The humble newly crowned world champ was quick to credit her strong support team and family, who were clearly emotional as they greeted her in the press room immediately following the victory.
“This is just so awesome,” said DuPerier. “I was just happy to get here. I just wanted to come and do a good job and if I won, it would be great, but if I didn’t it would be OK. To have accomplished this is just awesome. I can’t believe it.”
While she hadn’t tracked the stats throughout the week, it was apparent that the race would be a tight one for the NFR first-timer.
Callie DuPerier
“No, I didn’t know,” when asked if she knew who among the competition had the upper hand going into round No. 10. “My dad always does the numbers, and I told him not to tell me because I really didn’t want to know. I thought I was taking the lap just for winning the average then when they told me I had won the world, I just started crying. It is just so awesome. I have to thank God first, my dad and Dillon and just everybody that has been behind me all year long.”
DuPerier placed in six of the 10 rounds, overcoming the challenges of a blind first barrel and shifty ground conditions, to stay clean and consistent all week.
“The first of the week I was having trouble getting the first barrel down but we finally got it and now I’m the world champion. I can’t believe it,” DuPerier said.
Lisa Lockhart and An Oakie With Cash (“Louie”), who ultimately earned the reserve world championship and $285,059, held down the No. 1 spot in the standings all week, placing in every round until tipped barrels in rounds seven and eight took her out of the richest paying average in NFR history. Lockhart finished $18,787 behind DuPerier, a remarkable feat considering that Louie hadn’t made a competitive rodeo run since winning Cheyenne Frontier Days in July, until his arriving at the NFR due to a scary bout with lymphangitis (inflammation of lymphatic vessel or vessels).
Sarah Rose McDonald and the dynamic Fame Fling N Bling were also in the thick of the hunt for a world championship, earning more money than any other barrel racer at the NFR, $139,827, to bring her season total to $284,426 for third in the world. The second highest NFR earnings by a barrel racer went to Michele McLeod and the Highpoint Performance Horses owned stallion, Slick By Design, who finished the marathon 10 days with $138,346.
LJS nfr 10 Sherry Cervi5165Rd10webSherry Cervi Round No. 10 winner.
Veteran Sherry Cervi took the win round No. 10 win, her first of the 2015 NFR, and did it in decisive fashion, posting the fastest time of the week, a 13.55 riding Trip DuPerier’s Dash Ta Diamonds (“Arson”), a 9-year-old gelding by the all-time leading barrel horse sire Dash Ta Fame and out of the royally bred mare, The Millennium Star, a daughter of Strawfly Special out of three-time AQHA racing champion Denim N Diamonds.
Sherry Cervi, Round No. 10 winner.
Jackie Ganter, Abilene, Texas, captured the WPRA Rookie of the Year title with $164,780 in season earnings. Ganter and her 11-year-old stallion Guys French Jet, by Frenchmans Guy out of Ronald and Linda Paulson’s mare Miss Landing Rocket, by Easy Diamond Landing captured second place in the average race. Interestingly, after having a strong summer with Tammie Pettis, who was riding for Gary Langford, “Jet” was sold to Callie DuPerier, who later sold the stallion to the Ganters.
In other NFR headlines, it was bareback rider Steven Peebles who emerged as the Ram Truck Top Gun winner with $234,054 in earnings. The king of the cowboys, Trevor Brazile surpassed $6 million in career earnings, becoming the first professional rodeo cowboy to do so, and earned his 23rd PRCA World Championship when he captured the title of All-Around Cowboy.
Don’t miss the February issue of Barrel Horse News to read in-depth coverage of all the great stories from the 2015 Wrangler NFR.
Barrel Racing Results – Tenth Go Round:
1. Sherry Cervi/ Evidence Of Arson, 13.55, $26,230.77
2. Sarah Rose McDonald/Fame Fling N Bling, 13.77, $20.730.77
3. Jackie Ganter/Guys French Jet, 13.85, $15,653.85
4. Lisa Lockhart/An Oakie With Cash, 13.88, $11,000.00
5. Fallon Taylor/Flos Heiress, 13.91, $6,769.23
6. Cassidy Kruse/JKR Assured Win, 13.92, $4,230.77
7. Carley Richardson/Fashionable Boy , 14.06
8. Michele McLeod/Slick By Design, 14.07
9. Callie DuPerier/ Rare Dillion, 14.12
10. Jana Bean/Im A Royal Design, 14.47
11. Taylor Jacob/Sissy B Gold, 14.48
12. Vickie Carter/ The Guys A Surfer JF(?), 14.35
13. Nancy Hunter/Flit N Fizz, 18.87
14. Deb Guelly/Bud Light, 18.97
15. Mary Walker/Perculatin, 29.35
WPRA World Champion, Callie DuPerier.Aggregate earnings
1. Callie DuPerier, 140.41 seconds on 10, $67,269.23
2. Jackie Ganter, 141.07, $54,576.92
3. Cassidy Kruse, 144.68, $43,153.85
4. Michele McLeod, 145.19, $31,730.77
5. Sherry Cervi, 146.04, $22.846.15
6. Sarah Rose McDonald, 148.50, $16,500
7. Lisa Lockhart, 148.54, $11,423.08
8. Carley Richardson, 152.40, $6,346.15
9. Vickie Carter, 152.81
10. Fallon Taylor, 154.61
11. Jana Bean, 161.70
12. Deb Guelly, 161.70
13. Taylor Jacob, 166.19
14. Nancy Hunter, 171.14
15. Mary Walker, 175.50
World Standings:
1. Callie DuPerier, $303,846;
2. Lisa Lockhart, $285,059;
3. Sarah Rose McDonald, $284,426;
4. Michele McLeod, $218,744;
5. Cassidy Kruse, $217,423;
6. Fallon Taylor, $187,578;
7. Taylor Jacob, $177,874;
8. Jackie Ganter, $164,780;
9. Sherry Cervi, $163,821;
10. Nancy Hunter, $147,301;
11. Mary Walker, $135,759;
12. Jana Bean, $111,624;
13. Carley Richardson, $107,493;
14. Vickie Carter, $83,768;
15. Deb Guelly, $74,000.
