Derrick Begay and Colter Todd sit atop the 2025 PRCA team roping world standings with $93,758.20 but, if you ask Begay, he should really be 28th.
There’s no downplaying Begay and Todd’s RodeoHouston win, the $71,750-a-man payday that skyrocketed them to No. 1 in the world this March. But Begay’s done the math, and he claims there’s no mistaking it: If they hadn’t won Houston, they wouldn’t even be close to winning the world.
“We’re leading the world standings, but the reason why is because we won Houston,” said Begay, who has 11 trips to the Thomas & Mack under his belt. “We’re supposed to be because, I mean, it pays way more than the rest. So, we’re actually not leading the world standings because of the way we roped. We’re just leading the world standing because of the way we roped at Houston. The guys behind us, Tanner (Tomlinson) and TG (Travis Graves), they’ve been probably roping the best because they didn’t win Houston.”
While Begay’s way of thinking may seem critical to some, the Arizona header views it as keeping a realistic perspective and staying grounded.
“I’ve always been that way just because it puts you where you’re supposed to be at,” Begay said. “Saying, ‘You know what? We did win Houston and that’s why we’re winning the world. But realistically, if we didn’t win Houston, we’d be where I said, 28th.’ And that puts me back to where I need to be at. Like, ‘Hey, I really didn’t rope that good, so I’m going to have to rope better than what I’ve been doing.'”
Regardless of whether or not they “should” be leading the world standings, their major March outing allowed the 2023 NFR aggregate champs to stay relatively quiet in Arizona, entering as they please over the spring. Skipping the California spring run, however, was happening with or without Houston.
“I know I’d do the same thing,” Begay admitted. “Like, at home—I would’ve done the same things I did. I would’ve went to the same rodeos I went to, I would’ve entered the same way. So no, I wouldn’t have done nothing different.”
Life at home in Seba Dalkai is a priority for Begay anyway. Between his wife, two daughters and work at home (or as Begay calls it, “play”), his days are full, leaving a little less mental space for rodeo these days.
“Well, I’m not trying to think about rodeo, but I’m not trying not to think about rodeo,” Begay said. “I’m just doing what I’m doing. And when you really like being where you want to be and doing what you’re doing, that’s all you want to do and that’s all you want to think about. So, rodeo’s kind of past that stage of my life, a little bit. When I was younger, I would try to find any excuse I can to leave the house as fast as I can, and then I’d find another excuse to try to stay out there as long as I could. It’s the opposite now.”
Ranching isn’t a piece of cake right now either. With much—if not majority—of Arizona fighting a drought, the ranching life requires even more from Begay and Todd, including some guilt at the thought of leaving for the summer.
“It’s been so dry here at home, it makes a guy have to work way harder,” Begay said. “And it’s really dry at Colter’s place, so he’s having to work way harder. And then when you leave the house, you feel guilty for all the people you leave behind at home to take care of all your stuff for you. When things go south, you have to call somebody and say, ‘I’m sorry to call you, but can you go and please do this, do that, do this?’ You feel guilty sitting out in Reno, just nice, cool weather and eating good and hanging out rodeoing. People are at home and hot, dusty and frustrated, trying to get stuff done for you while you’re just sitting somewhere else.”
But summer came quick, and the two are soon to leave again. Begay and Todd will head next to the Rodeo de Santa Fe in New Mexico June 19, followed by Elko, Nevada, and the Reno Rodeo. While they enter the summer No. 1 in the world, Begay is quick to say he predicts a shift in the world standings sooner rather than later.
“Yes, we’re winning the world standings right now, going into the summer,” Begay said. “But that’s thanks to Houston. Now, are we going to be winning the world standings after this summer? No.”
Why? For starters, Begay knows how hard many of the other teams are willing to go this season, but also because the money available in ProRodeo these days just keeps climbing. Begay’s breakout NFR in 2008 with Victor Aros, he ended the year No. 15 with $77,066 after the NFR. Fast forward 16 years to 2024, and it took $105,068.55 on the head side and $108,912.27 on the heel side to qualify for the NFR. Begay isn’t much of a goals guy—in the usual sense—but, with so much money still up for grabs this season, he’d like to be able to say he made the NFR without the help of their RodeoHouston win.
“If I were to set a mark for me this year, I would like to make the NFR, first of all, no matter what,” Begay said. “But if I were to make it, it would be nice to minus the $71,000 and still have enough money won. Then I can actually say, ‘You know what? I did make it, and I would’ve done it still without Houston.'”
Whether his time at No. 1 continues or he ever makes another NFR, nothing will compare to the wins—including the 2023 Pendleton Round-Up, 2023 NFR, 2024 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and now RodeoHouston—Begay has shared with Todd over the last two years.
“That is really, really, really neat,” Begay said. “I don’t tell a lot of people that because no one really asks me that, but when you actually really do think about it, it is cool. I mean, first of all, it don’t get higher than that, or it doesn’t get cooler than that in the rodeo world. So to do all that with my best friend, it doesn’t get no better than that, and that’s what I really, really like about what’s all going on right now.”
