Josie Conner banked a 12.7-on-three-head, $5,994 win at the California Rodeo Salinas aboard Baybe Bullet, the leased mare she’d spent years trying to buy from fellow WPRA cowgirl Joey Williams before finally landing the ride this season.
Salinas isn’t an easy rodeo to win, and Conner knows it as well as anyone. The California Rodeo Salinas carries one of the sport’s prettiest buckles, a deep well of tradition, and a set of variables—draw, setup, timing—that make it a genuine test.
“Salinas Rodeo is very prestigious. It’s probably one of the prettiest buckles ever. So everybody’s just wanting to win one,” Conner said.
The Set Up
Part of what makes Salinas hard to win is the setup itself, which runs nothing like a standard rodeo. Ropers come out of the head side of the box, the gate opens off a slower latch instead of popping on the nod, and the barrier sits well out in front.
Conner put the box at somewhere around 20 feet, though she was quick to admit she didn’t know the exact measurement.
“The barrier’s long, and you just have to chase them for a couple seconds before you can get to them,” Conner said.
Conner liked all three of her draws at Salinas, and it showed: a 4.3 in the first round put her in a tie for sixth ($875), and she followed it with a 4.5 and a 3.9 t($2,960) to close out a 12.7-on-three-head average—good for the win and $5,994.
Getting to ride Baybe at Salinas at all took years. Conner had tried to buy the mare from Joey Williams for several years running, and Williams wouldn’t sell. It wasn’t until the start of this year that the two worked out a lease instead.
“We pestered Joey for a long time. She was probably tired of us asking her,” Conner said.
Years In the Making
Baybe Bullet has the résumé to back up the pursuit. Sired by the late Frenchman’s Bullet and out of Beanie Baybe Chic, the brown mare was raised and started under saddle by Williams’ husband, Taylor, on the family’s ranch near Broadus, Montana. Williams rode her to the 2022 Nutrena Breakaway Horse of the Year title and has clocked some of the fastest times in the sport aboard her, including a 1.7 at the National Finals Breakaway Roping.
The Fit
At the time Conner worked out the lease, Dutch was her only horse, and the plan was to spread the load and save Dutch for the faster setups while bringing Baybe out on the longer, patience-testing ones like Salinas.
“I thought Baybe would fit the setups that maybe aren’t Dutch’s strongest suit—Salinas, Cheyenne, the longer scores up in the Northwest,” Conner said. “Baybe scores like an absolute rock and doesn’t move until you drop your hand. I just thought that she would be excellent over there, and she was.”
For Conner, the win goes beyond the buckle.
“It’s a great rodeo, and it’s one that’s kind of hard to win because there’s so many variables—you have to draw the right calves. It’s kind of an old-timey rodeo. It’s true tradition, and it was cool to get the win over there,” Conner said.
Conner is riding a deep string this year, with Dutch back on the road and Checkers—Im Countin Checques—rounding out her rotation. But at Salinas, the win belonged to Baybe.
