Shad Mayfield set a new PRCA regular season earnings record with $287,721 on the season after winning the Cinch Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls.

The Money Man was a repeat offender at the Governor’s Cup, winning the South Dakota event for the second time, earning $39,625 in three days of competition in 2024.

“Sioux Falls is an awesome rodeo,” Mayfield said. “In the final round, Hunter (Herrin) dang sure set the pace. I was running scenarios in my head because second place was wide open. I knew I had a good calf, so I was thinking the worst I could do is just go make a good run and win second and still win $20,000.”

Mayfield has never settled for less, especially when he has big goals—like setting the regular season earnings record.

“I rope better when I just go for it,” Mayfield said. “After running the scenarios through my head, I decided I was just going to go for it. I got a really good start at the barrier and knew my calf was going to try and get up. That calf had gotten up with Cole Clemons last night, so I knew I needed to put two wraps on him. It all worked out for me.”

Roping for Syd

While Shad was at Sioux Falls last year, he lost a dear friend, Sydney Arthur. He roped and won for her last year and again this year.

“A year ago, we lost Sydney in a tragic car accident,” Mayfield said. “Today is actually the one-year mark since her passing. I wore her feather, and I think she was dang sure the angel watching over me. It means a lot that I got to get back-to-back wins for her.”

Pain Management

It’s no secret that Mayfield has two torn labrums, and he planned to take most of 2024 off at the start of the season. But the winter rodeos went so well, Mayfield decided to stay hooked. He has been battling hip pain all summer, but with good help, he felt loose and ready to rope at Sioux Falls.

“I did a lot to help my hips before Sioux Falls,” Mayfield said. “I was a little stiff the first day, but after getting worked on by Andrew with Competitive Edge, I felt good. I went in early to get worked on by him every single day. If I don’t get worked on and I’m not taking care of myself, you can definitely see a difference in my performance.”

Mayfield has been working all summer to figure out what works best on his body in order to keep competing without surgery.

“Andrew did physical therapy type stuff and just stretched me out,” Mayfield said. “He would get me as loose as he could to try and get me out of pain. He did a lot of soft tissue work on the first day to limber everything up. He also put compression sleeves on my legs, which helped. He knows what he’s doing, and it helped me out a lot.”

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Record-Setter

Mayfield set a regular season earnings record in 2022 with $203,508. Riley Webb broke Mayfield’s 2022 record in 2023 with $280,405. At the beginning of the year, Mayfield set a goal to reclaim the record and at Sioux Falls, he did just that.

“I said in my interview at Fort Worth that I was going to break the record,” Mayfield said. “Nobody thought I’d get it done, and it wasn’t looking like I would until I got over here to Sioux Falls.”

You can never count Mayfield out.

“The thing about me is I never count myself out,” Mayfield said. “I had a goal coming in here and I knew what I needed to do to achieve it. With all the money on the line, people could have caught me in the standings. I was kind of running the field to see what everyone else was doing but I thought to myself, I just need to rope my best. If I can get the money here, no one can catch me. To get that record back, it feels awesome. It’s something I take a lot of pride in.”

The Famous Lollipop

Mayfield’s 8-year-old bay mare, Figure To Fly, “Lollipop”, has been his main mount for most of the year.

“Lollipop was phenomenal at Sioux Falls,” Mayfield said. “She has been phenomenal all year long. She definitely isn’t getting any more rodeos until the NFR. She’s been going all year long and worked her heart out for me, so she deserves a little break and is going to get it up until the finals.”

World Standings Update

Updated as of 9/29/24