Fort Bend County Fair & Rodeo came to a conclusion Sunday night, sending the winner of each event to the Houston Rodeo.
For rodeo contestants there is nothing better than starting the first week of the new season by qualifying for the Houston Rodeo in March. For many of the event winners this was their only way into Houston this year.
Houston is a game-changing event and in the event's history many of the super series champions go on to make the National Finals Rodeo. There are few rodeos throughout the year that allow contestants to compete for such a significant amount of money.
The largest portion of contestants that compete in Houston come from the previous year's standings. The top-30 in the world standings (different for each event), get an instant qualification.
Hempstead and Rosenburg give contestants that did not rodeo full time last season a chance to still get into Houston and compete for the $50,000 purse.
This year many of the event winners did not have an automatic entry into Houston, so that made the win in Rosenburg even sweeter for them.
Rosenburg Event Winners
- Bareback riding: Winn Ratliff, 83 points
- Steer wrestling: J.D. Struxness, 3.7 seconds
- Team roping: Cash Duty/Ryan Motes, 3.9 seconds
- Saddle bronc riding: Jake Finlay, 84.5 points
- Breakaway roping: Addie Weil, 1.8 seconds
- Tie-down roping: Cole Clemons, 7.8 seconds
- Barrel racing: Keyla Costa, 15.91 seconds
- Bull riding: Jace Trosclair, 80 points
With several young guns and first-time Houston qualifiers in the field this year coming from both Rosenburg and Hempstead, competition will be intense watching contestants go head to head in the NRG Stadium in March.