Tanner Tomlinson and Travis Graves conquered five steers in 48.5 seconds over the California Rodeo Salinas‘ famous 35-foot score for $11,254 a man.

With the longest score in ProRodeo, plus the headers and heelers coming out of the same box, the Salinas win is a cowboy’s dream. For 2022 NFR aggregate champion Tomlinson, finally winning the coveted Salinas buckle knocks one off his bucket list.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Tomlinson, 24, said. “I mean, as kids when we used to practice at the house, me and my buddies, we’d come out of the same box and act like we were at Salinas. I’ve always thought it was one of the most unique rodeos and one of the funnest, so being able to go and get to do it and to be able to win one of ’em buckles—I think that’s one of the most prestigious buckles and rodeos. It’s definitely a bucket list, so I’m super blessed to get that one knocked off my list.”

Graves, on the other hand, now has three California Rodeo Salinas buckles on his mantel, including 2014 and 2017. Being able to have his family with him all week as he add another prestigious title to his war chest was an added bonus for the 15-time NFR heeler.

“It’s a pretty special rodeo, anytime you win this, it’s so cool,” Graves, 41, said. “All the history here, like the Camarillos, and it’s just a team roping rodeo. Five head, you get to stay here for four days and it’s kind of like a little vacation. It’s really nice this year, Nampa (Idaho), they moved up a few weeks, so we got to just hang out here. That made it really nice; we didn’t have to leave, so it’s pretty special rodeo.”

THE five-header

The only five-header in ProRodeo, the California Rodeo Salinas is a marathon where the steers play a vital part in a team’s success. Tomlinson and Graves kicked the week off with a 9.0 in Round 1, followed by a 10.1 in Round 2 and a 12.0 in Round 3. Having faced some tougher steers, things amped up for them in the aggregate race after Round 4.

“Our third one hauled butt and we did everything we could just to get him knocked down and we were 12.0,” Tomlinson said with a laugh. “But I mean, we drew good on our first one and our last two were pretty dang good. Our fourth one was amazing; we ended up placing in the round on him and that got us kind of back in the mix of things. If we made another good run in the short round, I figured we would’ve won second or third—probably third—but then it just fell apart and it was just our time.”

Tomlinson and Graves pocketed their first round check with an 8.4-second run in Round 4 for $1,737 a man. Coming back fifth call, Tomlinson and Graves didn’t exactly see their 9.0-second run in the short round—worth $955 apiece—clinching them the average. But it did.

“I don’t get nervous too much, but I had in my mind, Jake Smith ran our steer one time and the Grahams ran him that morning, and he was real fast,” Tomlinson said. “I was just going to go knock him down, try to get some tour points and try to win fifth or sixth and just see where the cards fell. He ended up being really good, way better than what he usually was. I actually hung my rope on my stirrup going to him, and I was already on top of him and TG lost his stirrup leaving the box. He said he about fell off, but we just made our run. We really wasn’t supposed to win it; we was supposed to win third or fourth. It just fell apart, and we ended up getting a win.”

The both pocketed $8,562 for the five-head average win. With major cowboy conditions at hand, Graves credits Tomlinson for setting up each run.

“The header plays such a big role in it, too,” Graves said. “How he sets the run up and how he can feel where I’m coming in. If I’m coming in early or hot, he can kind of read me and that makes such a big difference. And horsepower.”

Salinas horsepower

It takes a special, gritty kind of horse to tackle the Salinas score, too, which is why Tomlinson called on “Clair,” registered C Clair Otis. The 2016 mare joined Tomlinson’s team nearly two years ago after first catching his eye at the home of 26-time World Champ Trevor Brazile. In 2025, she’s seen more playing time than before and has been a vital asset in his success this year.

“She has stepped up to the plate, and I was kind of worried because I haven’t really rode her on very long-score setups like that,” Tomlinson explained. “I mean, a few, but not much. She literally worked her tail off. She worked amazing and made my job super easy this week. I feel like everyone says you got to have a fast horse there, of course, but you have to have one that rates off of ’em when they’re checking off because you never know. It’s like a box of chocolate: You never know what you’re going to get there, so they got to kind of read the cow as well.”

Graves had the opportunity to ride 2024 NFR heeler Coleby Payne’s Cut Off My Spots, aka “Coon,” which he believe made all the difference.

“He was so good here, that was probably what made it the easiest, honestly,” Graves said. “This is just his setup. He’s just a really good horse. He won reserve (AQHA/PRCA Heel) Horse of the Year last year. Me and Coleby are good friends, and he’s been on me, like, ‘Ride Coon over there.’ So, I was like alright, I’m going to ride him. And it was an honor to ride him.”

Tomlinson and Graves to the top

Winning Salinas didn’t just up Tomlinson and Graves’ cowboy creed, it also moved them to No. 1 and 2 in the PRCA world standings with $125,816.68 and $118,906.25, respectively. Despite having clear 2025 goals, Tomlinson pays no mind to the standings this time of year.

“I mean, I’ll watch it and my goal is I want to go in No. 1, and I’m trying to make up since I dropped the ball,” Tomlinson admitted. “And I should have won RodeoHouston; that’s basically my hometown rodeo, so ever since then, I’ve kind of had a fire underneath me and I want to win as much as I can and go in No. 1. Trying to make up ground from that, but that’s my goal.”

Above all, gaining momentum in the heat of the summer run has been most important.

“It’s been a super blessed year,” Tomlinson said. “It’s my first year roping with Travis, my horses are healthy—that’s a big blessing. My roping feels good, Travis is roping them outstanding. I’m excited to see. I just want to keep it rolling.”

Tomlinson and Graves will rope next in Utah in Spanish Fork and Salt Lake City, keeping their heads down and taking it steer by steer.

“Closer,” Graves said with a smile. “I don’t even know where I’m at, but yeah, it’ll be closer. It’s a year-long contest, so I just got to keep my head down and keep going.”