Erickson, Elkington Win #12 Showdown for $72,000

A pair of natives of Rigby, Idaho, came from behind despite an unexpected horse change to split $72,000 for winning the #12 High Desert Showdown on June 26 in Reno, Nevada. Both Jake Erickson and Clay Elkington drove about eight hours specifically for the roping, which is part of Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti. Anchored by the 42nd Annual Bob Feist Invitational (BFI) for the pros on June 24, the week of amateur competitions wrapped up the following day with the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Challenge. At the sixth callback position, Erickson and Elkington needed a 9.49-second run to ...Read More

Hutton, Bolin Win First-Ever Cactus #9.5 for $50,000

Former NFR bull rider Ricky Bolin had been the high callback header in the consolation round of the Wrangler National Patriot #11.5 roping on Tuesday and missed. He got retribution on June 26 during the newest addition to Wrangler BFI Week presented by Yeti – the Cactus #9.5 Over 40 – when he and partner Bart Hutton split the first-place prize of $50,000. “This is the most I’ve ever won,” said Hutton, who also roped with Bolin at the World Series Finale in Las Vegas last year. This time, with Bolin on the heel end, the Texans were the high ...Read More

Amateur Ropers Win $200,000 in Reno

School teacher Jody Higgins of Monroe, Louisiana, and his horse-trading friend Mark Smith of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, teamed up at the last minute to split $200,000 in the Wrangler National Patriot #11.5 roping in Reno, Nevada. Higgins, 39, became tearful upon accepting prizes later on stage, both because of his relationship with Smith and because the win came after he fought to recover from cancer treatment that prevented him from swinging a rope for years. “I’m going to frame this money and put it on the wall,” said Higgins, a No. 6 heeler and fifth-grade special-education teacher. He’d never been ...Read More

Dees and Siggins Win BFI, $120K in Reno

The flag at the 42nd Annual Bob Feist Invitational on June 24 was still moving at the end of the final run of 7.2 seconds when 26-year-old Lane Siggins began racing around the arena to celebrate the resulting $120,000 cash prize with partner Junior Dees, 21. The Arizona boys finally vaulted off their moving horses to throw their arms around each other. “I felt like we were 9 seconds on that run, and when the announcer said 7, my hat just came off,” Siggins said later. “I’ve been practicing to win the BFI at my house since I was 5 ...Read More

Smith Repeats As Hooey Junior BFI Champ, Wins $10K

Britt Smith of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, became the second-straight Hooey Junior BFI Championships Open heading champ on June 22, this time with defending national high school champion Breck Ward of Jerome, Idaho. The pair roped four steers in 34.58 seconds to split $20,000, edging Cash Duty and J.R. Gonzalez by two seconds. The second annual event for kids 17 and under is patterned after the richest Open roping in America – the 42-year-old Bob Feist Invitational – held in conjunction with the half-million-dollar Reno Rodeo. It consists of the Jr. Open and the Jr. #10.5, which limits individual ropers’ classifications ...Read More

Man Behind The Bronze

Because of the BFI’s 18-foot head start and hard-running cattle, head horses in Reno are tested to the utmost on scoring, speed, ability to handle fresh cattle and possibly pull up the fence. They and their heel-horse counterparts have been honored for years with custom bronze trophies by Montana Silversmiths. But did you know the executive who inked the deal actually sculpted the original bronze himself? Longtime event-marketing guru Steve Miller isn’t new to sculpting – he also created the Miss Rodeo America pageant’s perpetual award and did a bronze of Bodacious that’s in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. He’s ...Read More

How to get Rich in Reno

The only heeler to have won the Bob Feist Invitational three times has also banked more than $200,000 cash over the roping’s four decades. It’s safe to say he’s mastered the most challenging roping in America. Just why is it so tricky to win the BFI? Why is it that so many world champs who can rope five smooth all day long at home have so much trouble inside the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center in late June? Skelton’s new partner and old friend, David Key, can tell us from the perspective of both ends. Key, a nine-time NFR header, has ...Read More

Walt’s 2019 BFI Strategy

“Something makes me crazy about the BFI!” says Walt Woodard, who’s roped there 41 of 42 years and won the roping in 2008 with Clay Tryan. “They do one of the coolest things that’s ever been done at any roping – if you catch five steers at the BFI, they will give you your money back. They will give you your money back!! Because if you catch five, you’ll make the top 15 and get paid $2,500. “If you came to my house and said, ‘I’ll bet you $2,500 you can’t catch five in a row,’ you would go broke,” ...Read More

Deja Vu

When the infamous “Jake n’ Clay” won the BFI, it was still held outdoors in Reno, Nevada. Want to see a repeat after exactly 20 years? That’s right, the sport’s icons are teaming up again to try to win BFI 2019. “Jake is one of the best there’s ever been,” said Cooper. “You know he’s going to score good and get a hold and show me something there that I can catch, and that gives me confidence. He’s been doing that for a long time.” These two are also offering joint clinics together in 2019. Plus, while the late Rickey ...Read More

Camarillo talks BFI origins

Leo Camarillo, who was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame before the BFI was even three years old, remembers how team ropers of the 1970s even landed on the idea for such a roping. Leo “the Lion” won gold buckles heeling in 1972-73, won the all-around and team roping in 1975, and got another heeling championship in 1983. Here’s how he recalls the foundation for Bob Feist’s legendary roping, in his own words: In the mid-1970s, a producer like David Gill was also rodeoing and liked to rope, so he’d have five-for-$25 jackpots at his little feedlot. The top ...Read More