LAS VEGAS – J.C. Yeahquo is learning how to handle his business, and that’s an important part of ProRodeo.
As a team roping header competing at his first National Finals Rodeo, he’s put on blinders and is staring straight ahead. He’s not affected by the pomp and circumstance of this major event or all that goes into it. Meet with fans? He loves it. Visit with potential sponsors? He’s good with it. When he arrives at the Thomas and Mack Center each night, he places his focus on the task at hand.
It worked for the third straight night as he and his heeler, Buddy Hawkins, stopped the clock in 4.7 seconds to finish tied for fourth in Monday’s fifth go-round. It was worth $11,410 and has increased his Las Vegas earnings to more than $56,000. Coincidentally, that’s about what he and Hawkins each collected for their victory at RodeoHouston in March.
“I haven’t even looked to see how much I’ve made or where I’m at out here,” said Yeahquo of Manderee, North Dakota, now living in Stephenville, Texas. “I’m just enjoying roping out here, so I don’t look at the standings. I’ve never really been one to just watch the standings. I think here I’m so far behind everybody else, I don’t even thing the standings really matter.
“I get to just rope.”
It’s working. He may not pay attention, but others are. Reigning world champions Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp have won three of five rounds and earned more than $111,000 so far, but they’ve had two no-times. Yeahquo and Hawkins have caught four of five steers and have a cumulative time of 23.2 seconds. They are fifth in the aggregate race. If they remain in that position for five more rounds, they’ll each add a $29,340 bonus. If they move up one spot, it increases by $11,000.
The stakes are high at the NFR. Yeahquo is sixth in the world standings with $182,751. By not paying much attention to all that, he is in the right frame of mind.
“I think it keeps me just wanting to rope the cow and be fast and win money every time rather than looking to see if I need to just catch or go fast and try to make something out of nothing,” he said. “I don’t want to be trying to be fast on a steer that’s not going to let me be fast because I need to be earning more money to get to a higher spot.”
The arena is pretty tiny. Unlike big pens like Cheyenne, Wyoming, or Pecos, Texas, the Thomas and Mack’s dirt is roughly the same shape and dimensions of a hockey rink. That allows for some really fast times, but it is also a challenge. Only two of the 15 teams have stopped the clock all five rounds.
“It’s such a tough game were in, and everybody is so talented with a rope,” Yeahquo said. “Everybody has such good horses that it makes it hard to win nowadays.”
Yeahquo has a good one in El Chapo, a 14-year-old sorrel gelding he’s had for five years and rode his final year of high school and through college. El Chapo’s size fits the confines of the arena.
“He’s pretty short-strided, and he lets me get close enough to the cow to hit him and doesn’t really get me in a tight spot where I’ve got to panic and try to make it happen,” Yeahquo said. “I don’t have to ride him much anymore, because he makes the same play every time.” He’s just another big part of a winning team.