GUTHRIE, Okla., April 1 – Glenn Bailey from Howell, Texas, and Wyatt Platt from Denison won the 8.5 Roping at Wrangler BFI Week, presented by Yeti, by six full seconds to go back to Texas with the biggest roping paychecks of their lives. The event, anchored by the 49 th Annual Bob Feist Invitational, ran March 26 through April 1 and paid ropers a record $6 million in cash and prizes. Bailey and Platt had bested 525 teams on three steers to become the last to rope their fourth. But the big money played havoc on minds in the short round, so the 11 teams before them all had no-times or single-leg penalties. The 16 th callback was still winning the roping (and wound up second for $88,000).
“Anytime I try to safety up, I mess up,” said Bailey, who makes it a habit of not watching the team in front of him. “I knew we just had to be 14 seconds to win, but I went after that steer just like I did the first steer.”
Bailey and Platt capitalized with a run of 8.26 – but it almost wasn’t to be when Platt’s first attempt at a dally didn’t take.
“A lot of times, the way she stops, I don’t get a second chance for a wrap, but today she let me have a second chance,” Platt said of his mare, Miracle Moon, that he raised and hired Rhett Nelson to train. “I wasn’t turning loose of that rope. Didn’t matter if my hand was in it or my thumb was in it – I wasn’t turning loose.”
They got the flag, and the win paid them $130,000 plus Cactus saddles, Gist buckles, and Justin boots. They had also placed in the fifth rotation.
“They had the barrier set up really good – if you saw the steer move an eyelash, you were clean,” said Bailey. “It was great. They also had some great cattle. We got lucky and drew two that let us be 6 and 7.”
In addition, Bailey and Platt won the 7.5 Incentive for another $4,500-a-man with their three-head total of 23.3 seconds. Bailey and Pratt left Guthrie with $71,000 per man, respectively.
“This is kind of like [the World Series of Team Roping Finale in] Vegas, but right here in the backyard,” said Platt, 59. “It doesn’t cost nearly as much, but you can still win a lot of money. My wife and I have been here since Saturday. We watched the BFI and just hung out.”
They raised three sons and own Platt Welding and Construction, which began with fencing and barns but evolved into the structural steel contracted to build 20,000-square-foot homes.
“He doesn’t miss very often,” Platt said of Bailey. “Nine out of 10 times, he’ll turn you four
steers at any roping. And he rides good horses.”
Bailey had bought his bay horse, Bully, off the internet for a thousand bucks as a 3-year-old that was not halter-broke, and did all the work himself. The horse is 12 now, and Bailey bought his full brother, too.
“I love that horse on fast cows – he can make up time if I miss the start or a steer splits the gates,” he said.
The grandfather of 15, just about to turn 72 years old, said he hadn’t won a check for a couple of months and was getting frustrated.
“We have a local Wednesday night jackpot, and they’ve been kicking my teeth in for weeks now,” Bailey said. “Finally, it clicked, and it clicked at the right time.”
The next morning, Bailey said he was still “walking about six inches off the ground.” He retired nine years ago from developing software at Texas Instruments, where he led teams working in Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and China – he called Shanghai his second home because he spent so much time there.
Bailey was lowered to a 3.5 classification as a header after he turned 70, but this is no ordinary retiree. To stay in shape for roping and because he says it’s fun, he runs. Bailey has competed in the Great Wall of China marathon twice and the Pikes Peak Marathon about 10 times. Just for the record, that’s over 26 miles. But he’s also done 100K races of more than 60 miles each – and the last one was just two years ago.
He learned to rope back in the 1980s when someone at Texas Instruments posted a notice on the bulletin board that he was giving roping lessons for fifty bucks. In more recent years, Bailey went to a Speed Williams school and took lessons a few times from Kevin Stewart.
“I love BFI Week because I see people I met years and years ago – guys I remember roping with in my 20s,” he said.
Press release provided by jm@outwestmedia.net
About Ullman Peterson Events
Since 2012, Phoenix-based Ullman Peterson Events has owned and produced the Bob Feist Invitational, held each spring in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Annually, the richest competition for pro ropers, it anchors six subsequent days of additional high-stakes amateur ropings that are among the most lucrative in the world. In addition to Wrangler BFI Week, the firm produces the Double Down week of ropings in Fallon, Nevada, each July, and the five-day Cody Johnson Championship Event in Belton, Texas, each October.
Complete Results of 8.5 Roping
First Rotation: 1. 6.75 seconds, Chad A Scott and Tyler Wyrick, $4,000; 2. 6.91, Jack Foster and Jack Moore, $3,000; 3.7.44, Jeff Danker and Steve Harrison, $2,500, 4. 7.48, Chad A Scott and Tyler Wyrick, $2,000; Second Rotation: 1. 7.02 seconds, Joe Bob Nunez and Kade Elkins, $4,000; 2. 7.24, Darren Ridley and Randy Koehn, $3,000; 3. 7.39, Casey Glenn and Cody Cannon, $2,500; 4. 57.52, Casey Glenn and Cody Cannon, $2,000; Third Rotation: 1. 6.31 seconds, Gary Cripps and Gary Cox, $4,000, 2. 6.80, Ricky Parker and Derwood Hopson, $3,000; 3. 7.24, Gabe Volf and John Fowler, $2,500; 4. 7.65, Clint W Gann and Kevin Lucas, $2,000; Fourth Rotation: 1. 7.21 seconds, Bubba Guedry and Chance Hashaw, $4,000; 2. 7.29, Cort Haynes and Brody Mathiews, $3,000; 3. 7.32, Brandon Nelson and Mike Roberts, $2,500; 4 .7.51, Gary Hugle and Tate Durant, $2,000; Fifth Rotation: 1. 6.60 seconds, Mike Bush and Brad Thrash, $4,000; 2. 6.76, Glenn Bailey and Wylie Platt, $3,000; 3. 6.81, Justin Franks and Ken Matheson, $2,500; 4. 7.51, Adam Martinez and Richard Martinez, $2,000. 7.5 Incentive: 1. 23.35 seconds on three, Glenn Bailey and Wylie Platt, $9,000; 2. 28.64, Mike Bush and Jeff Tilley, $7,000; 3. 28.82, Justin Franks and Shawn L Sullivan, $5,000; 4. 29.61, Adam Martinez and Harold Barnes, $4,000; 5.32.07, Cliffton Harrison and Alvin Childress, $3,000. Aggregate: 1. 31.61, Glenn Bailey and Wylie Platt, $130,000; 2. 37.51, Jess Roberts and Jake Clarke, $88,000; 3. 37.69, Casey Glenn and Cody Cannon, $62,000; 4. 38.26, Mike Woolven and Brandon Clifton, $37,000; 5. 38.26, Jeff Danker and Shawn L Sullivan, $37,000; 6. 38.43, Aaron Bogle and Steve Jeter, $24,000; 7. 39.47, Jay Rueter and Jerry Bliss, $18,000; 8. 40.48, Cliffton Harrison and Alvin Childress, $14,000; 9. 40.51, Shannon Matheson and Mike Lemons, $12,000; 10. 40.66, Daniel Goodman and Devon Stutenkemper, $11,000; 11. 40.95, Justin Franks and Ken Matheson, $10,000; 12. 41.51, Dusty Leatherwood and Joaquin Huntington, $9,000; 13. 41.55, Wade Beckham and Paul Murdock, $9,000; 14. 41.62, Fred Diaz and Jeff Sliva, $8,000; 15. 42.41, Cole Storey and Karl Mosshart, $8,000; 16. 43.59, JP Powell and Kelly Tuley, $8,000; 17. 43.90, Kay Stevens and Harold Barnes, $7,000; 18. 44.78, Nick Scott and Lance Belcher, $7,000; 19. 45.18, Shannon Matheson and Ken Matheson, $6,000; 20. 45.57, Austin Hodges and Brent Moffett, $6,000; 21. 45.76, Gabe Volf and Steve Murdock, $5,000; 22. 48.06, Mike Bush and Brad Thrash, $5,000; 23. 48.52, Richard Crow and Bryan Leeper, $5,000; 24. 52.68, John Cogburn and Lynn Dale Toon, $5,000;
25. 25.01, Chad Weaver and Les Brock, $5,000.
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