After pocketing a total of $26,800 in earnings from the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, held Jan. 21–Feb. 5, eight-time WPRA World Champion Kelsie Chace-Domer shot to an early lead in the 2022 WPRA/PRCA World Standings with $31,942.91 in earnings.
“It’s a great way to kickstart the winter,” Chace-Domer said. “We actually get to ‘winter rodeo’ this year. That is something new. Fort Worth has been behind us since day one. The fact that we get equal added-money—added just like the other events and treated the same—is pretty special. Fort Worth is a legendary rodeo, so it’s something that I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
The bulk of Chace-Domer’s earnings came from her jaw-dropping 1.8-second, sudden-death run in a tough finals round, worth $20,000 at the pay window.
Kelsie Chace-Domer’s Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo Breakaway Roping Win, Horsepower and Goals
“I got to go third to last. We knew it was going to be tough going into it. There was already a 1.9 and a 2.1. There was no safety-ing up when it got to me. When you have two tough ropers still to go behind you (World Champions Jackie Crawford and Erin Johnson), I really didn’t have any other option. That calf was good. We got to watch him go earlier that week. I had a game plan and stuck with it. I knocked the start out. It couldn’t have gone any better than it did. We wanted to go at it and make the best run that we could.”
What made her winning time more special was turning around in the Dickies Arena and seeing her husband, Ryan, who pushed many calves that week, celebrating his bride’s victorious run.
“My husband was there every night to push calves and when I turned around, he was celebrating even more than I was at that point,” Chace-Domer said.
Chace-Domer drew up in Bracket 6, where she roped her first calf in 2.2 seconds to win second in the round, worth $1,320, and placed third in the second round with a 2.1-second run, worth $880.
Though Chace-Domer made two successful runs, she missed the chance to go straight to the semifinals and instead, thanks to her third-place finish in the bracket, had to ante up in a Wild Card round.
Wild Card: The Breakaway Ropers Vying for a Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo Spot
In the Wild Card round, the third-place finalists from each of the seven brackets competed on a one-head, clean slate. From there, the ropers with the two quickest times then advanced to the semifinals. Chace-Domer finished second in the Wild Card round with a 2.3-second run, worth $600.
“I was 2.2 and 2.1 and ended up third in my bracket. That’s tough enough as it is,” Chace-Domer said. “The calf that I drew in the Wild Card round, I drew it again on Friday in the semifinals.”
Chace-Domer advanced to the second performance in the semifinals and stopped the clock in 2.3 seconds to win the round, worth $4,000, which brought her back to the Finals.
“I made two good runs on [the calf], but I honestly didn’t really love him. He was a great calf, but he kept slowing up after the rope got on him. In the breakaway roping, we kind of need them to pop the rope as fast as we get it on. I was a little nervous about him, but it worked out. We had to go through the wringer to get to the Finals.”
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Thanks to Chace-Domer’s companion, a 16-year-old chestnut gelding named Little Man, she was able to get her rope broke off quick on the five head.
“I think on five calves there, we were 10.2, which is crazy,” Chace-Domer said. “If it was a five-head average, we would have been pretty set, too. We drew that soft calf twice in a row and, in the set that I was in, the calves were a little stronger and [Little Man] gave me shots there, too. He was able to make everything quick in the final round too. He is so quick-footed and allows me to do a lot with my rope.”
