Mexican Springs breakaway roper wins Ralph Johnson
Special to the Times | Donovan Quintero
Breakaway roper Bailey Bates tosses her rope at the calf in the ladies breakaway roping competition on Sunday in Ganado.
GANADO – Anytime breakaway roper Bailey Bates enters an arena she can be a threat.
Bates, riding her backup horse Little Momma, bested the field Sunday at the 53rd Annual Ralph Johnson Memorial Rodeo on a hot, sunny afternoon.
The Mexican Springs, New Mexico, cowgirl posted a sizzling 2.76 run, which was the fastest among a pool of talented breakaway ropers.
With a time of 3.06, Lavina Willie-Nez placed second, followed by the third-place finish from Taniah Nez (3.37), a fourth-place effort from Dakota James (3.55) and a fifth-place showing from Renee Malala (3.76).
“I’m just doing what I love to do,” Bates said when asked about her success in the arena, which included an invitation to the prestigious Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo earlier this year.
At that mid-January WPRA rodeo, the 30 year-old cowgirl won her bracket with a pair of smooth runs of 2.1 and 2.6, as the Fort Worth rodeo consists of seven brackets with eight contestants competing in two-go rounds.
In her opening run in Fort Worth, Bates split the go-round with Texas world champion breakaway roper Kelsie Chace Domer. In her next run, she finished second to Canadian cowgirl Shaya Biever, who was the 2023 WPRA Resistol Rookie of the Year.
Bates followed that effort by winning her semifinal with a sizzling 1.9 run. In the finals, she added a 2.1 run for third place as Bates finished behind fellow Diné roper Danielle Lowman (1.8) and Rickie Fanning (1.9). At the conclusion of the 16-day rodeo, she amassed $18,500, which helped propel her into the top echelon of the WPRA standings. She is currently No. 28.
“I just tried to capitalize on every opportunity that I got in Fort Worth,” Bates said. “I feel like I’ve gained a lot of experience from there and I’m getting more comfortable being out there competing in the WPRA.”
And while Bates considers her impressive haul at Fort Worth a noteworthy milestone, she was quick to note that she wants to achieve more as a professional breakaway roper.
“It’s one goal that I’ve completed in my bucket list, but I know there is more to do out there,” she said. “I mean, being a competitor, being an athlete, you start to become more driven. Once you accomplish something, you then start to set other goals so that you don’t become stagnant in what you’re doing.”
On Friday Bates will compete in the slack performance in the inaugural Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena in Window Rock. Previously, the Navajo Nation hosted the PRCA rodeo during the Cowboy Christmas run around the July 4th holiday.
Bates is expecting to see some of the top ropers in the WPRA ranks as the event will have $10,000 in added money.
“I’ve had a lot of success there at the arena with Indian pro rodeos,” the New Mexico cowgirl said. “I’m comfortable there but I’ve never done anything there before when it comes to the WPRA. I think I’ve entered there at least one time before.”
When asked about the competitiveness of the WPRA, Bates says the cowgirls are quick with their ropes while noting that some of them do take chances.
“They take one, two swings in the roping box and then they take one additional swing in the arena,” she said. “I’m comfortable taking two swings but it all depends on the setup. The setups are different at every rodeo. Some of them have short scores and some of them are longer.
“It’s just learning how to navigate the different setups,” she added.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow