Wrangler BFI Week, which last year paid out a record $3.88 million, is scheduled for March 28 through April 3, 2024, in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It’s anchored by the 47th annual Bob Feist Invitational (BFI) on Saturday, March 30, which alone boasts a $650,000 purse.
Who: BFI The Feist Draw What: Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti view schedule When: March 28 – April 6, 2024 Where: Lazy E Arena, Guthrie, Oklahoma Why: It’s the most anticipated week of the year, and the legacy lives on. Watch: BFI Live
It’s all about the horsepower at the BFI, and Jake Cooper Clay’s RLLittleBit and Trey Yates’s Marlboro Cat were named Head and Heel Horse of the 2024 BFI presented by Dixon Flowers Rope Horses. Both cowboys have quite the horse history at this roping, as it was Jake’s third Head Horse of the BFI award and Trey’s second Heel Horse of the BFI honor.
Clay, who won the 2022 BFI with Billie Jack Saebens, made this year’s short round with Yates heading on a 9-year-old sorrel he calls Louie.
“My cousin Wayne Clay sent me this horse when he was 6 to make a head horse out of him to sell,” Jake said. “He was a ranch horse that hadn’t been roped on until he was 6. We pig hunted on him before I started roping on him. He liked the roping, and I didn’t think we should sell him. So Wayne told me we’ll just be partners on him as long as I want to ride him. And here we are.
“Louie’s just easy to rope on. He scored really good today, was really good in the field and faced good. He just gives me the opportunity to do my job every time. I don’t know how anybody else would like him, but he’s good for me.”
This was Clay’s fourth-straight BFI short round, and the head horses he’s ridden have everything to do with that. Jake took Head Horse of the 2021 BFI honors on Kevin Williams’ LeRoy, then Head Horse of the 2022 BFI on his horse Sun before this third horse award on Louie.
“I started heading in 2020, and have been super blessed to ride some great horses,” he said. “Sun’s 19 now, and I’ll still rodeo on him some. But this is a tough day on a head horse, so Louie got the call. Louie and Sun share a pen at home, so I figure Sun talked Louie into doing good today.”
Zac Small and Wesley Thorp won the 2016 BFI with Small on Sun, right before Small put his ropes up to go to vet school. When Driggers and Nogueira finished fourth in the 2018 BFI average, Kaleb was riding Sun.
“A head horse is everything at this roping,” Clay said. “The steers run hard, it’s the longest barrier of any roping we go to, and it’s all day long. The BFI is the hardest setup, and it takes a special horse to be good at this roping. They have to be able to do it, and they have to be tough.”
Three generations of the Yates family, including patriarch Dick, JD and sister Kelly (in 1984, the three of them became the first and only father-son-daughter combo in NFR history), and now Trey are all about the horses. Trey calls this year’s Heel Horse of the BFI Sugar Daddy down at the barn, and the 10-year-old blaze-faced chestnut with two white socks is a former futurity and show horse that’s been in the Yates remuda three years now.
“There were times I about gave up on him,” Trey said. “But this horse has got grit and heart, because every time I about gave up on him, he did something amazing. He wants to do right, he wants to win and he puts me in a position to win. When I don’t win, it’s not his fault.
“Sugar Daddy was amazing all day today. He stay collected the whole time, and gave me 150%. That’s what makes great horses—they give you their all every single time. And this horse does that.”
Yates won his first Heel Horse of the BFI award in 2020 on Nic Of Shine, a black horse he called Tux.
“Tux was one in a million, too,” Trey said. “This award means a lot to my family. When your horse stands out over 125 horses, that’s a pretty big accomplishment. My dad won Head Horse of the BFI twice, and a Heel Horse of the BFI award (JD and cousin Jay Wadhams won the 2010 BFI with Jay riding JD’s Colonel Cal Dee, aka “A”; JD’s Head Horse of the BFI awards were won in 2008 on Buster, and in 2018 on Turbo), as well. We take pride in our horses as a family. If I get my butt kicked, it won’t be because I didn’t show up prepared and my horse wasn’t ready.”
Clay and Yates were presented $2,000 bonus checks, Lost Prairie Bronzes by Steve Miller, Best Ever Pads, Classic Equine Horse Blankets and Equinety.
For the first time in eleven years, a lucrative stand-alone steer roping will be held at the Lazy E Arena, which was built by Ed Gaylord in 1984 specifically to host the PRCA’s National Finals of Steer Roping.
The best steer ropers in the world, many of whom hail from Oklahoma, will be gunning for Gist buckles, $10,000 cash added by Pete Carr Pro Rodeo, and a custom Veach trophy saddle, thanks to Clark Quarter Horses and Veach Saddlery. A calcutta will be hosted Friday night, April 5, at the Gold Buckle Cantina inside the Lazy E at 7 p.m.
Tickets may be purchased on the day of. $15 per person for kids 10 and under, free of charge.
A brand-new film documenting nearly a half-century of footage and interviews from the Bob Feist Invitational will premiere March 23 and 24 on The Cowboy Channel at 6:30 and 9 p.m. Eastern, respectively.
The documentary, brought to you by Resistol and Ullman Peterson Events, features sit-down interviews with several former BFI champs like Trevor Brazile, Tee Woolman, Dee Pickett and Rich Skelton, along with recent slow-motion footage juxtaposed with vintage audio play-by-play.
“You had to be horseback and you had to handle cattle,” the film captures from Dick Yates, who once entered with Hollywood actor Wilford Brimley’s son. “It put the ‘cowboy’ in roping.”
Many, including Rube Woolsey, credit Rodeo Video for kicking off today’s giant wave of team roping advancement because of the sale of its wildly popular run-by-run “BFI tapes.” Every serious team roper for the past 30 years grew up watching BFI tapes, first on VHS and then DVD and finally downloaded.
“We all wanted to do good there since we were little boys,” said Woolsey, who banked $50,094 in 1995. “And that adds quite a bit of pressure.”
The film was produced by Wildhorse Motion, co-owned by Texas native Tim Endsley, over the past year. Endsley pointed out that, well before cell phones or internet, America knew who won the BFI within a day, somehow.
“I love the segments with Bob [Feist],” said Endsley. “And Dee [Pickett] talked about the fact that team ropers had fewer places to rope as they got better. There were only rodeos, and many rodeos still didn’t have team roping. I was a calf roper and Dee was one of my heroes – in fact, my dad announced the 1984 NFR when he won the world.”
For years, the BFI paid more than a team roper could make at the NFR. And a BFI buckle remains right next to a gold buckle as the holy grail for team ropers. This film nods to the fact that each steer’s tail has to clear the end of the gate – and each roper has to decide whether to go for first or survive another round.
“I loved hearing Brian Burrows talk about winning the third-ever BFI with 17-year-old Allen Bach, and then he quit roping,” said Endsley. “We had to cut so much out, but there are so many great stories. We’re already figuring out what we’ll do in a few years for the 50th anniversary.”
The film will also be shown for viewing in Edmond, Oklahoma, at 5 p.m. on March 29 preceding the BFI Dinner and Calcutta at the Hilton Garden Inn, on the eve of the 47th Annual BFI in Guthrie.
Some handy high-numbered snowbirds spent part of February breaking in steers for the 47th Bob Feist Invitational on March 30.
With a cash purse of more than $650,000 and 125 teams accepted this year in Guthrie, Oklahoma, the BFI will again demand strong, even cattle. While it’s usually not the first rodeo for cattle used at other big Open ropings, BFI steers are crossed over the Mexican border and broke in specifically for the BFI.
“As long as steers haven’t had many runs, they’re fairly similar,” said Scott Gage of 3 Point Productions, who with Jeff Smith will bring hundreds of cattle to Wrangler BFI Week for the fourth year in a row. “We pride ourselves on honest steers, and we want great cattle at the BFI.”
Partly because of below-zero temperatures at Gage’s place in Kansas this winter, the steers were trucked to his Phoenix-area home to be broke in during some sunshine. Their protocol is to trail the M branded steers to the stripping chute several times, then lead them around with a rope on their neck once, then on their horns once. Finally, the steers are live-roped three to six times, depending on how they perform.
“We run them however they need, to get them going good,” said Gage. “These sets we broke in this year have been really good. It’ll be a great set for the BFI.”
The duo will sort through and choose the 135 strongest out of 250. They’ll do that, also, with the hundreds of veteran steers they also bring to Guthrie for the lower-numbered ropings that week. That attention to detail helps make gals pull into Guthrie to try for another thirty-thousand-dollar payday like Lari Dee Guy had in 2021, or teenagers show up to gun for $50,000 cash like what the Hooey Jr. 10.5 champs won last year.
“All throughout the week, we have guys sitting at the back end watching, and if a steer doesn’t fit, he’s out of there,” said Smith. “Steers cost a lot of money and it’s a lot of work sorting, but If you want them to be good, that’s the way you have to do it.”
Bob Feist set this roping up so the fundamentals alone are challenging. That means teams who can outscore and outride the others can win. And THAT means anybody from teenagers to world champs to weekenders with day jobs have a chance. And they’re all entered this year!
Plenty of former BFI champs are in the mix, like 2018 winners Chris Francis and Cade Passig, and some are teamed with youngsters. Clay Tryan and Jade Corkill are bringing teenagers Nicky Northcott and Tyler Tryan. Then there’s Rich Skelton, who’s got Denton Parish, and Walt Woodard will come tight with Devon McDaniel.
Some fun new teams are on the roster, like Colby Lovell with Dakota Kirchenschlager, or Garrett Tonozzi with Cory Petska. Talented horse trainers Andy Holcomb and Kirby Blankenship have partnered up. And some guys are specially made for this roping, like Andrew Ward who is spinning for world champ Kollin Von Ahn.
We have two females in the mix this year; one is a header this time. Wyoming native Willow Wilson and her husband, Todd, are the 30th team out. Headers Jr Dees and Brock Hanson have switched ends to heel for Braden Pirrung and Thomas Braman, respectively. And the second-to-last header to nod his head was named for this roping. Ketch Kelton will try his luck with Denton Dunning.
DRAW
HEADER
HEADER SPONSOR
HEELER
HEELER SPONSOR
1A
Tee Lutrell
Ryan Mayfield
1B
Logan Graham
Hope Livestock T-G Cattle
Douglas Henry
Henry Performance Horses
1C
Cole Morgan
Justin De La Garza
1
Trent Cornelius
JC Williams
4S Equine Legends of Team Roping
2
Jarett Freeman
JD Holland
Ricochet Fuel Distribution
3
Mason Appleton
D-F Rope Horses
Cooper Freeman
4
Blake Deckard
Western Solutions Insurance Kd Trucking
Sawyer Barham
Western Solutions Insurance KD Trucking
5
Dalton Titsworth
Outlaw Construction
Dane Reed
Outlaw Construction
6
Brooks Dahozy
Wrangler Cactus Ropes
Porter Bryant
Classic Rope Zesterra
7
Peyton Holliday
Landmark Gsi
Tanner Braden
Landmark GSI
8
Kade Sherwood
Orlando Jauregui
MJ Rope Horses
9
Roan Oldfield
Specialty Components & Fasteners
John Hisel
GI Ranches
10
Wyatt Imus
Tyler Mcknight
11
Ben Jordan
Action Plumbing
Scott Luaki
Jordan River Cattle
12
Korbin Rice
Custom Welding
Logan Moore
13
Brit Ellerman
Texas Saddlery Keeter Trucking
Jake South
14
Brent Mibb
Mibb Construction
Lane Reeves
D-F Rope Horses
15
Tee Mc Leod
Sid Sporer
16
Payden Emmett
Oke Performance Horses
Jace Davis
Cross Dirt Work
17
Cole Eiguren
Wash Rack 95 Car Wash
Trea Smith
Wash Rack 95 Car Wash
18
Jon Peterson
Jett Hillman
19
Ty Arnold
Ryan Motes
100X Equine Seven X Custom Jewelry
20
Austin Barstow
Top Hand Ropes JLH Hay Ranch
Jorge Pina Lopez
21
Bodie Mattson
Cody Lansing
22
Kreece Thompson
Rance Doyal
23
Cody Reed
Larry & Amy Nixon
Jace Mc Daniel
Team Equine Saddle Pads Southern States Metal Supply
