The path to breakaway roping’s $1 million championship just added two new on-ramps, and for the first time, every entrant will have to earn her way onto it.
Kimes Ranch Jeans has restructured the qualifying system for the 2026 Million Dollar Breakaway, adding a coastal stop in San Luis Obispo, California, and a first-ever Canadian leg in Edmonton, Alberta, to a lineup that now runs seven distinct routes into the $1,000,000 event at WestWorld of Scottsdale. Produced by Kimes Ranch Jeans and CN Productions, the Million Dollar Breakaway bills itself as the richest breakaway roping in the world—a purse split between $825,000 in go-round money and $175,000 in aggregate payouts across the 10-round Finals, set for Nov. 25-29 at WestWorld of Scottsdale. It remains open to any female breakaway roper, no WPRA card or age minimum required.
The Seven Routes to Scottsdale
Two new stops in California and Canada headline the changes, alongside a season-long points leaderboard and the traditional Oklahoma, Last Chance and Buy Back rounds:
| Route | Dates | Location | Advancement | Auto Finals Berth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Chance Qualifier | Dec. 21, 2025 | Scottsdale, Ariz. | 20 to Semis | — (completed) |
| Coastal Qualifier (new) | Sept. 23-24, 2026 | San Luis Obispo, Calif. | 20 to Semis | Yes—winner |
| Canadian Qualifier (new) | Oct. 7-8, 2026* | Edmonton, Alberta | 20 to Semis | Yes—winner |
| Oklahoma’s Richest | Oct. 15-17, 2026* | Guthrie, Okla. | 60 to Semis | Yes—winner |
| VRQ Leaderboard | Nov. 3, ’25–Oct. 18, ’26 | Season-long points | Top 20 to Semis | No |
| Last Chance Qualifier | Nov. 23-24, 2026 | Scottsdale, Ariz. | 40 to Semis + 5 PWR | No |
| Buy Back Round | Just before Semis | Scottsdale, Ariz. | 5 to Semis + 1 PWR | No |
*Tentative on the event’s own site—Kimes Ranch has not confirmed exact dates for the Canadian Qualifier or the closing day of Oklahoma’s Richest.
From those seven routes, 211 ropers converge on Scottsdale for the Semi-Finals, where 17 advance to join the three automatic qualifiers—winners of the Coastal, Canadian and Oklahoma’s Richest qualifiers—filling out the 20-woman Finals field. The bigger change sits underneath the numbers: Kimes Ranch has eliminated the old automatic berth for top-ranked ropers in the WPRA year-end World Standings, so every entrant now earns her way in through the qualifier system. The event’s High Money Championship follows the same logic, now determined by cumulative earnings across every qualifier and the Finals rather than by a single night in Scottsdale.
Entries for the new Coastal Qualifier close this week in San Luis Obispo, with the rest of the 2026 qualifying calendar running through late November before the Finals open Nov. 25.
Similar reads: Qualify for the Kimes Ranch Million Dollar Breakaway in 2025 | Kimes Million Dollar Breakaway Crash Course | 2025 Results: Williams, Conner Earn High Money
