BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
There were four PRCA Playoff Series rodeos that concluded last week, Cheyenne along with three in Utah. All of them paid at least $450,000.
Shad Mayfield and Denton Good shined at Cheyenne, while Kade Bruno now tops the PRCA Saddle Bronc World Standings. Tristen Hutchings’ 92.5-point bull ride and Wacey Schalla’s dual-event success at The Dad also stand out.
- Tie-down roper Shad Mayfield added to his World Standings lead by winning Cheyenne before a pre-planned break to rest his hip injuries. Mayfield didn’t just win Cheyenne, he dominated by winning his Quarterfinal, Semifinal and the Short Round, which he did by almost three seconds with a 9.8-second run. Mayfield won more than $16,000 and will likely extend his lead over No. 2 Ty Harris to about $20,000 once the money from Cheyenne is tallied. That money is even more important as Mayfield plans to take several weeks off to nurse torn labrums in both hips.
- Kade Bruno is now No. 1 in the PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding World Standings after Damian Brennan held the top spot for 19 straight weeks. Bruno overtook Brennan with a flurry of huge checks between July 18 and July 24. In that week, he won more than $35,000 thanks to a fourth place finish at California Rodeo Salinas, a win at the Ogden Pioneer Days, a second place finish at Spanish Fork Fiesta Days, and a Silver Medal at the Utah Days of ‘47. He got on six horses and was marked 87 points or better four times in that stretch.
- Tristen Hutchings had the highest marked bull ride of the year, 92.5 points, to win Spanish Fork Fiesta Days. The 92.5-pointer on Cold Roll of Frontier Rodeo was the highest marked bull ride of the PRCA this season and gave Hutchings four rides of 90+, which is the most of any bull rider this year. The ride banked him more than $12,000 and marked his third Playoff win of 2024.
- All three roughstock events in Cheyenne were won with exactly 90 points. Those rides came courtesy of Clay Jorgenson on Summit Pro Rodeo’s Game Trail in bareback riding, Logan Cook on Sankey Pro Rodeo & Phenom Genetics’ The Black Tie in saddle bronc riding, and TJ Gray on Smith Pro Rodeos’ No Doze in bull riding. All of them were paid between $8,100 and $8,500.
- Marty Yates won Ogden Pioneer Days with an aggregate time of 14.5 seconds, more than two seconds faster than each of the last two champions there. Yates was 7.7 and 6.8 seconds to win the rodeo by six tenths and what makes things more impressive is the last two champions since the rodeo moved to a two-head Average were 16.6 and 17.7 on two respectively. Yates also was 16.8 on two to win Spanish fork as well, giving him $24,000 combined between the two rodeos.
- Steer wrestler Denton Good had won less than $1,500 on the year before winning Cheyenne Frontier Days. In his career, Good had made just three checks over $1,000 and none such checks in 2024. In one weekend in Cheyenne, he made more than his entire career leading up to that point ($9,143). Good tied for the win in his Quarterfinal before winning the Semifinals and Finals outright to amass almost $13,000 at the Daddy of ‘em All.
- Bull rider TJ Gray won about $30,000 last week by claiming victory at the Cheyenne Frontier Days and Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo. Across the two highest paying rodeos of the last week, Gray was 5-for-5 and won about $30,000, averaging 85.8 points along the way. After finishing No. 22 a year ago, the 23-year-old is currently No. 7 and has brought his Riding Percentage up 11 points and Average Score up three points in the 2024 season.
- No. 15 saddle bronc rider Brody Wells won Days of ’47 with the highest marked ride of his career, 92 points on The Black Tie. Wells is sitting squarely on the bubble and gave himself a huge boost on making the NFR with the best ride of his career on the reigning Horse of the Year. Prior to last Tuesday, he had never made a 90+ Point Ride in the PRCA.
- In his CFD debut, Wacey Schalla won four Go-Rounds and made the Finals in both bareback riding and bull riding. He is only 18 and has only been riding in the PRCA since November of 2023, but Wacey Schalla may already be the best two-sport roughstock rider in ProRodeo outside of Stetson Wright, and he proved that in Cheyenne. In his debut at The Dad, Schalla made bareback rides of 83.5, 88 and 89 and bull rides of 84, 91 and 83 to win about $22,000 total and take third in both events.
- Steer wrestler JD Struxness won both rounds to sweep Spanish Fork Fiesta Days. Struxness made runs of 3.7 and 3.9 seconds to rack up more than $15,000, the most won for any single event during the rodeo.
