Dominating Performances at Taber and Coleman
aylor Manning is on an early season heater and for the rest of the barrel racing world that spells trouble.
Particularly impressive was her run at Coleman where she was the 60th competitor and at the bottom of the ground (last before the rake).
“The ground was really good there and Archie liked the footing but he actually likes the bottom of the ground too,” the six-time CFR qualifier noted. Manning’s 12.76 second run was just two-one hundredths of a second faster than second place finisher, Colby Bonnett.
After her Friday morning run at the Kananaskis Pro Rodeo, it was eastbound on Highway 3 for her run at Taber in the performance that night. Again the duo was outstanding as they put together a 13.45 for a larger margin of victory this time around. The weekend’s twin successes netted the Yellowhead County talent $4445 to push her to the $12,000 mark already in the young season.
“I’m really excited about this year,” Manning added. “Archie has really helped to get the season off to a good start so I just want to keep my horses healthy and keep going. I’m feeling confident but it’s hard with barrel racing because the highs and the lows can happen so fast. I guess I’m just cautious.”
The hard-working cowgirl/trainer (she’s riding 12 horses at present), threw caution to the wind this weekend and after watching her perform most observers would agree that there’s a lot more to come as Taylor Manning vies for another champion’s buckle in 2024.
As the famous line in the movie Poltergeist stated, “They’re Back.” In this case the ‘they’ are Canadian Team Roping Champions Brady Tryan and Calgary Smith. After their record demolishing performance at CFR 49, the two American hands (Montana and Oregon respectively) made their first trip back to Canada a productive one as the pair were also back-to-back winners at Taber and Coleman. Looking back to their November Red Deer domination (their last four runs were winning runs) they have now won six in a row in Canada.
This time it was a 4.8 in the Kananaskis for $2100 and a 4.5 in Taber for $2400. Their dominant weekend performance will move the ropers closer to both of their season goals—a trip to the WNFR (Tryan was 20th and Smith 30th in the world standings before the Canadian wins were factored in) and the chance to defend the title they won in such runaway fashion in 2023.
And a few South of 49 footnotes:
2022 CFR qualifier Leighton Berry combined with C5 Rodeo’s amazing F13 Virgil for another rock star moment in the grey horse’s Hall of Fame career. The matchup resulted in an 88.5 score at Clovis, CA and a $10,913 payday for the Texas bareback rider.
Virgil’s recent success came on the heels of a three-peat performance at another California PRCA stop. The champion bareback horse carried RC Landingham to 92.5 and an arena record one week ago at the Red Bluff Round-Up, making it the third consecutive year this rodeo has been won on Virgil.
And Quebec cowgirls Oceane Veiilleux and Julie Plourde finished one-two in the Resistol Rookie Round-Up held recently in Fort Worth, TX
For complete (unofficial) results go to rodeocanada.com
Next up on the CPRA calendar is a stop at the Drayton Valley Pro Rodeo for three performances May 3-5.
