During a conversation with 26-time World Champion Trevor Brazile, we were talking about the PRCA All-Around race, and the King of Cowboys brought up the All-Around rodeo limit.
The what, you ask? Yeah, some of the guys have learned that lesson the hard way. The PRCA rulebook says that only 70 rodeos per event will count for the all-around world standings. In comparison, the bull riding limit is 125, while bareback and saddle bronc are 100. On the timed event side, tie-down, steer wrestling and team roping are all 80 official rodeos.
We’ve seen the official rodeo limit impact who makes the NFR, but how could it affect the all-around race?
Since surpassing the necessary $3,000 in steer roping earnings to qualify for the all-around, Shad Mayfield has maintained a big lead. His current earnings remained $224,412 this week, but in addition to the tie-down roping, he’s entered at Pendleton in the team roping and the steer roping.
The top five guys in the all-around race are all entered in multiple events at Pendleton.
Wacey Schalla, the impressive 18-year-old rookie, is currently second in the all-around race with $167,399. He’s No. 5 in the PRCA bull riding world standings, but he’s already reached the all-around limit in that event. He’s also ranked No. 27 in the PRCA bareback riding world standings, and he’s entered at Pendleton. So the money won in that event would count.
Only a couple hundred dollars behind Schalla is the 2016 PRCA All-Around World Champion Junior Nogueira. After sitting out for part of the season, he’s in great shape with his rodeo count in every event. He’s currently No. 2 in the heeling world standings. He’s entered in the tie-down at Pendleton—having got his first calf down in the slack. To add to the excitement, he just earned $5,292 in the team roping for splitting second in the first round at Pendleton.
And guess who was heading for Nogueira? None other than the No. 4 guy in the all-around standings, Coleman Proctor. After winning nearly $19,000 this past week, he currently has $156,918 in the all-around standings. To help save his team roping rodeo count, he’s been making some rodeos unofficial in the all-around so he’ll be able to count the bigger rodeos, like the Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls, adding that he learned that lesson the hard way last year.
The 2017 PRCA All-Around World Champion Tuf Cooper, recently entered the All-Around race after surpassing the required $3,000 in steer roping. He’s currently at $123,250. He’s entered in the tie-down and steer roping at Pendleton. And considering that his brother-in-law is Brazile, he’s pretty savvy in those all-around rules and will be good on his rodeo count through the end of the season.
After watching Superman in Boots—Stetson Wright—dominate the All-Around the past five years, this year it looks to be a race that could come down to Round 10 at the NFR.
