Coralee Spratt, of Shoshoni, Wyoming, entered the Northern Breakaway & Team Roping Championships Women’s Rodeo World Championship Fast-Track Qualifier with goals to season her 7-year-old, sorrel gelding, Nike.
To Spratt’s surprise, she won the event from seventh callback with a time of 12.0 seconds on three head, worth $1,520.
“I really wasn’t even paying attention because I didn’t think I could win it. I actually entered the challenger just because I have a younger horse that I haven’t rode very much,” said Spratt, who works on her family’s ranch, R O Bar Ranches. “My only goal for that entire roping was not to really screw him. I wanted to rope for him and get his confidence a little better. I just tried to see the same start and I thought that, if I just caught him, no matter what happened, it was going to be a win because he had done so well all day.”
Her overall performance wasn’t one of her best, but Spratt, 27, is in awe of the chances Nike set up for her.
“It was just kind of consistent runs with no barriers. It really wasn’t like a stellar performance,” she said. “I think I was a 4.2 in the first round, and the second round I missed him, and it just fell on somehow. I was one out of placing in that round. I just wanted to do my job in the short round and set it up for my horse, so we can get a little more confidence and maybe I can take him to the rodeos next year.”
As a WRWC first-timer, Spratt is excited for the opportunities that have unfolded for women. Like some, Spratt is unfamiliar with the WRWC and WCRA formats and qualifications, but she is thrilled to have the opportunity to run for big money in Las Vegas, Oct. 26–29.
“I knew that there were some cool opportunities from winning the WCRA events, so I didn’t really know exactly what was going to come from it,” she said. “I need to read more about it because I don’t fully understand. I’ve never nominated anything. I’ll have to read about it, but it sounds super exciting.”
For information on how breakaway works in the WCRA, click here: WCRA’s Challenger Division Introduces Classifications to Sport of Breakaway
