited the 116th National Western Stock Show, which ended Sunday. That’s down from pre-pandemic attendance by about 18%, spokeswoman Karen Woods said in a news release.

Last year’s show was canceled due to the outbreak of the pandemic. The stock show in 2020 drew around 708,000 attendees, and the event had just over 700,000 people attending the two years prior.

The annual Denver Livestock Show and Rodeo is one of the biggest events in north Denver. The event includes livestock auctions, horse shows and rodeos, as well as hundreds of booths at an indoor trade show. The show saw its highest-ever attendance during its 100th anniversary in 2006, when about 726,000 people visited.

Organizers say they are already planning for next year’s show and are hopeful that things will be back to normal by then.

National Western president Paul Andrews said today, “We are grateful to have hosted this epic event. We are blown away by the support and outreach from the nearly 600,000 guests who came back to celebrate the western lifestyle that is so important to so many.”

Although Colorado has been seeing a recent surge in COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant, this year’s stock show still took place. The show did require all attendees to wear masks indoors, though some people said this policy was not enforced strictly enough. It should be noted that organizers of the event did not make it a requirement for either competitors or attendees to be vaccinated against the virus.

The Junior Livestock Auction on Friday was one of the final events of the stock show. The Grand Champion steer sold for a record high of $160,000, and the top eight animals sold for a combined $519,000, Woods said in a release.

The majority of the money goes straight to the young people who raised the animals, 10% of which is put into the National Western Scholarship Trust in order to fund scholarships at colleges located in Colorado and Wyoming.

The annual Strathmore Stampede Parade is returning this Saturday at 9 am, and over 60 floats will be there!

This year’s parade is being organized by the Strathmore Wheatland Chamber of Commerce (SWCC), and the Past Chair of SWCC Hayley Poirier says they’re looking forward to putting on a great show.

“We’re really excited to be able to take this role on from the Town of Strathmore and run with it. We want to make sure that we continue to be a leader in our community, our business community, as well as our events community. So when this was presented to us we felt it was a natural fit for us,” she said.

Poirier explained we’ll be getting a big and diverse crowd for this parade.

“There will be our usual participants in the parade that we normally see, that’s our dignitaries, as well as some of our royalty from the different communities and the princesses. So we’re looking forward to seeing all of our dignitaries. And then we have a lot of different families and businesses and organizations who have signed up to also be a part of the parade. It is something that we look forward to annually, and this year will be no different.”

Some of the people you can expect to see are Miss Strathmore Stampede Martina Holtkamp, as well as Rodeo Queens from surrounding areas like Rimbey, Sundre, Teepee Creek and more!. Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Leela Sharon Aheer, Bow River MP Martin Shields, Mayor Pat Fule and Town Council will all be there, and Wheatland County Council has also been invited.

The Stampede Parade has always been a wonderful community event for everyone to get involved, and Poirier said that’s what she’s most excited about.

“It’s very much a rural feeling of belonging, so people are cheering along, there’s music going, there’s a lot of laughter. We love participation from our people that are in the parade as well as the people that are watching, so you really get this sense of belonging. The thing that we’re (SWCC) looking forward to the most is having another opportunity for our communities to be able to get out and celebrate and be together. the Strathmore stampede really stands for community involvement.”

She added candy and other small items will be handed out at the parade.

Source: strathmorenow.com