Gleichen, Alberta, Canada’s Jayden Wilson is consistently staying afloat inside the top five of the Maple Leaf Circuit Standings as she shuffled from third to the No. 2 spot with $14,873 won in the Maple Leaf Circuit, as of August 06, 2024.  

“I haven’t looked at [the standings] in a couple of weeks,” said Wilson, 26, who works as a financial analyst at MNP. “There’s so many tough girls and tough horses up here, so to be up there in our circuit is pretty cool.” 

Her recent win at the Moose Mountain Pro Rodeo in Kennedy, Saskatchewan, with a 15.60-second run, worth $1,170 is what recently moved her to the No. 2 spot.  

“My whole game plan that night was to send him as hard as I could,” Wilson said of her rodeo game plan. “They had the big screen right behind third and [‘Whisky’] can be a little spooky sometimes, so my whole plan was to send him hard enough that he doesn’t look at anything. I used my over-and-under running into first, which I don’t do that often with him. I didn’t realize we were going to be as fast as we were. It felt like a good run. I was surprised when they said my time.”

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Running on Whisky 

What made the win a sweeter feat is that this same rodeo in 2022 is the first rodeo she has ever pulled a Pro Rodeo check on “Whisky”, when the horse was 5 years old. 

“To come and win it two years later was pretty cool,” Wilson said. 

Wilson’s gelding “Whisky,” registered as Fame Is Dynamite, is now a seasoned 7-year-old, that is out of a family a family-favorite owned mare, Wranglers Dynamite.  

“He’s pretty special,” Wilson said. “It’s pretty cool to be running something that we got from [Wranglers Dynamite]. That’s the third Pro Rodeo he’s won now in his career.” 

Maple Leaf Circuit Success  

Wilson’s 2024 season kicked off on a high note after having a big finish at the at her first-ever Maple Leaf Circuit finals in 2023, where she finished second in the average with a time of 55.270 seconds on four runs worth $1,534, split third in the first round with a 13.810-second run, worth $511.33 each, won the second round with a 13.620-second run, worth $1,363.54 and placed third in the fourth round with a 13.870-second run, worth $681.77.  

Everything won at the circuit finals counts for the following year’s standings, giving Wilson a head start on the 2024 season with $4,090.64.  

“A lot of what has helped me this year is making the circuit finals last year,” Wilson said. “That was my goal this year to get back there again.” 

With having the success she has within the Maple Leaf Circuit, Wilson has her sights set on qualifying to compete in the 2024 edition of the Circuit finals because of the experience the rodeo has to offer.

“It was such a fun rodeo to run at,” Wilson said of running at the Maple Leaf Circuit finals in 2023. “They had a sold out crowd every night. It was probably one of the loudest crowds that I’ve ran at all year. It’s such a cool atmosphere.” 

Though her No. 1 goal for the rodeo season is to qualify for the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association’s finals, she aspires of closing out the year on top of the Maple Leaf Circuit standings, giving her an opportunity to compete at the NFR Open in 2025. 

“I really want to make the circuit finals again and try to get to the NFR Open next year,” Wilson said. “I’ve never been there before so it would be really cool to get to go down there.” 

Winning (and placing) with Wilson 

• Airdrie (Alberta) Pro Rodeo, 12^th split, 15.23-second run, worth $72 each 

• Daines Ranch Rodeo, Innisfail, Alberta, 10^th split, 15.96-second run, worth $463 each  

• Stavely (Alberta) Indoor Pro Rodeo, 2^nd, 15.66-second run, worth $2,860 

• Rocky (Mountain House, Alberta) Pro Rodeo, 10^th split, 16.24-second run, worth $90 each 

• Newell (Brooks, Alberta) Pro Rodeo, 5^th split, 17.54-second run, worth $905 each 

• Hand Hills Lake Stampede, Craigmyle, Alberta, 1^st, 16.51-second run, worth $2,033 

Keeping the Ball Rolling  

With roughly two months remaining in Pro Rodeo’s regular season, Wilson is continuing to enter up and keep her eyes on the year-end prize without changing any of her goals to finish out the year. 

“I just try not to over think it and keep doing what we’ve been doing and trust my horse,” Wilson said. “I try to have a short-term memory. We don’t usually have much time between runs because from June, July and August, we’re doing about three to four runs most weeks. If it’s a bad run, you shake it off and move on and if it’s a good run you try to keep the momentum going. I try not to change my game plan too much either way.” 

Maple Leaf Circuit Barrel Racing Standings (as of July 30) 

1. Taylor Manning, Yellowhead County, Alberta, $14,788.03 

2. Jayden Wilson, Gleichen, Alberta, $13,761.19 

3. Brooke Wills, Arras, British Columbia, $12,872.22 

4. Karli Cowie, Mankota, Saskatchewan, $9,628.37 

5. Pamela Morrison, Celista, British Columbia, $8,478.33 

6. Blake Molle, Chauvin, Alberta, $8,415.20 

7. Kirby Penttila, Calgary, Alberta, $8,219.04 

8. Lisa Zachoda, Okotoks, Alberta, $8,072.49 

9. Lynette Brodoway, Brooks, Alberta, $7,273.25 

10. Lisa Groves, Czar, Alberta, $6,392.12