Shad Mayfield had a substantial lead going into the Oct. 8-11, Texas Circuit Finals in Waco, Texas, with $35,044 won on the year, but the No. 3 man in the standings, John Douch, gave him a run for his money in the average, beating Mayfield by a full second with a time of 35.0-seconds on four head.

Douch, 27, left the Texas Circuit Finals with his second consecutive average win in tie-down roping, qualifying him for his second NFR Open in July. The Huntsville, Texas cowboy won the first and third rounds, placed third in the fourth round, and won the average, taking home $10,488.

Mayfield, 23, had a strong $7,976 lead going into the circuit finals. The Money Man remained consistent all four rounds to earn his first year-end circuit title, a trip to the 2025 NFR Open in Colorado Springs, and $5,827.  

List of Firsts for Mayfield

Despite being a World Champion who has won most of rodeo’s majors, winning the Texas Circuit and qualifying to the NFR Open are both firsts for Mayfield.

“I haven’t ever gotten a chance to go to Colorado Springs, so I knew I just needed to win a little bit of money to be right there at the year-end,” Mayfield said. “With Texas running four head, I knew I just needed to knock four calves down and get a couple of checks here and there to lock in the year-end award.”

After riding his 14-year-old mare, “Lollipop,” all season, Mayfield decided to give the 2024 AQHA Horse of the Year a break and ride “Platinum” and “Rampage” at the circuit finals.

“I started out on Platinum, and I didn’t get a check on him in the first two rounds,” Mayfield said. “He was a little stronger than I wanted, so I cracked Rampage out for the third and fourth rounds. The third round was the toughest of them all. I tied a calf in 7.5 and won second. That’s when things kind of opened up for me. In the fourth round, I knew I just needed to go tie a calf down to get a good average check.”

Mayfield’s 15-year-old gelding, Rampage, battled EHV-1 for over a year before rejoining Mayfield on the rodeo road this summer.

“Rampage, he’s got a big story,” Mayfield said. “We’re still actually trying to get him back to his old self after he got sick over a year ago. So, it meant a lot to get back on him and win two checks to finish it out and be second on the average.”

Back-to-Back Texas Circuit Average Wins

Douch came into the circuit finals ready to defend his 2023 average title and take another trip to the NFR Open in Colorado Springs.

“When you rope against 12 people, you just want to take one calf at a time and not get ahead of yourself,” Douch said. “With the circuit money counting toward the world standings, you want to make at least $5,000 or $6,000 to get the year started.”

Douch kicked his year off the right way, winning $10,488 in the rounds and average.

In 2023, Douch found success at the NFR Open, placing second in both rounds of his pool and qualifying for the final round, earning $6,000.

“I’m pretty excited to be going back,” Douch said of getting to return to Colorado Springs in 2025. “It’s pretty cool to rope for a lot of money in the summertime when all those big rodeos are going on.”