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For the
second consecutive year, the race for the title of Badlands
Circuit Champion barrel racer will come down to the
wire at the Dodge Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo (BCFR)
set to begin this weekend in Minot, N.D.
Buffalo, S.D., cowgirl Jessica Routier
may be experiencing déjà vu in reverse.
In 2008 Routier entered the BCFR with the lead for the
championship. Over the course of four go rounds in the
State Fair Center arena, Routier battled Tamra Musick
round for round. In the end, Routier and her great mare
Especials Smoothie came up second in the average to
Musick and second for the title by a scant $385.
Fast forward a year and Routier
and Smoothie are in the chasing position, just $475
behind current leader Britany Fleck. Routier has collected
$15,902 to Fleck's $16,378.
Routier is a veteran of the circuit
finals rodeos now, having qualified three times in her
former circuit, Great Lakes, and now a third time in
the Badlands. Smoothie is also a seasoned champion,
now 14-years old and a former champion at the College
National Finals Rodeo back in 2003 in Casper, Wyo. She
has been Routier's primary mount for all of her circuit
finals qualifications.
Routier's year started off with
a bang, taking home a split of the title at the circuit's
biggest money rodeo, the Black Hills Stock Show and
Rodeo in Rapid City, S.D. She collected a first at Mandan,
N.D., one of the circuit's lucrative Fourth of July
rodeos, and placed regularly throughout the season.
With her past success in Minot,
Routier is feeling good about her chances at a first
Badlands Circuit title.
"She (Smoothie) likes Minot,"
she says. "She is more of an indoor horse than
outdoor anyway. Plus, the finals is four go rounds and
usually the more you run her in a pen, she gets better
each run."
By virtue of ending the season second
last year and having the champion also win the finals,
Routier secured a second trip to Pocatello for the Dodge
National Circuit Finals Rodeo this year and is definitely
looking to repeat the feat this weekend.
"I love going there,"
she says about Pocatello. "I had some bad luck
a year ago and I am hoping to go back."
Saying her horse has a "big
heart," Routier doesn't seem to be bothered by
the pressure to win.
"I take each rodeo and each
run the same, I try to do the same things," she
explains. "I just try to be consistent.
"Last year, the title came
down to the final run and just a few one hundredths
of a second made the difference. This year, there is
more added money so the circuit finals will make even
more difference in the final outcome."
While the pressure doesn't seem
to affect Routier, Fleck is feeling it.
"Yes! There is a lot of pressure,"
Fleck laughs. "Jessica is right behind me and she
has a really nice horse. They are so consistent."
But, there's no animosity in this
rivalry. In fact, Routier and Fleck traveled together
a bit this season.
Fleck enters just her second circuit
finals - she ran in Minot last year as a rookie. Her
mount of choice is Dasher Dude, a nine year old mare
she calls Rootie. Fleck got Rootie from her dad and
broke her in a colt class at college in Glendive, Mont.
The mare had a foal at the age of four and only really
set out on her barrel racing career a couple of years
ago.
"This is our third year going,"
says Fleck. "We won the North Dakota Rodeo Cowboys
Association title last year as well as making the circuit
finals. I also won the All Around at the NDRCA after
also competing in the breakaway roping."
The multi-talented cowgirl from
Mandan had a tremendous summer to move to the top of
the Badlands leaderboard. She and Rootie won Strasburg,
N.D., Cherokee, Iowa, Crawford, Neb. (co-approved),
and Onida, S.D., along with picking up big checks at
Deadwood and her hometown rodeo in Mandan.
"We finally starting clicking
this year," Fleck says of her season compared to
last. "It was really frustrating last year because
we tipped so many barrels. She was clocking to win but
I couldn't keep her off of them."
Describing her 14.3 hand partner
as "ratey," Fleck says she has to ride hard
each time they start down the alley.
"I have to kick the whole time!"
she laughs. "Rootie is super quick and she runs
real hard. She keeps the same pace around the turns
which is why I think she clocks so well."
Interestingly, Rootie is a half
sister to another star in the WPRA circuit system -
current Columbia River Circuit leader Jana Isaac's horse
is out of the same sire as Rootie, a Texas High Dasher
horse.
Their first foray into the arena
at Minot in 2008 was not the best by Fleck's standards,
though the pair did collect a go round check.
"She didn't like it,"
says Fleck, "she didn't handle the ground and we
had trouble tipping barrels."
Citing the mare's growing consistency,
Fleck feels this year's trip to Minot will be much better.
"I got to worrying too much
about tipping," says Fleck. "My mare just
needed to be hauled more and she's not so ratey anymore.
We have clicked this year and quit tipping."
It's definitely going to be a two-horse
race. Routier and Fleck have about $7,500 on third place.
With $14,062 in added prize money and sponsorship, the
rodeo will prove lucrative for the 12 WPRA contestants.
The rodeo is hosted by the Minot Committee; visit them
on-line at www.MinotYsMensRodeo.com.
"It's a good rodeo," says
Routier. "The committee loves having the finals
there and they do a lot of extra things for the contestants.
It's nice to go."
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