Mason Appleton and Rance Doyal finished what they started and won the 2024 Prairie Circuit year-end heading and heeling titles.
Appleton and Doyal finished the season with $29,831.30 and $27,728.64 won on the year after pocketing $5,554 a man at the Prairie Circuit Finals Oct. 17-19, in Duncan, Oklahoma. While Appleton won the Great Lakes Circuit heading title in 2022, this marks both Appleton’s and Doyal’s first Prairie Circuit year-end titles.
“We didn’t go a whole lot, honestly, but when we did, we always did good,” Appleton said. “It seemed like when we caught, it was pretty fast. We just seemed to try to catch a lot and it just happened to be fast enough to win quite a bit.”
The pair of Oklahoma boys may be young—20 and 24—but they held their own against some tough NFR teams in the Prairie Circuit. Holding the standings lead all summer and winning against them in Duncan was a confidence booster.
“It felt good, but the thing was we got to circuit rodeo all year, so in my opinion, we had it easier than them guys,” Doyal said. “They could only go to what they could get to, but to be able to show up and do good at the circuit finals and actually still be able to compete with them at the finals, it helped a lot as far as knowing where we were at.”
Permanent lead
Appleton and Doyal kicked their 2024 partnership off at the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo in May where they picked up $5,055 a man. They pocketed another $5,001 at the end of May and beginning of June between the Fredonia, Kansas, Wilson County Pro Rodeo; co-approved Mt. Pleasant Rodeo in Texas; and Oklahoma’s Hugo Pro Rodeo to take the lead in the standings.
The Prairie Circuit gets quiet during much of June and July, but when things picked back up in August, they got the ball rolling right off the bat. They pocketed $12,782 a man in August with major hits at Lawton and Vinita, both in Oklahoma.
“Lawton was dang sure a good one,” Doyal said. “And then Guymon in May. Those are the two that really helped us win the circuit. Besides Dodge City, those are probably the two best circuit rodeos there is.”
Appleton and Doyal entered the circuit finals with an $8,532.42 lead for Appleton and a $6,429.76 lead for Doyal.
“We knew we didn’t have to do anything special up there,” Appleton said. “We were just kind of roping just to go up there and enjoy our weekend. We didn’t have a whole lot of pressure on us, so that was nice for sure.”
They didn’t back off the gas, though. Appleton and Doyal won the first round with a 4.6 for $2,279 a man and won third in Round 2 with a 6.7 for $1,139 each. Their third-round steer took the average title from them, but they still managed to split second in the aggregate for $2,136 apiece.
Colorado Springs bound
The year-end win punched their tickets to the NFR Open in Colorado Springs in July marking Appleton’s second trip and Doyal’s first.
“I’m very excited,” Appleton said. “I went up there two years ago and we didn’t do any good, but that’s a cool rodeo. I liked that rodeo a lot when I got to go up there; I’m excited to go back.”
Appleton and Doyal are partnered up again for 2025 and are considering rodeoing harder, depending on how the winter treats them. Appleton helps two-time NFR qualifier and rope horse trainer Billie Jack Saebens with his futurity horses, too, so they’ll work their schedule around the shows.
“It’ll be a good experience this year because we’ll go to some shows and then whenever we go to Colorado Springs, we’ll be able to go to a few other rodeos,” Doyal said. “Probably them two weeks with Sheridan, Casper and Cheyenne—all that.”
