Mac Fairey of Moody, Texas, and Tyrel Campbell of Graham,
Texas, were second high call in the Resistol #8.5 Ariat WSTR Finale XV. They
had 11 seconds to perform and were a smooth 7.8 in the short round to move to
the lead. When high call went out with a no-time, they claimed the aggregate
title and $244,000 of the $1.59 million total divisional payout.
"I've had some pretty bad luck out here," said Fairey, who
works as an assistant deputy chief police officer in Temple, Texas. "I came
back second high call a few years back and didn't get it done. Yesterday, I was
fifth high call in the #9.5 and I missed."
Fairey has hauled no less than six Finale champion horses
from Texas to Las Vegas, including those of two-time #10.5 Finale Champion Eric
Randle, with whom he shares a fence line. He also hauled Campbell's 5-year-old mare,
Cookie, this year.
"If you want to win a Finale, just have Mac haul your
horses," said Campbell, an oil field worker, who qualified with Fairey in
Hamilton, Texas, in January after a roping hiatus.
Several years back, Campbell was residing with his young
family in Refugio, Texas, when hurricane Harvey severely damaged their home.
Three days before contractors were set to start, a fire erupted, and it burnt
to the ground.
"This is my first year back in three years," said Campbell.
"I didn't think it was right to be roping with all that going on."
Just when things were going seemingly well, Campbell took Cookie
out to catch cows and she came up lame about a month before the Finale.
"When I got that call, that she was probably going to be out
for Vegas, I was pretty bummed," Fairey recalled. "I know how comfortable he is
on that horse."
But after some PEMF therapy and treadmill work, Cookie was
cleared to compete. Campbell wanted to make it worth the long trip to Las Vegas
and got in several times.
"I've got a good friend from back home who spun me a good
one yesterday and I missed him horrible," he said. "I roped with another guy
from Graham and same thing. I was second-guessing even coming out here. I threw
that rope away. It is no longer with us."
After that, Campbell coincidentally went to Eric Randle's
rope bag and grabbed another. With so much success in Vegas over the years,
maybe there's some magic in that Moody, Texas, fence line between Randle and
Fairey.
"That short-round steer stepped into me a little bit, which
is my weakness" explained Fairey, who was riding Chip, his 11-year-old bay
gelding. "I told myself I wasn't going to take any stupid shots. The loop left
my hand when it felt right, and he just cleaned it up."
