Anita Ellis rode two different horses and clocked five sub-17-second times to claim the Calgary Stampede bronze as a qualifier to the greatest outdoor show on Earth.
After winning the first two go-rounds of Pool A on her great horse, Axe, Ellis hopped on her young grey, Rico, to win Round 3 and enter the Semifinals with $21,000 to her name.
On Showdown Sunday, Ellis called on the grey gelding for both the Semifinals and Showdown Round. They clocked a 16.98 to tie reigning World Champion Kassie Mowry in the Semifinals. In the Finals, Rico picked up another gear to stop the clock at 16.95 to be the only sub-17-second time of the 3-Man Round.
“Well, when I turned the first, I was like ‘oh no, there’s my bell boot’. I left it right there, but I was happy because he kind of went wide my first run earlier at the first and he came around that first so great. So, I felt like it was going to be a smoking fast run,” Ellis said.
With multiple runs under Axe’s belt that week, Ellis says Rico stepped up in a big way.
The Calgary Stampede win adds $71,000 to Ellis’ earnings and will unofficially move her into the Top 5 in the WPRA World Standings alongside Mowry and Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi.