Two-time World Champion Header Clay Smith will rope with Nicky Northcott beginning at the Guymon (Oklahoma) Pioneer Days April 30, giving the young phemon a veteran talent for his Resistol Rookie of the Year campaign.
Northcott bought his permit in time for the Denver qualifier, and he’s been jumping between partners all winter and spring en route to $13,626 in earnings. Smith, with 10 trips to the NFR, is currently third in the PRCA world standings with $65,565.03 won, having roped with Coleby Payne the last three years. Payne now will heel for NFR header and BFI Champ JR Dees.
“He’s the best up-and-coming guy that there’s been in a long time,” Smith, of Broken Bow, Oklahoma, said. “He catches two feet when you need to go fast or just need to catch. He doesn’t make a lot of mistakes and wins in big situations too. He just wants to rope.”
Northcott, as usual, keeps things simple.
“I’m trying to make the Finals and win the world,” the Stephenville 18-year-old said. “I don’t think I could ask for anyone better. I’m pumped up, and I’m ready to do some winning with him.”
While Northcott doesn’t say much, Smith doesn’t expect he’ll need to. The two have roped together as third partners at the jackpots, and Smith said that’s enough to make this partnership feel familiar. After all, Northcott is coming off of a youth career that had him consistently in six-figure earnings. He just won the Lone Star Shootout with Kaleb Driggers at the end of March and the Junior BFI with Tyler Tryan a week later. Earlier this winter, he won Mike Cervi Jr. Memorial with Tryan and won second in the Clay Logan with Tryan as well. Before the NFR, Smith and Northcott won the Vegas Pregame in Stephenville, too.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a new thing or anything like that,” Smith said. “Anybody that’s had any success at the highest level—at the BFI, the Lone Star Shootout, the big ropings—there’s really nothing to mentor on. The kid’s done it.”
That said, Smith knows a few veteran lessons still lie ahead—just not in the arena.
“He may not know what the setup looks like, but he don’t give a crap,” Smith said, laughing. “He might not know how to get to the rodeo, but that’s about it.”
Northcott is hauling two or three horses for the summer run and looking forward to a rodeo he’s only ever watched on screen.
“Probably Ellensburg,” he said. “It just seems like a very cool rodeo.”
First, though, comes Guymon—a tough, cowboy-style setup that Smith thinks will suit the duo well.
“It’s not about catching a lot of steers,” he said. “It’s about catching the right ones fast. That’s where we need to stay.”
Smith will be choosing from his string of good ones including former Relentless Remuda futurity standouts Peppys Gray Goose (the horse Smith just won the US Finals aboard with Junior Nogueira Sunday, April 20) and BoomBoom Firecracker, as well as his own futurity superstar Apaches Promise. Smith’s great stallion Bet Hesa Ginnin, aboard whom Smith did most of his 2025 winning so far, died tragically Saturday at home in the practice pen while getting ready for the San Angelo Cinch Shootout, and Smith’s good summer rodeo horse Flinty died this winter.
“Honestly, whichever one will make it that long is kind of what I’m going to ride,” Smith said.
For Northcott, this summer is more than just a learning curve—it’s a launchpad.
“I wouldn’t be rodeoing if I didn’t think I had a shot,” Northcott said.
Related Links:
