Shad Mayfield tied three calves in 30.3 seconds to win the 2026 California Rodeo Salinas on Sunday, banking $13,576 aboard Popular Snow Resort “Tootsie Pop” for the first win of his comeback from double hip surgery—exactly 40 years after his father, Sylvester, won the same rodeo.

It capped a breakout week that had the two-time PRCA World Champion chartering back and forth across two time zones. Mayfield roped at the NFR Open in Colorado Springs on Thursday and Friday, flew to Salinas, chartered back to Colorado Springs for that short round and then back to Salinas for the finals—a true planes-trains-and-automobiles stretch that paid off with a second-place finish worth a total of $14,500 at Colorado Springs on Saturday night before the Salinas win on Sunday. For a roper who was seven months removed from surgery and, by his own admission, close to walking away for the summer, it was the week that flipped everything.

“Before this week, honestly, this was my last week and I was thinking about hanging it up for the summer and going home and getting right,” Mayfield said. “It’s not that my body wasn’t right, it’s just mentally I wasn’t really trusting my body.”

Comeback Season

That trust had been hard to come by. Mayfield went under the knife on both hips after the 2025 NFR and cracked back out around Reno in late June, then strained the quad above his right hip in his first full competition run back. He had the opportunity to capitalize in Reno but couldn’t tie without his knee on the ground because the quad hurt so bad. He turned out of the Ponoka Stampede and other Canadian rodeos to let it heal, and even after the leg came back, the confidence didn’t.

“Whenever I first cracked out, I went to Lehi, Utah, and I remember backed in the box I’d never been through anything like this,” Mayfield said. “I didn’t want to nod my head just because I was scared of hurting myself.”

Student of the Game

The turnaround started with 20 kids and a roping school. Right after a winless week at Calgary, Mayfield spent two days tying calves alongside students while his friend Desmon Johnson, “Des” watched from the fence.

“Des was sittin’ there watchin’ me tie and he looks at me, he’s like, ‘You see how good that looks?’” Mayfield said. “It took my mind off how my body was feeling and just let me go out there and tie. I felt like things kind of got back where they needed to be.”

Des climbed on the charter to Salinas to be in Mayfield’s corner, and he credits that kind of support with getting his head right.

“For me, I need someone that’s going to push me and knows how I rope but knows everything going on around me,” Mayfield said. “Having someone in your corner out here helps a lot—someone having your back and also seeing things you’re not seeing.”

Inside Mayfield’s Salinas Runs

Sitting 11th high call heading into a loaded Salinas short round, Mayfield knew where he stood. He’d been fourth high call a year earlier and won second. This time he came from further back against a field stacked with the best calf ropers in the game.

“For me to come out there 11th high call and just kind of put my statement down, in a way to let ’em know, ‘Hey guys, two hip surgeries, seven months out, give me a little time,’” Mayfield said. “It put that little statement on things and definitely helped me get my confidence back that I could come back through all these trials and still beat them.”

The run that told him he was back came earlier, in the first round, where he stopped the clock at 9.6 seconds to win third and $4,046. He was 11 on a tough calf in the second round to stay alive, then drew up his plan for the finals: max the barrier and rope out in front like he knows how. He stopped the clock at 9.2 seconds to win the finals and $1,320, and his 30.3-second total on three head held off Zack Jongbloed and Joel Harris by a tenth for the $8,210 average win.

Tootsie Pop 🤝 Salinas

Tootsie Pop, the 16-year-old mare by Popular Resortfigure—the same sire as his 2024 AQHA Tie-Down Horse of the Year, Figure To Fly “Lollipop”—was making her first runs back since a minor Reno injury. Salinas is her office.

“She’s the best horse for Salinas,” Mayfield said. “She just traps those cattle so good, because wherever she goes she’s going to get right behind them. All three runs she gave me in the same spot were just phenomenal setups.”

Sylvester’s Footsteps

The Mayfield name and the Salinas grounds have history. Sylvester Mayfield, a two-time NFR qualifier who made the Finals in 1985 and 1987, won the same Salinas buckle four decades before his son—the second time in as many years that Shad has matched his father’s win at a legendary rodeo, after taking the 2025 Calgary Stampede exactly 40 years after Sylvester did.

“My dad won the buckle 40 years, exactly 40 years, before I just won it,” Mayfield said. “So it was cool to go out there and do that.”

Mayfield’s Next Move

Now Mayfield finds himself somewhere he hasn’t been since his rookie year—chasing the standings from behind instead of coasting on a cushion. His second at Colorado Springs unofficially earned him an exemption into Puyallup, which could open a door to Sioux Falls, and he plans to stay hooked at Deadwood, Spanish Fork and Ogden this week.

“Last time I was on a bubble race was my rookie year,” Mayfield said. “It gives you more of a thrill than being out here knowing you already got it made, because I’m trying to defy all the odds and show people I could come back at any time and still make it.”

For the first time since the surgeries, he sounds like he believes it.

“Now that I trust myself and feel good, I feel like I could easily do whatever I want to do,” Mayfield said. “I’m rolling with a chip on my shoulder and I’m staying hooked all year. The goal is to win. Win as much money as I can.”