Dustin Egusquiza and Travis Graves blitzed 4.1 second run at Old Fort Days, securing yet another championship title and an additional $3,036 ahead of the summer run, where they are determined to turn up the heat this season.
During the one-header rodeo, fast times were posted and the leaderboard shifted after each performance, with Egusquiza and Graves taking the top spot on the final night.
“We got a rerun and the steer that we drew was pretty slow the first time so it made it a little bit easier on us,” Egusquiza, 26, of Mineral Wells, Texas, said. “It was a pretty user-friendly steer, so it’s always good to draw one like that. Our horses worked good. Everything turned out fast enough to win first. It would be nice if I could draw a steer like that all year.”
Egusquiza, the four-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, rode Cajun Treat, a.k.a. Cajun, an 8-year-old brown gelding he recently purchased from Tucker Menz, for the win.
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“He’s a real big and just kind of powerful horse,” Egusquiza said. “He’s like the most gentle horse you’ve ever rode so he’s really easy to like and really easy to rope on. He scores good, leaves flat, runs hard enough, pulls and faces good, so you can’t ask for much more, really.”
Graves, 38, of Jay, Oklahoma, rode Mr. JB 0839, a.ka. Remix, a 14-year-old dun gelding, which he bought three weeks prior from Kory Koontz in hopes of clicking with him before heading out for summer rodeos.
“I like everything about him,” Graves, the 2017 World Champion heeler, said. “He’s really fast, he drags his butt good, makes the corner really well.”
As they head into the summer run, Egusquiza and Graves are ranked No.8 in the PRCA world standings with $33,518.87 won per man. After a successful winter, they’re optimistic about the summer, but they’re ready to take their game to the next level.
“We’re headed out next week for all of the big rodeos this summer,” Graves said, listing off the rodeos the two plan to attend, “Woodward on Wednesday, Cortez on Thursday, then Sisters and Livermore, a few days off, then Reno and Greeley.”
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“We’ve got almost $35,000 won I think, which is a pretty good winter,” Eguzquiza said. “But we feel like there’s a lot of times that we’ve left money on the table. We haven’t roped up to par in my opinion for us, you know. I feel like we should have a lot more won but I don’t think it’s anything like we’re roping bad. It’s just weird stuff that’s keeping us from winning. Just little small things here and there. We’re pretty positive about it going into it. I think that we’re roping good and I think we’ll still have a really good year.”
Old Fort Days Results:
1. Dustin Egusquiza and Travis Graves, 4.1 seconds, $3,063 each
2. Clint Summers and Ross Ashford, 4.3 seconds, $2,741
3. Bubba Buckaloo/Joseph Harrison, 4.5 seconds, $2,418
4. Jake Clay and Billie Jack Saebens, 4.8 seconds, $2,096
5/6. Luke Brown and Hunter Koch
Cole Thomas and Bryce Graves, 4.9 seconds, $1,612 each
7. Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins II, 5.0 seconds, $1,128
8/9. Peyton Holliday and Kolton Good
Curry Kirchner and Reagan Ward, 5.1 seconds, $645 each
10. Britt Smith and Jake Smith, 5.2 seconds, $161
