Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord followed up their win at the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo in Odessa with a 4.0-second run in the final round of the 2024 National Western Stock Show and Rodeo to take the $4,655-per-man win in Denver Jan. 21. 

Handily, Denver is a comfortable atmosphere for the gunslingers, who have nine NFR qualifications between them. 

“I don’t know if it ever feels easy out here, but like I told [Dustin], these setups fit us,” said Lord, from Sturgis, South Dakota. “We’re pretty confident when we show up here [and] we need to go fast at the inside rodeos. We’re just roping like we like we know we can, and it’s working out.”

Egusquiza and Lord’s winning strategy in Denver

Both 28-year-olds began their journey to their Denver title by advancing from Bracket 6 with a 16.3 on two steers. They split the second Semifinal with a 5.3-second run, earning $2,834 each to punch their tickets to the Finals.

In terms of strategy, Lord was content with their position as the fourth team out in the Finals.

“We were at the start of the round,” he said, explaining that a run deeper in the field can sometimes cause a team to lay off. “But we were fourth out—a good position—I knew we were going to go at him.”

READ: 2024 Winter Rodeo Results

With a good steer drawn and an elite team of equine counterparts in Egusquiza’s “Cajun” and Lord’s “Birdie,” the team was set.

“I figured it was going to happen fast,” Lord said. “Birdie was right there and just made my job easy. I just had to set it on the ground and wait for him to get in it, and it worked out.”

Despite Cajun being a touch antsy in the box, Egusquiza and Lord were 4.0 to take the Denver win.

“Cajun, he’s a different animal,” said Marianna, Florida, native Egusquiza. “If it was any other horse, I would get mad because he doesn’t do it at the house—ever. You can’t make him do it at the house. You show up somewhere, and he knows it’s game time. He doesn’t like to stand still, but he always scores no matter what. Even if he completely looks like a crawfish in there, he’s going to score and leave flat—it doesn’t really matter. I really love that horse. He’s been awesome to have. I’m excited for the next years to ride him.”

When the curtain closed, Egusquiza and Lord left Colorado with $7,489 each

Egusquiza and Lord’s 2024 PRCA Playoff Series comeback

Denver marks the second of 60 rodeos on the 2024 PRCA Playoff Series tour schedule, following Odessa. In 2023, when the cutoff came for the inaugural Governor’s Cup in Sioux Falls—a purse of $122,222 on both ends—Egusquiza and Lord narrowly missed the cut. 

“We won a lot at the tour rodeos last year, we just didn’t place in a lot of averages,” Egusquiza explained. “You have to place in the average or make it to the end of these bracket style rodeos to get points, and we didn’t do that. We won a lot of rounds, but we didn’t get enough points.”

READ: Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord Win San Antonio the Wild Way

With the first two wins under their belts, 2024 is off to a better start for the team.

“We would have had a chance to go in (to the NFR) the regular season leaders if we could have won more at the tour rodeos,” Egusquiza admitted. “That put a sour taste in our mouths to have to sit home and watch that one (Sioux Falls). It’s really cool to start the year with the win at the first two tour rodeos. Hopefully we can keep that going and catch more steers this year.”

How do the 2024 PRCA team roping world standings so far?