With a Canadian calf roping icon for a dad, Kyle Lucas is calm, cool and collected as he focuses on finishing the Pro Rodeo regular season on top of the Maple Leaf Circuit leaderboard.
Lucas, 30, is sitting second with $16,058.74, per the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association. That puts him roughly $2,000 behind No. 1 Logan Bird who is clocking in with $18,139.36.
“You always want to be first going into each and every finals,” said Lucas, of Carstairs, Alberta.
When he’s not rodeoing, Lucas can be found working for CrossTie Fencing, the company owned by his dad, 2011 Canadian Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame calf roper “Smokin Joe” Lucas, who qualified for the NFR six times and is a four-time world champion CPRA calf roper.
“I’ve got a lot of vivid memories of rodeoing with him and seeing him do good,” Lucas said of his father who retired in 2006. “That sure inspired me in a way. I don’t think he rodeoed longer to get me into it; I think it was just what he was doing, and I thought it was cool.”
Lucas’ 2024 Maple Leaf Season First-Place Finishes
- Hand Hills Lake Stampede, Craigmyle, Alberta: 1st, 8.2-second run, worth $2,097
- Stavely (Alberta) Indoor Pro Rodeo: 1st, 8.5-second run, worth $2,483
- Bonnyville (Alberta) Pro Rodeo: 1st, 9.5-second run, worth $2,270
The Maple Leaf guru
With big shoes to fill as a three-time reserve champion CPRA calf roper and nine-time Canadian Finals Rodeo qualifier himself, Lucas is eyeing the upcoming Maple Leaf Circuit Finals in Agribition, Regina, Saskatchewan, held Nov. 27–30, 2024.
“I like the circuit finals a lot better because when you get money at the circuit finals, it counts towards the world standings which can give you a good jump there, and it counts for the Canadian standings for the next year, too,” Lucas said. “It’s essentially triple points for me up there.”
Lucas is also sitting third in the CPRA world standings with $26,847.89 won and 18th in the SMS Equipment Pro Tour standings with 505 points. The Tour rodeos and rodeos with larger payouts in Canada count only toward the SMS Equipment Pro Tour standings and the CPRA standings.
“It seems like the Maple Leaf has always been my strong suit.” Lucas said. “It would be nice to get some big checks every once in a while to count towards the Canadian Finals but, then again, if that’s the only checks you’re getting, then you won’t qualify for the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals.”
Isn’t she “Grumpy”
His season wouldn’t be what it is without his equine partner, a 6-year-old mare he calls “Grumpy”—a green horse he put faith in when he was was in need of horsepower.
“I was kind of out of a horse,” Lucas said. “It wasn’t like [she] was a finished horse I could go rodeo on. She had never been to any rodeos besides with me.”
The first pro rodeo Lucas took the mare to was the Rocky (Mountain House, Alberta) Pro Rodeo, where he placed second with an 8.3-second run, worth $2,106.
“It was cool to see a 6-year-old that was green step up like that when I needed it too,” Lucas said. “I think I could probably go back and look and over 75% of my money won towards the circuit finals has been won on her. I think I’ve won three pro rodeos off her so far”
Lucas also is one of the few who gets to jump-ride Bird’s iconic horse “Peso.”
“I kind of told Logan, ‘If we’re up the same, just know that I’m going to ask and just tell me if I can ride him or not,’” Lucas said.
Home run
With the season winding down, Lucas has three Maple Leaf Circuit rodeos remaining before heading to the circuit finals in November, and he has one goal in mind that comes from listening to his father: To win.
“My dad instilled in me that they don’t always remember second, which is a hard truth because second will still pay a bunch, but in the record books they don’t put who won second that year,” Lucas said. “[The goal is] to win the Maple Leaf finals itself, win the average and be the high money winner, which is considered the Maple Leaf champion and of course advance into the NFR Open. Then I can go get myself some big checks for the world standings.”
Such a feat would secure Lucas’ first-ever Maple Leaf championship title.
“You always want to stay in reach, if not, winning it,” Lucas continues.
Maple Leaf Circuit Standings
- Logan Bird, Nanton, AB, $18,139.36
- Kyle Lucas, Carstairs, AB, $16,058.74
- Ben Robinson, Red Deer County, AB, $13,609.64
- Tyler Popescul, Medicine Hat, AB, $11,213.03
- Steele DePaoli, Longview, AB, $10,549.65
- Jason Smith, Wimborne, AB, $9,312.04
- Logan Spady, Alliance, AB, $9,069.46
- Riley Warren, Sundre, AB, $8,973.20
- Erik Dublanko, Thorsby, AB, $8,902.13
- Austin Hines, Marwayne, AB, $8,843.20
- Murray Pole, Erskine, AB, $8,496.67
- Shane Smith, Wimborne, AB, $8,231.59
