The traffic in Houston can be downright awful. But Houston traffic and a top-notch rodeo proved they were no match for tie-down roper Marty Yates.
Yates won his semi-final set at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on Wednesday, proceeding to the finals in tie-down roping. But none of that would have happened had Yates allowed the Houston traffic to prevent him from making it to the rodeo on time.
Yates and his wife, Loni Kay, found themselves stuck in the infamous city traffic on I-610 while on their way to RodeoHouston’s semi-final set. In fear of missing his round, Yates did what any good cowboy would in his shoes: He unloaded his horse and rode to the short round.
Yates’ wife recorded it as her husband rode up the median on his mare, Cindy, toward the NRG Stadium and posted it to Facebook, writing, “We gotta provide for that baby.”
As fate would have it, Yates and his mare arrived in time for the round. His horse surely was well warmed up when they reached the rodeo.
In Semifinal 1, Marty Yates’ time was 8.1 seconds, qualifying for a $3,000 payout.
The tie-down roping at RodeoHouston has a total purse of $242,000. At the onset of RodeoHouston, tie-down ropers are assigned to one of five “Super Series,” where eight contestants vie over three performances in each preliminary round.
The top four earners from each Super Series progress to one of two Semifinals. From there, six ropers from each semifinal move on to one of two Wildcard Rounds.
Finally, four participants from each Semifinals and one from each Wildcard secure a spot in the Championship Finals on March 19. In this clean-slate format, the top four ropers advance to the final Championship Shootout round later in the same performance.
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