Derrick Begay and Colter Todd cleaned house in the Turquoise Circuit, picking up both the Turquoise Circuit Finals and year-end titles in 2024.

The reigning NFR average champions roped three steers in 19.9 seconds at the circuit finals in Camp Verde, Arizona, Nov. 1-2, to win the aggregate title and solidify their year-end titles with $18,309.42 won on the year. The win marks Begay’s fourth year-end title and third average win and, despite having 11 NFR qualifications to his name, he still remembers his first circuit finals in 2004.

“I got there and I was like, ‘Wow, I made it,’” Begay, 41, reminisced. “I get there and they gave me a coat that said circuit finals qualifier, and I would not leave this coat out of sight. I wore it proud; I walked around with it all weekend. It was probably hot—it was in Arizona still. I got home, put it up on the coat hanger in the closet and just took care of this coat. I wore it to all the special occasions, to town when I wanted to and just showed it off a little bit.”

The coat still hangs in his mom’s home, and their 2024 wins still mean just as much.

“Yeah, I’ve gone past that, and I’ve won the year-end and average before, but as the old saying goes, it never gets old,” Begay said. “It always means something because every year is different.”

Todd, on the other hand, has one other average title and one other year-end title, and they came from the Great Lakes Circuit in 2004. With 20 years between the accolades, they have their own significance. 

“It’s all at the moment,” Todd, 40, said. “The Great Lake Circuit, that was way back; that was when I was young and it was just, ‘You bet.’ I was heading, and that was special back then—that rodeo paid outstanding for a circuit finals. Then this one, it’S a bit more just because of roping with a good friend and you just want to do good.”

Turquoise Approach 

While Begay and Todd set their sights on the NFR, they keep their rodeo count lower than others and official every rodeo they enter, making it easier to hit their circuit count. 

“Turquoise is fairly easy,” Todd said. “We did have to fly from Puyallup to Scottsdale (in September) to get our count, but it’s not too bad, really. I think we only have to count 10, and there’s enough decent rodeos that it’s not too bad.”

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Begay and Todd kicked off their circuit season with a $2,059-a-man check at the 79th Annual Yuma Silver Spur Rodeo in Yuma, Arizona, in February. They picked up another $4,777 a man before the start of the summer run, and they finished the regular season second and fourth with $11,898.42 a man. A key to winning in the Turquoise Circuit is hitting at one or two of the big rodeos: La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros (Tucson, Arizona); Cave Creek Rodeo Days (Arizona); Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo (Window Rock, Arizona); World’s Oldest Rodeo (Prescott, Arizona); Lea County PRCA Rodeo (Lovington, New Mexico); and New Mexico State Fair & Rodeo (Albuquerque, New Mexico).

“What kind of closed the gap for us there at the end that gave us a chance to catch up with those guys is Albuquerque,” Begay said. “That’s the only one that kind of stands out. We won third or fourth, but Albuquerque is the one that got us close enough to those guys that were doing good in the circuit.”

The final straw

Despite having four NFR qualifications to his name, Todd still felt some pressure at the circuit finals.

“One, I’m roping with my best friend and I kind of feel like I let him down a lot this year,” Todd, who just missed the 2024 NFR at 16th, admitted. “And for him, he has a lot of family that comes, so I guess I shouldn’t say a lot of pressure, but it definitely isn’t just a common rodeo for me. Plus, you always want to do good and either win the year-end or the average there because of getting to go to Colorado Springs.”

Begay and Todd kicked off the circuit finals with a bang, tying for the win in Round 1 with a 5.8 for $2,040 a man. In the second round, Begay’s horse slipped leaving the box, but they still tied for fourth with an 8.2 and picked up $291 each.

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They went into the final round tied at the top of the average and drew a steer to help them take the win. A 5.9-second run won them fourth in the round for $583 apiece and clinched the $3,497-a-man aggregate title. They pocketed $6,411 a man in Camp Verde to also knab the year-end title. It was also a sweet taste of redemption after the 2023 circuit finals.

“This year, I’ve said it before, but doing it with Colter, that was cool for me,” Begay said. “Last year we had a really good chance—we were really good on two and come back on the last steer to win the year-end and the average. All I had to do was catch the steer clean, but I broke the barrier.”

Begay and Todd will head to the NFR Open in Colorado Springs next July. In 2024, the team qualified off the year-end and pocketed $10,750 a man to greatly impact their season.

“This year, [the NFR Open] helped me—it’s what got me to the Finals, I guess,” Begay said. “So for this year, it was important.”