Ryan Motes’ Lariat Bowl Win Kickstarted His Roping Career

Big Break

Motes’ Big Break: A Last-Minute Trip & A $50,000 Day

Ryan Motes left the 1998 Lariat Bowl with momentum that would launch his career.

In the winter of 1998, Ryan Motes’ Lariat Bowl win in Guthrie, Oklahoma, changed everything. He rolled into town with a green heel horse, a college rodeo partner and not a whole lot of expectations—but left with $50,000 and a shot of momentum that would carry him into the next stage of his roping career.

Back then, Motes was just starting to figure out the heel side. He had spent most of high school heading but had recently made the switch and was seeing solid progress. His partner for the USTRC’s Lariat Bowl was Jeremy Smith—his college roommate and rodeo teammate at Weatherford College. The horse was Bold Dual, a 5-year-old Dual Pep gelding his mom, Danny, had raised, out of her buckskin mare named Bold Sis Rio. It was the first good young horse Motes had trained on his own.

“I didn’t even feel that great, roping-wise, back then,” Motes said. “We just decided kind of last minute to go up there.”

The trip was part necessity, part opportunity. Motes’ classification number was scheduled to be raised on New Year’s Day, so this would be his last chance to rope under his current number. The Lariat Bowl offered a low-numbered roping—maybe a 7 or an 8 in the old number system, if Motes’ memory serves—and it drew a massive crowd. More than 500 teams packed into the Lazy E Arena for the event.

Smith and Motes drew up in the first rotation on Friday morning and put together three clean runs. After the rotation wrapped, they were high call—and then came the wait. The short round wasn’t until Sunday night, meaning two full days of wondering if they’d stay in the top spot.

“We figured we’d probably drop down to third or fourth,” Motes said. “But we hung on.”

Come Sunday night, they were still high call. They backed in, made another solid run and sealed the deal. The win paid $50,000 a man—life-changing money for two college freshmen.

“It was by far the biggest check I’d ever won,” Motes said. “That paid for the living quarters trailer we were rodeoing in. I’d ordered it from 4-Star, and when I got home, they texted me that it was ready. I went up there and paid cash for it.”

Looking back, Ryan Motes’ Lariat Bowl win wasn’t just a payday. It marked a turning point in his career—his first big win on a horse he had brought along himself. Bold Dual would go on to be a standout in his own right, and Motes would take that new trailer on the road after buying his PRCA card the following year.

“Looking back, that win kind of started it all,” Motes said. “It gave me the confidence—and the means—to keep going. It was just cool all the way around.”

—TRJ—