For a brief moment, Ty Harris thought his Fourth of July dominance was over.
The last two years, the tie-down roper has cobbled together some impressive performances during the holiday, including more than $43,000 in earnings last year alone.
So, after failing to place in Reno (Nev.), Greeley (Colo.), Livingston (Mont.), Cody (Wyo.), and St. Paul (Ore.), Harris began to wonder if his success during the Independence Day surge was behind him.
Turns out, it just needed a minute to get into high gear.
His second straight win at Mandan (N.D.) Rodeo Days kickstarted Harris to another strong showing. The San Angelo, Texas, cowboy picked up checks at five July 4th rodeos before rolling into Canada for the Calgary Stampede. Through three rounds there, he has won two goes and placed in a third.
“It’s good to be kind of on a heater and still know I’m making some mistakes that I can fix so it’s good,” Harris said with a laugh. “I didn’t get to go to all the rodeos that I wanted to, but I felt good and I felt like I roped better than the $18,000 that I won, so that was good.”
Between the Molalla (Ore.) Buckeroo Rodeo, Mandan (N.D.) Rodeo Days, Oakley Independence Day Rodeo in Oakley City, Utah, Sedro-Woolley (Wash.) PRCA Rodeo and the Eugene (Ore.) Pro Rodeo, Harris accumulated exactly $17,899 in winnings during the Fourth.
Changing countries certainly hasn’t slowed anything down. He won the opening round at Calgary with a time of 6.7 seconds, took fifth in the second go at 9.8 and then captured round three by stopping the clock in 7.2. He’s already amassed $16,000 from the event and sits second in the average at 23.7 seconds. The rodeo wraps up this Sunday.
“I’ve never done good in the first round here, so it sets you up pretty good to advance the championship Sunday,” Harris said of his performance in Calgary so far.
For Harris it’s a confidence game as he tries to keep pace with his contemporaries. Coming into the week, he was fifth in the PRCA World Standings with just shy of $88,000 already in his ledger.
That puts him in a good spot to make his seventh straight trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo this December. However, he’d certainly like to do more than qualify.
Right now, the tie-down leaderboard features two cowboys who are setting a fast pace. Riley Webb leads the group with more than $174,000 in earnings already. Shad Mayfield is right behind him at almost $145,000.
For people like Harris, that means there is work to do. And that’s a challenge he’s excited to embrace.
“I expect a lot out of myself and I want to win a lot,” Harris said. “I haven’t been getting my butt kicked, but when you’re trying to compete with guys like Riley Webb and Shad Mayfield, you’re always trying to be better because those guys don’t really lose much.”