Trevor Brazile has finished atop the 25-head mountain at the Cinch Timed Event Championships seven times in his legendary career. Brazile, who has 23 PRCA world titles to his name, came in third behind Jess Tierney (first) and Clay Smith (second) just last year. As Brazile continues to ProRodeo in 2018, he is also gearing up for another trip to the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where he will do battle to clinch what could be his eighth Cinch Timed Event Championship.
Kaitlin Gustave: You’ve won the CTEC seven times. What keeps you coming back?
Trevor Brazile: I love it! It’s one of my favorite events all year—the versatility of all of it.
KG: What horses will you be riding?
TB: Hard to say. I’ve actually got a Reliance Ranch horse that would be great for that setup in the heading because of the long score and a lot of run—go easy to do my job. I call him JV. I’m probably going to bring a young horse in the calf roping that’s been showing some promise just because it’s a pretty hard contest on everybody involved and some of those older rodeo horses kind of get smart running that fast and still doing their job just right without cheating so greener horses seem to work better for me. In the heeling, I still don’t know. I’ve always taken one of Patrick’s (Smith) horses up there. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to talk him into that or not—haven’t got that far yet. In the bull dogging I still don’t know and in the steer roping it will probably just be Barney.
KG: What event do you have to work at most?
TB: Man the event that you take for granted is the one that comes back to bite you there. It just always happens that way for some reason. I try to work on everything. Obviously, I’ve got my weaknesses because I don’t heel much anymore unless I’m just getting ready for the Timed Event and obviously I don’t bull dog. I try not to strictly work on those things because I dang sure don’t want one of my regular events to come back and get me there either. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
KG: What is your worst wreck?
TB: My worst wreck. I’m not sure but I’m sure it was in the bull dogging. I’ve chased some calves there that felt like a pretty good wreck. That event, when it’s all said and done, I don’t care if it’s shin splints or sore ankles, something is sore when you leave that place.
KG: Who is helping you this year?
TB: It seems like I’m behind—I don’t have any of that. Charly (Crawford) always heads for me up there and Joseph (Harrison) or Patrick will heel for me just depending on what Patrick has going.
KG: What do you do to prepare for this event?
TB: The thing out of the ordinary is obviously I’m going to heel more. In the calf roping I rope in a big arena before I go out there because it’s just so much different than roping in your typical calf roping setup. I’ll get on the steer savor or some kind of stimulated bull dogging tool just to get some reputation getting off and catching. I concentrate on just trying to get my catch to where I feel comfortable catching steers. I didn’t think I was going to be setting any world records bull dogging so I just want to get them down.
KG: What advice can you give to the Jr. Ironman contestants?
TB: Probably the same thing that my dad tells me. Before my first Timed Event Championship and every one I’ve ever competed in after that is don’t take anything for granted—not in any event, not in any step. Take that as deep as you want whether it be in the heading or anything, just every step make sure you execute and then don’t even think about the next one until that one’s done.
