Tanner Tomlinson and Travis Graves let their ropes do the talking with their 4.9-second run at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, worth a total of $25,350 a man for the tournament-style rodeo in 2025.
The new partnership—that has two NFR average titles between the 24-year-old header and 40-year-old heeler—marked Tomlinson’s first Fort Worth title and Graves’ third. It shot Tomlinson and Graves both to first in the PRCA world standings, though the PRCA’s official update hadn’t hit ProRodeo.com as of Monday evening.
Tomlinson and Graves went last out in the final round of eight Saturday Feb. 8, with only the Texas team of Cody Carter and Blake Bentley’s 5.0 on the board clean.
“It fell apart,” Tomlinson said. “Being last out, if we need to go fast or if 7 is winning second a 3.8 is winning first, we know what we need to do and what we want to do. Being last out right there, I knew if we made our run, it was gonna beat five-flat all day if we just went and caught him. And I set it up good, and luckily we had amazing steer tonight, and it was it was just good run.”
Tomlinson was back on Marshall—his 2008 gelding Missn Cowboy Sioux—who had colic surgery in August 2024 and has been rehabbing ever since. This was his first rodeo back, and Tomlinson was all-in on confidence being back on his No. 1 mount.
“I haven’t ridden him since August, and he wasn’t even supposed to make it through,” Tomlinson said. “It’s just a God deal and a blessing for him to be here today. With this as his first rodeo back, that’s even more exciting to keep the momentum rolling into Houston, San Antone, riding him.”
The 15-time NFR heeler Graves had won Fort Worth twice before—once in ’07 with Turtle Powell and once in ’09 with Keven Daniel—back when Tomlinson was still “roping goats in his goat arena”.
“I barely remember it, you know?” Graves said. “It was two and a short, and it was way different. It was in the old Coliseum. We got the coolest buckles, and my kids, they love the buckles. They’ve worn them since they were little bitty, so it’s a special rode to win. It really is is pretty cool. There’s a lot of history here.”
Watch Tanner Tomlinson on Roping.com
Graves got the win aboard Golden Boy Boon, a horse he won third on at the ARHFA World Championship a few years ago, sold, then bought back last year.
This is the first win for the new pair, who both didn’t have banner years in 2024. Tomlinson missed the Finals and finished 19th in the world with $97,992 won, while Graves finished 15th with $129,106 on the year after a brutal NFR.
“How could you not want to rope with him?” Graves said of his new partner Tomlinson, who holds the NFR aggregate record on 10 head but is still known as a gunslinger. “We’ve been working hard at it, and we’re going to have a great year.”
—TRJ—
