Contestants use jackpot as prep for Ceremonial rodeo

CHURCH ROCK, N.M. – The Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial Night Rodeo on Saturday served as the final dress rehearsal for the real deal.

Several contestants used the jackpot rodeo to prep for the start of the open rodeo, which gets underway with today’s 9 a.m. slack performance at Red Rock Park.

“This is a tune-up for the big rodeo,” team roper Doyle Lee, 23, said. “It’s good that I got entered here because I rode a green horse that I just started.”

The four-day Ceremonial Open Rodeo ends on Sunday afternoon with the top 10 contestants in the standard events making the short round.

Lee took home two paychecks on Saturday by winning the open team roping with header Bahe Henio as the pair posted an 8.59 run. He also placed third with Yazhi Thomas as he roped a leg for an 11.94 run.

For both of his runs the Názlini, Arizona cowboy used his five-year-old horse named Bullseye

“I’ve only had him for a few years now, and he’s coming along just right,” Lee said. “I’ve gain some trust in him, and I have a lot of confidence in him. I qualified for the finals in Las Vegas in the World Series when he was three years-old and I rode him there.”

Lee got entered for the Ceremonial Open Rodeo three times. He’s roping with Triston Cody, Dennis Boone and Rory Billie.

“I actually made the short go the past three years, but I never got a turn,” Lee said. “Hopefully, things will go a lot better this year.”

Forest Lake, Arizona, team roper Kyle Little also earned two checks on Saturday night. Little won the No. 10 team roping with Leonard Williams Sr., with the 6.7 run they turned in.

“We had a pretty good steer,” Little said. “It wasn’t fast, and it wasn’t slow. It was just average.”

Little credited Williams for setting up that fast run.

“Senior got a good start, and he just put it in my loop,” the 40 year-old said.

Little described that same set up with heading partner Dennison Boone in the open team roping as the pair placed second with a 9.9 run.

“That steer really tried,” Little said. “That steer ran hard, but Boone did what he needed to do, you know, to put it in my loop again.”

For this week’s big rodeo, Little is roping with Williams, Boone and Rick Tolino.

“Me and Senior have been going at it all year and we have a connection,” Little said. “Things have been working out for us.”

Pinedale, New Mexico, cowgirl Cassidy White also used Saturday night’s rodeo to fine-tune her runs in both the breakaway and barrel racing events. At the jackpot rodeo, she competed twice in both the junior and open events.

“We kind of went wide on our first barrel in both runs,” White said, while adding that she didn’t fare well in the breakaway roping.

“It was kind of odd for me because I won the open junior rodeo today,” the 15 year-old cowgirl said. “I just kind of rushed things on myself. I’m trying to be consistent with it. I just need to work hard and get better at it.”

White won the junior barrels in 16.784 and in the open she took second behind event winner Cassidy Begay. In the open, she ran a tad faster with a 16.752 run.

“I think our second and last barrels is where I made up some time,” White said. “I’m going to try and fix our first barrel, and I’m going to look at video and try to do better next time.”

Begay won the open barrels with a 16.888 run, edging White for the title.

“Every time I make my run, I just try to do my best,” Begay said. “Obviously, the grounds were really good. I appreciate the rodeo committee for taking care of the grounds.”

Begay praised her horse, Liam, for giving her an edge among the 10 barrel racers.

“There’s some good barrel racing horses here with some good riders,” Begay said. “I’m just glad that my horse did its job again.”

---