Clay Smith and Jade Corkill Win the Team Roping at the Greeley Stampede during the Cowboy Christmas Run

Dream Team: Smith and Corkill Win Greeley Stampede, Lead Cowboy Christmas Charge

Clay Smith and Jade Corkill dominate at the Greeley Stampede, adding $7,311 to their earnings.

2018 World Champion Header Clay Smith and three-time World Champion heeler Jade Corkill dominated at the Greeley (Colorado) Stampede winning the average with a time of 17.4-seconds on three head, worth $3,982 a man.

Smith and Corkill came into the short round at second call-back behind Spencer Mitchell and Cody Doescher. Smith and Corkill roped their short-round steer in 6.6-seconds to move them into the number-one spot in the average, and placing second in the final round, worth $1,020 a man. Mitchell and Doescher has a leg in the short round to keep Smith and Corkill first in the average.

[READ: No Backing Off with Clay Smith]

“In the short round, everybody was just kind of messing up,” Corkill said. “We were second high call and had to be 10-something. The high call team had a second on us and had a good steer from what we knew. In that situation, I wasn’t even going for first. We were just going to be less than 10 and take second and be happy with it. The ended up having some bad luck and messed up and we won first.”

[READ: Corkill: New Horse, New Partner, New Perspective]

Smith and Corkill roped their first steer at the Greeley Stampede on Suntan (9-year-old) and Scooter (9-year-old), since they had to leave their main mounts in Reno, where they placed second in the round with a 4.8-second-run, worth $2,309 a man.

“That is my sister-in-law’s horse,” Smith said. “He came from Rhen Richard. I rode him in the first round and then I rode him in the short round. He wasn’t there for the second round, so I rode two different horses that week.”

“The horse I rode in the first round, I bought him right before I went to California,” Corkill said. “I got him from Jered Hollaway. Jered had jackpotted on him some. Tyler Waters lives at my house, and he was heeling at some World Series stuff, and that was what he was riding. He told me, ‘Man, you have to try this horse. He feels pretty dang good.’ So, that was kind of how I came about even trying him. He’s just one of those horses that gets to the right spot at the right time and let’s me catch. He has good timing and he’s really strong to the horn. Rodeo wise, he’s good for that—going fast.”

Jade Corkill heeling their short round steer at the Greeley Stampede. Hubbell Rodeo Photo

Smith rode his gray head horse Marty in the second round, then hopped back on Suntan to run their short-round steer. Corkill rode his sorrel gelding, Huey (10) that he bought from Travis Graves.

“He’s the one that I’ve been riding everywhere. He’s one of the best ones I’ve ever had, I know that. The reason we had to trade at Greeley is because we drove over there after the BFI, and I left my sorrel in Reno. We roped Wednesday and flew back. We ended up not making the short round (at Reno) so we just drove that rig over there. Since he was there Sunday I just rode him. I wasn’t planning on having him there. But it just worked out.”

[READ: Jade Corkill: What I’ll Tell My Kids About Rodeo]

Smith is now first in the world standings with $82,880.14. Corkill is 10th with $41,005.85 after winning Greeley and tying Brooks Dahozy and Walt Woodard at the Cody (Wyoming) Stampede with a 4.8-second-run, worth $8,599 a man, adding a total of $15,910 to their earnings.

“It seems probably more crucial than it is just because of the amount of rodeos we go to,” Corkill said about the money won in at the Greeley Stampede and to be won over the duration of the Cowboy Christmas run. “I’ve honestly never have had what you would call a good Fourth of July. I’ve never won probably more than $10,000.”

They are anticipating more earnings as they are currently leading the Eugene (Oregon) Pro Rodeo with a 4.0-second-run and are currently second in the average at the St. Paul (Oregon) Rodeo with a time of 10.5-seconds on two head.TRJ

Greeley (Colorado) Stampede Results:

First round: 1. Tyler Wade/Billie Jack Saebens, 4.3 seconds, $2,655 each; 2. Clay Smith/Jade Corkill, 4.8, $2,309; 3. Spencer Mitchell/Cody Doescher, 4.9, $1,962; 4. Logan Olson/Blaine Vick, 5.0, $1,616; 5. Philip Schuman/Josh Fillmore, 5.2, $1,270; 6. Tanner Baldwin/Nano Garza, 5.6, $923; 7. (tie) Blake Teixeira/Wyatt Cox, Colby Lovell/Ty Arnold and Jake Cooper/Caleb Anderson, 5.7, $269 each.

Second round: 1. Charly Crawford/Logan Medlin, 4.6 seconds, $2,655 each; 2. Kelsey Parchman/Matt Kasner, 4.7, $2,309; 3. Clay Tryan/Travis Graves, 4.8, $1,962; 4. (tie) Jeff Flenniken/Tyler Worley and Spencer Mitchell/Cody Doescher, 4.9, $1,443 each; 6. Chad Masters/Joseph Harrison, 5.0, $923; 7. (tie) Luke Brown/Paul Eaves and Travis Whitlow/Tanner Luttrell, 5.3, $404 each.

Finals: 1. Charly Crawford/Logan Medlin, 5.7 seconds, $1,233 each; 2. Clay Smith/Jade Corkill, 6.6, $1,020; 3. Matt Sherwood/Hunter Koch, 7.5, $808; 4. Joshua Torres/Jonathan Torres, 10.3, $595; 5. Spencer Mitchell/Cody Doescher, 10.6, $383; 6. Tyler Waters/Seth Smithson, 13.4, $213.

Average: 1. Clay Smith/Jade Corkill, 17.4 seconds on three head, $3,982 each; 2. Spencer Mitchell/Cody Doescher, 20.4, $3,463; 3. (tie) Charly Crawford/Logan Medlin and Matt Sherwood/Hunter Koch, 20.7, $2,684 each; 5. Joshua Torres/Jonathan Torres, 23.0, $1,905; 6. Tyler Waters/Seth Smithson, 28.8, $1,385; 7. Tyler Wade/Billie Jack Saebens, 11.3 on two head, $866; 8. Colby Lovell/Ty Arnold, 11.8, $346.