Seth Hall and Pace Blanchard won the 2026 Turquoise Circuit Finals team roping average with 17.2 seconds on three head, earning $3,328 apiece and qualifying for the 2027 NFR Open after three years of working toward the opportunity.

The Albuquerque, New Mexico team entered the Circuit Finals in Cave Creek, Arizona, Nov. 5–7, knowing their chances of catching the year-end leaders were slim. Their best shot at advancing to Colorado Springs, Colorado, was through the average, and they went into the weekend with that goal in mind.

“Around mid-summer, we had a chance to win the circuit and we got behind and those guys got far away from us,” Hall said. “So, we knew we had to go into the finals to win the average.”

Hall and Blanchard placed in the first two rounds before putting together their fastest run of the weekend in the third. They ultimately left Cave Creek with $4,715 apiece, including their average checks.

For Hall, the weekend also included his 13th Turquoise Circuit year-end championship with the all-around title, as well as the Circuit Finals all-around championship.

Catching ‘Em All

Hall and Blanchard entered the Finals with a plan to catch their first two steers and give themselves a chance to win the average on the third.

They opened with a 5.8-second run, placing fourth for $555 a man, before following it up with a 6.1 in the second round, tying for third and adding another $832 each.

With two solid runs under their belt, the pair went into the final round knowing they couldn’t afford to back off.

“We knew we had to be aggressive,” Blanchard said. “We weren’t just trying to place in the average at that point—we wanted to win it.”

Derrick Begay and Colter Todd, along with Pedro Egurrola and Whip Peterson, were ahead of Hall and Blanchard in the average going into the final round. Hall knew he needed to make the best run he could to put pressure on the teams behind them.

They answered with a 5.2-second run, giving them 17.2 seconds on three head.

It was enough to put them in position, but Hall wasn’t convinced it would hold.

“As soon as we were done, I was like, ‘This isn’t going to be fast enough,'” Hall said.

Egurrola and Peterson went first and got a leg, leaving 2026 NFR qualifiers Begay and Todd as the only team that stood in the way of a victory for Hall and Blanchard.

Begay went at it and waved it off, leaving Hall and Blanchard atop the average board.

“We made our best run of the week and let the cards fall where they fall,” Hall said.

For Blanchard, the difference was putting together a run that forced the remaining teams to be aggressive.

“We weren’t as fast as we necessarily wanted to be, but we were fast enough that those guys had to be 5.8 or 5.9 to win it,” Blanchard said. “It put enough pressure on those guys where it sped them up and it just worked out, honestly.”

The win was particularly meaningful for Blanchard, who finished second in both the Turquoise Circuit year-end standings and Finals average in 2025.

Three Years in the Making

Hall and Blanchard have spent the past three years putting their run together while balancing rodeoing with their lives outside of it.

For all-around hand Hall, who has roped at the NFR Open numerous times in the calf roping and once in the heeling, qualifying as a header was something he and Blanchard had been working toward.

“With me being a header and roping with Pace, we’ve been working hard at that,” Hall said. “To go and get to go to (the NFR Open) now with one of your best friends is pretty cool.”

Blanchard’s schedule has been more limited by his work outside rodeo. After college, he worked in road construction surveying before joining his father’s commercial construction business, where he held positions ranging from foreman to project manager. Recently, Blanchard started his own welding business and has been hard at it.

“It’s tough for a guy like me because I work a lot and so trying to go (rodeo) all year has been hard to do,” Blanchard said.

Despite all of that, the two have continued working at it, with the average title at the Turquoise Circuit Finals providing an opportunity to take the next step.

In addition to the team roping average title, seven-time Cinch Timed Event Ironman Hall claimed both the 2026 Turquoise Circuit year-end and Circuit Finals all-around championships.

The year-end title marked his 13th Turquoise Circuit year-end championship, adding to an extensive résumé across multiple timed events. Hall also roped calves at Cave Creek, winning the second round in 7.7 seconds for $2,219.

“I drew a dang good calf and when you draw good and you use them, it really does feel good sometimes for sure,” Hall said.

The Horses Behind the Win

Hall rode his 16-year-old gelding Slick at the Finals, a horse he’s owned for around three years and used in multiple events.

Slick has been Hall’s main head horse for a while. Outside the head box, Hall has used him in calf roping and at the Cinch Timed Event Championship.

“He really gives you a chance,” Hall said. “He’s so fast and he scores good and he finishes good.”

On the heel side, Blanchard rode Quavo, his 19-year-old gelding that he’d purchased from Slick Robinson while he was in college. Blanchard has owned Quavo for roughly 12 years, but the gelding had been sidelined with an injury before returning to his A-string.

After Blanchard lost another good heel horse earlier in 2026, Quavo stepped back into the lineup and helped him finish the season on a high note.

“Ever since I got him back from the injury, we’ve been winning,” Blanchard said.

Blanchard described Quavo as a strong, fast horse that gives him the ability to adjust to different setups without being committed to one pattern.

“He’s kind of one of those horses you can put where you want,” Blanchard said. “He’s just user-friendly and there’s really nowhere you can take him that it’s going to be too big or too fast.”

A Bigger Opportunity in 2027

With their NFR Open qualification secured, Hall and Blanchard are looking toward a more extensive rodeo schedule in 2027.

They already entered several rodeos since the start of the 2027 PRCA season and hope to use those early earnings to qualify for the winter rodeos before making a push in the spring and summer.

For Blanchard, the NFR Open also provides an opportunity for ropers who can’t rodeo full time to rope for good money and potentially advance to the PRCA Playoff Series events at Puyallup, Washington, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

“That gives a guy a window that doesn’t necessarily go all the time to potentially have a chance to make the Finals if he hits in the right places,” Blanchard said.

Hall, meanwhile, sees the NFR Open as one of the major events he’s built his career around, alongside the Circuit Finals and Cinch Timed Event Championship.

“I do rodeo hard and try to make the finals but that’s just never been something that I’ve gotten done,” Hall said. “But those are my finals—my circuit finals and circuit rodeos, NFR Open and the Timed Event.”

For Hall and Blanchard, three years of working to put their run together paid off in Cave Creek. Now, they’ll have a chance to take that to Colorado Springs and see how much farther they can take it.