As if this man doesn’t hold enough records – which include the 2010 PRCA gold heading buckle, the 2013 BFI championship, and seven Timed Event Championships of the World – check out the fact that no team has ever roped six BFI steers faster than he and Patrick Smith eight years ago. But that was on the heading end of things.
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This March, Brazile will heel at the BFI for the first time since his rookie years in rodeo. He’s teaming with fellow horse trainer Miles Baker, with whom he partners on several young rope horses. It’ll be the first big event for the pair, although they’ve jackpotted a bit together around Decatur.
For Baker, 28, the BFI’s move to Guthrie was great because it’s just a hundred miles from his house. And he only lives a couple of hours from Brazile’s home, so the King of the Cowboys was a fan of the move, too.
“I didn’t know how many times I was going to go back out to Reno, because when you’re not rodeoing, that’s a long way to go for a jackpot, even one of this stature,” Brazile said. “The Lazy E is set up perfectly for the BFI.”
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Baker, a 7 header, roped at his first BFI last year with Dustin Searcy and said it didn’t go well. The other day, though, he was at the Lazy E visiting with BFI flagger Philip Murrah, who gave him some advice.
“He said he thought what always made Trevor great was that he kept blinders on the whole time at the BFI and wasn’t paying attention to what everyone else was doing,” recounted Baker. “He said Trevor roped his own roping. So I’m going to put my blinders on and rope my roping and make the best of every steer.”
Baker and Brazile rope together about every week and have some 35 head of horses between the two of them, mostly up-and-coming. Their trainees do get the benefit of real cowboy work, since Baker and his dad also have a thousand head of cows in southwest Oklahoma.
The team will likely be riding the two youngest horses at the BFI – both of which placed at previous rope horse futurities before aging out. Baker plans to head on a 7-year-old buckskin they call Scotch and Brazile will likely heel on his 7-year-old, Concho, once campaigned by Joseph Harrison.
“The BFI hasn’t been and probably never will be set up real friendly,” said Brazile. “Miles and I have been making horses for futurities, so now they’ll get to try their hand at one of the toughest setups in team roping. I think they’re ready and we are too. We’ll find out shortly.”
By BFI