Pecos Tatum, 21, of La Plata, New Mexico, won the first and third rounds at the Turquoise Circuit Finals in Cave Creek, Arizona, Nov. 5-7, and roped three calves in 28.1 seconds to claim the average and another trip to the NFR Open in Colorado Springs, while 32-year-old permit holder Quinton Ellis held on to the year-end title with $25,465 won, a lead big enough to survive a finals he’d like to forget.
Tatum kicked off the weekend by stopping the clock at 9.1 seconds to win the first round and $2,219. He was 11.0 seconds in the second round, then tied Cade Wallis for the third-round win at 8.0 for another $1,941. The average added $3,328, which brought his weekend total to $7,488.
“Oh, shoot, it felt great, getting to bring home the circuit average,” Tatum said. “I physically could not win enough to catch Quinton Ellis for the year-end title. So being able to win the average there and go back to Colorado Springs was a huge blessing and accomplishment for me to be able to get three average titles in a row and get to go back to Colorado Springs again.”
First and Third Rounds In Cave Creek
Those first and third rounds have treated Tatum well in Cave Creek, and this year was no different. The calves came in from Canada to spend the winter in Arizona, and Tatum knew the first-round calf he drew had a chance to win something.
“Manerd Bird hauled the calves out there. He did a really good job this year,” Tatum said. “We got to tie the calves the morning before, and I had one that I felt like was going to be a really big chance for a go-round, and she tied great. So going in the first round, I was pretty excited with my draw. I was, I think, fourth to last, something like that and I just tried to just go make a really good, solid run to set the week up, and the cards kind of just fell right to allow me to win the first go-round.”
The second round didn’t go as smoothly.
“I had one that they missed the first night that I felt like was a little bit stronger on the run,” Tatum said. “I missed the barrier just a touch and had to run her quite a ways down the arena. It wasn’t really a great run. I just kind of survived through it, it felt like.”
He sat third in the average heading into the final round, with a calf that had been placed on in the second round.
“I felt like it was a good calf, and I just tried to hit the barrier and do my job and let the chips fall where they fall, and it just happened to work out in my favor,” Tatum said.
Zannas Frost “Zana” Gets the Call
Tatum rode Ima Big John Plowboy, “Big John,” at the last two circuit finals. This year he went with the mare he bought at the start of the season, Zannas Frost, “Zanna.”
“I rode her a lot this year, and then she had a little bit of time off after rodeoing this summer, and then I cracked her back out for circuit finals,” Tatum said.
Tatum spent the summer trying to make the NFR, and he says the 2026 season taught him more than the two before it.
“I’ll go back out there again and go as hard as I possibly can,” Tatum said of his 2027 rodeo plans. “I’ve kind of got some new plans for next year. My two years prior to this, I’ve of course learned a lot every year, but this year honestly taught me probably more than the two years before that. I’m going to change up the entering a little bit. The best guys in the world tell you that they learn something new every year. So I’ll just try to pick up on as much as I can, and everything that I felt like I didn’t do right this year, try to just work on that this winter and try to be more prepared and go out there and hopefully accomplish my goals next year.”
Quinton Ellis’s Road Back to Roping
Ellis picked up his first year-end title in his second permit year at the 2026 circuit finals. He grew up on a ranch and grew up rodeoing, but he spent most of his 20s away from the sport.
“I’ve always loved rodeo, grew up on a ranch, grew up rodeoing but I became addicted to drugs in my mid-teenage years,” Ellis said. “I spent most of my 20s either needing to be in rehab or in rehab, and got clean when I was 28. I started working and have had the same job ever since. Then I started roping again, slowly got back into it, and just finished up my second year permit, and I’m going into my rookie year for 2027. I’ll be a 33-year-old rookie. I’m sure there’s probably not too many of those.”
Roping was what he missed most while he was gone.
“I love the competition, the cattle, the horses. I love the equipment, the people, the smell of baby powder, the smell of dirt, the sound of a Saturday night crowd,” Ellis said. “That was the thing that I missed the most when I was gone. I spent a lot of sleepless nights literally dreaming about being able to rope again, and I really didn’t even know if it was going to happen. And the good Lord has lined me out really and put the right people in my path, and I have a great support system. I’ve just been trusting God and cleaning house and doing the next right thing, as they say, and making recovery a priority.”
Ellis works full time and goes to school part time. He finished an associate’s degree and is now working on a bachelor’s. His rodeo comeback started in Arizona at the Grand Canyon Professional Rodeo Association amateur rodeos, with help from a friend he grew up with, Seth Hall.
“I had nothing when I got out of rehab, literally nothing. One pair of pants, they had holes in them,” Ellis said. “So I scrounged up enough money to buy a rope and a piggin string, and I called Seth and I was like, ‘Hey, if I enter this rodeo, will you let me on your horse?’ He was like, ‘Yep.’ So that went on for two years, I think. I would drive a 30-year-old pickup to the rodeo, like a little S10 that you have to check the oil every time you put gas in it. Seth would let me get on to rope for 300 bucks, and I would go home just ecstatic about it.”
Cracker and Dr. J
His mom let him get back on Cracker, the horse he’s had since he was in seventh grade. Cracker came to him as a 3-year-old, is now 22, and has taken him everywhere from junior high and high school nationals to the circuit finals.
“He had almost a decade off too, because the pilot was AWOL,” Ellis said. “When my mom let me get back on him, things started to get better.”
Ellis rode close to a dozen horses at rodeos this year, including a few of Dean Holyan’s and some he was trying from other calf ropers, but he won most of his money on Cracker. He also gives a lot of credit to Joseph Parsons.
“I call him Dr. J because you just go over there and he gets your head right and keeps you sharp,” Ellis said. “I got to give a shout-out to Joseph Parsons because he’s helped me come a long way.”
His goal this season was to double what he won his first permit year, and he did it.
“I think I won $22,000 last year between the amateur and ProRodeos,” Ellis said. “This year I won around a total of $45,000 so far. I feel like if I can double my earnings again next year, I’ll be somewhere close in the rookie race.”
Ellis pick up any checks at the circuit finals, but he went in with enough of a lead that it didn’t matter.
“So my first year, I was just so happy to be there, and I had a terrible circuit finals,” Ellis said. “And then this year I went in and I had expectations, and I had a terrible circuit finals again. I did everything but fall off my horse. I had a big enough lead going in that it didn’t matter for the year-end. So it was kind of a bittersweet feeling. But again, I’m just grateful to be there, and I love this sport, so I’m going to keep coming back at it.”
Quinton Ellis Heads Into His 2027 Rookie Season
Ellis has already qualified for Denver. Next he’s headed to Uvalde to try to get into San Antonio, and he has one more shot at Fort Worth through the rookie roundup. Next summer he plans to take three months of leave from work, starting around the Fourth of July. He’s also looking forward to the NFR Open in Colorado Springs.
“I’ve been trying to rope myself into positions where I can rope against less guys for more money, and I think that the NFR Open is a great example of that,” Ellis said. “The goal is just to leave home with the best horse I can and cash in my pocket to go try and compete. And I may get my butt kicked, I may not, but I’m going to have fun doing it, and then I can look in the mirror and know that I gave it my best effort.”