LAS VEGAS – Ryan Jarrett has wanted to be fast since he first arrived in Sin City.
He was for just the third time this week on Friday, scoring a 7.4-second run. It was the fastest tie-down roping of the night, and he shared the victory with Marty Yates on Night 9 of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
It was Jarrett’s biggest check of ProRodeo’s finale, worth $23,481, and he’s hoping it’s the momentum he needs as he rolls into Saturday’s 10th go-round.
“It’s great, for sure,” said Jarrett, a Georgia cowboy now living in Comanche, Okla. “I haven’t gotten along very good, but I split the go-round. Now I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.
“I hope I draw good and let the good Lord take care of it.”
Jarrett started off the 10-night championship well. He finished fifth in the opening round, then went through a rough stretch. He didn’t catch another check until the seventh round, when he finished in a tie for second place.
That changed for the better on Friday, when he roped in a share of the first-place check worth $23,481. Even though his success in Las Vegas has been limited, the Oklahoma cowboy has earned $58,442 in the Nevada desert. Of course, $41,672 came in the seventh and ninth rounds.
It helped to have a solid draw.
“They hadn’t won much on that calf, but I liked him,” he said. “I was pumped when I drew that calf. I was excited and felt confident, and it worked.”
It was the first go-round Jarrett has earned at least a share of the title since the eighth night in 2013. That was a long ways between big-time paydays.
“It was something we needed, that’s for sure,” he said.
He needs another on Saturday night, when he rides for the last time in the 2016 season.