With four Maple Leaf Circuit approved rodeos remaining in the regular season, Brooke Wills finds herself at the top of the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association’s barrel racing circuit standings at crunch time.
Wills, of Arras, British Columbia, shifted to No. 1 with $14,264.83 won, but her lead over the competition is slim. Rene Leclercq in the No. 2 spot with $13,681.31—a less than $600 difference between the two. Wills does also claim the top spot in the CPRA world standings, too, though.
“My season has been really good,” Wills said. “It’s probably one of my best years. I have been fortunate to kind of be able to pick and choose where I want to run my mare.”
Wills, 29, is currently boasting regular season earnings of $35,358.13.
“I actually had no goals this year or plans to be No. 1, and then when I moved to that position, it actually still didn’t change at all,” Wills said, who rodeos for a living. “It’s always in your mind, but I’ve just been trying to keep a mindset of that wasn’t my plan. If I’m short at the end of the day by a couple hundred bucks, then it wasn’t really meant to be.”
Blaming ‘Famey’
Wills accredits her horse Fames To Blame, a 2011 sorrel mare, for the successful season, picking up checks at nearly every rodeo they’ve entered and allowing her to slim down on her rodeo count.
“I’m so fortunate to have my mare ‘Famey,’” Wills said. “We had a really good June. I feel like we really capitalized there where we needed to. She’s allowed me to not really go in July and give me a break. She’s been so good for me all year. I try to save every run and make sure it’s worth it.”
Wills wasn’t in the market for a new horse when soon-to-be 2019 NFR average champion Ivy Saebens texted her in the fall of 2018. Saebens was considering selling the mare and thought Wills would be a good fit. Wills purchased the mare and proved Saebens right by winning her first Canadian title and Maple Leaf Circuit title in 2019.
“It was way too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Wills said. “It’s been great right from the start. She came great already, but I think being able to maintain a horse and being able to keep them sound and going down the road for that many years consistently and always be at the top just shows how tough Famey is. She always shows up.”
Wills 2024 Season of Success
• Cranbrook (British Columbia) Pro Rodeo, 9th, 17.61-second run, worth $209
• High Prairie (Alberta) Elks Pro Rodeo, 2nd split, 17.39-second run, worth $1,411 each
• Medicine Hat (Alberta) Exhibition and Stampede, 6th split, 17.57-second run, worth $980 each
• Raymond (Alberta) Stampede, 1st, 15.34-second run, worth $2,764
• Guy Weadick Rodeo, High River, Alberta, 3rd, 16.47-second run, worth $2,224
• Daines Ranch Pro Rodeo, Innisfail, Alberta, 7th split, 15.95-second run, worth $772 each
• Stavely (Alberta) Pro Rodeo, 9th, 15.81-second run, worth $589
• Lea Park Rodeo, Marwayne, Alberta, 2nd, 16.69-second run, worth $3,875
• Rocky (Mountain House, Alberta) Pro Rodeo, 3rd, 16.08-second run, worth $1,357
• Bonnyville (Alberta) Pro Rodeo, 1st, 16.81-second run, worth $2,101
• Leduc (Alberta) Black Gold Pro Rodeo, 4th, 13.41-second run, worth $1,833
Former finals fumbles
With Famey, Wills has since qualified to the finals five years straight and never lower than fifth in the standings. In 2023, she entered the CFR in the No. 2 spot, but doesn’t recall where she ended up at the end of the season after hitting the barrels—a challenge she again faced at the 2023 Maple Leaf Circuit Finals.
“Sometimes I go into the [Canadian] Finals good, but I haven’t had crazy success,” Wills admitted. “It kind of transferred over to the Maple Leaf Finals.
There, Wills split the first-round win, then hit barrels in the final three rounds, hindering her season’s streak of success.
“Famey is a very rate-y, turn-y mare,” Wills said. “She does make it really easy for me but, sometimes, I hit two barrels back-to-back. I kind of want to pick my hand up and it kind of stops her feet and pulls her into the barrels.”
Going forward, and as she plans for her upcoming finals, Wills is brushing off her past finals hindrances and trusting her mare and their run.
“I really try not to over-watch my videos and over analyze,” Wills said. “If it’s a bad run or I hit a barrel, I’ll watch it and see what I did and then I usually don’t watch it again. I try not to really think about it. If I can ride her properly and stay out of her way, she just kind of takes care of the rest.”
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Matrimonial motivations
Wills has a busy end-of-season ahead with the Oct. 2-5 CFR in Edmonton, Alberta; her Oct. 19 wedding; and then the Nov. 27-30 Maple Leaf Circuit Finals in Agribition, Regina, Saskatchewan; but four regular-season rodeos remain to be run first: the Clark Schlosser Memorial Rodeo in Nanton, Alberta; the Okotoks (Ablerta) Pro Rodeo; the Nicola Valley Pro Rodeo in Merritt, British Columbia; and the Valley Stampede Society in Langley, British Columbia.
“I feel like I expect myself and my horse to just be able to pull a check,” Wills said. “The plan when I show up somewhere is not to always go in for the win. I’m happy to just get a check because I feel like that is a huge part. If you can kind of just pick away and pull checks all year, then you do find yourself in a good position. I’m also getting married in a couple months, too. Weddings are expensive, so that’s been a motivator.”
Maple Leaf Circuit Standings — August 2024
- Brooke Wills, Arras, BC, $14,264.83
- Rene Leclercq, Clive, AB, $13,681.31
- Jayden Wilson, Gleichen, AB, $13,007.32
- Kirby Penttila, Calgary, AB, $12,774.75
- Blake Molle, Chauvin, AB, $10,246.08
- Pamela Morrison, Celista, BC, $10,039.67
- Taylor Manning, Yellowhead City, AB, $9,337.01
- Karli Cowie, Mankota, SK, $9,181.46
- Bradi Whiteside, Longview, AB, $8,932.67
- Lynette Brodoway, Brooks, AB, $8,886.29
- Lisa Groves, Czar, AB, $7,854.59
- Lisa Zachoda, Okotoks, AB, $7,380.11
