Double winner: Dulce bareback rider Jesse Wager wins Gallup Lions Club Rodeo
Special to the Times | Truman Begaye
Dulce, N.M., cowboy Jesse Wager lifts his legs in the bareback event at the 76th Annual Gallup Lion’s Club Rodeo on Friday evening with a winning score of 77.5 points. Wager added a 79.5 score on Saturday night and won the bonus round as he collected $1,820.
CHURCH ROCK, N.M.
Of the 60 rough stock riders that got entered, Dulce, New Mexico cowboy Jesse Wager came out as a double winner in his Gallup Lion’s Club Rodeo debut.
Navajo Times | Quentin Jodie
Lorenzo Benally stays on Casper Baca Company’s Western Feel during the 76th Annual Gallup Lion’s Club Rodeo on Saturday. Benally posted a 78-point score and won first.
Wager, who is half Jicarilla Apache and half Lakota Sioux, won the event title in the bareback event with a 77.5-point score on Baca Rodeo Company’s Miss Hippie that paid him $820. He also claimed the $1,000 winner-take-all bonus round on Saturday night with a 79.5 score aboard the equine named the Departed.
Wager made the ride off with Arizona cowboy Wyatt Betony, who posted the highest score during Saturday night’s performance of 71 points. In the bonus round, Betony got bucked off.
“Oh, this is awesome,” Wager said. “You know, I was just glad that I got to be in such a cool situation where you have the top two guys get to ride off. They used to do that back in the old days so, yeah, it’s pretty awesome.”
Wager said the $1,000 bonus prize will help him get down the road as he set to enter more INFR rodeos after buying his membership card late last month.
To read the full article, please see the June 25, 2026, edition of the Navajo Times.
Get instant access to this story by purchasing one of our many e-edition subscriptions HERE at our Navajo Times Store.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow