Legacy member Johnny Cox—and former jockey—won $15,845 at the World Series of Team Roping in Ruidoso, New Mexico.
Cox roped with Westi Hicks in the #8 World Series Qualifier to take the average win with a time of 61.29 seconds on four head, worth $10,720 total. Cox also won second with partner Ken Huseman, roping four head in 61.7 seconds, worth $7,500 total.
“I’ve been telling everyone the places I’ve won just haven’t been telling them the time,” Cox said. “It was a good weekend. It’s unusual for me especially roping as bad as I did. The times were terrible, but I just happened to get four tangled up.”
Cox and Hicks also took home some fast time checks after roping their short round steer in 9.37 seconds, worth $1,000 total.
“I’ve been roping with Westi for probably 15 years,” Cox said. “She handles cattle really good. If you notice my record, I rope with a lot of women. The reason I do is because they handle cattle easier. Those fast handles kill me. We always stick with one another even when we don’t rope good. I’ve just always had good luck roping with a girl, so I just stick with it.”
Cox met his partner, Hicks, through mutual friends, the Hinkle’s at the CINCH USTRC Finals (opens in a new tab) back in 2002. Although they didn’t rope at the finals the year they met, they began roping together from there on.
“At the US Finals in 2002, I went up there and my partner Doug Cox (cousin) had to stay home and work cattle so I didn’t have a partner in the #10. Annette Hinkle (Stahl)’s dad just started roping again and I happened to be going by the entry booth and Westi was standing there with Annette. Annette asked me about roping with her dad and she said, “You used to be a number 5.” I just gave her $200 and said enter us. So that’s the first time I ever met Westi was there. When I got home we started roping in the New Mexico Businessman. We just always rope together.”
Cox also placed third in the #10 World Series Qualifier with partner Phil Burris with a time of 41.02 seconds on four head, worth $6,210 total, and third in the #9 World Series Qualifier with partner GR Carter, roping four head in 49.55, worth $6,260 total.
“Phil is Westi’s boyfriend. I won a roping with him before but we don’t rope together all the time but we rope a little bit. GR is a jockey here, and of course I’m a retired jockey. He keeps his steers at our place and we practice together all the time.”
Cox cracked out his 19 year old horse, Genius, from retirement to help him with his weekend success.
“Genius—he’s just a smart horse I guess. He had a suspensory problem. This is the third year that I’ve brought him out of retirement. Last year I brought him out of retirement and I made about $12,000 on him. He’s just a super horse. He’s 19 years old. To me those horses are everything. They get you into the spot and they stop right it makes a lot of the difference.”
READ: World Series Heads Into Busy Summer 2016 (opens in a new tab)
