The South Point Arena and Equestrian Center exploded at the
seams when Joshua Comeaux and Rickey DeCuircame tight on the high-call steer in
the short round of the Priefert #11.5 Ariat WSTR Finale XV. The Louisiana
cowboys needed to be an 8.92 to keep the lead. When they laid down a clean 7.57-second
run for a total time of 31.52 on four head, worth $260,000, the reaction was
electric.
"We didn't have a plan, we just knew we had to be clean,"
said 28-year-old DeCuir, of Erwinville, Louisiana.
The announcers barely had time to say their names when 23-year-old
Comeaux, of West Lake, Louisiana, nodded for his steer.
"I didn't want to waste no time," Comeaux said with a laugh.
"I saw that cow was looking straight and I just took him."
It's a 24-hour trip to Las Vegas and DeCuir was able to stop
and win about $20,000 in Wickenburg, Arizona, before the Finale.
"We had planned to do some pre-gaming before coming out
here, but I left for Arizona two weeks ago and we never did get a chance to
practice," said DeCuir, who was counting on his buckskin gelding, Beans, to
take him to the pay window all month long. "We bought him for about $1,000 at
the local stockyard. We thought he was going to be a dink. He barely rode
around. He still doesn't ride around real good, but he's pretty good to rope
on."
On the head side, Comeaux was riding Cornbread—a horse well known
in their region of the country.
"Everybody knows Cornbread," said Comeaux's stepdad, Marcel,
who raised the palomino gelding. "I've had him since he was about 8 months
old."
This was the first Ariat WSTR Finale short-round
qualification for both cowboys and one they'll never forget.
"We've never even had a chance to make the short round
here," DeCuir added. "This week, we roped together outside in the #11.5 and in
the #11.5 Heartland before this. Comeaux hadn't missed a steer yet. I legged
two to be pretty good outside and I missed the third one in the Heartland. I
told him before we went in [to the Finale short round], I wasn't going to miss
another one."
