RODEO NEWS

Peterson and Pozzi Tonozzi Pick Up Big Wins in Dodge City After Cancellation of Final Round

By Ted Harbin

The unseasonably mild temperatures of rodeo week in western Kansas turned dramatically in a matter of minutes Sunday, Aug. 3.

As Dodge City Roundup Rodeo prepared for the championship round with 100 contestants ready to battle for the titles in their respective events, a storm moved in from the north-northwest carrying heavy rain and winds that reached nearly 90 mph. Officials tested the ground and deemed it unsafe.

The question remained: Will it be postponed or canceled. A rodeo judge, members of the committee and Heath Stewart from Frontier Rodeo weighed the logistics of the rodeo schedule and decided to cancel the round and adjust the payout. For breakaway ropers and barrel racers, that meant a higher payday in the rounds and a two-run aggregate.

“We were just kind of waiting around for the short round to start and had a storm blow through, so we had to get ready after that,” said Beau Peterson, a 2022 qualifier to the Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping from Council Grove, Kansas. “I had some barrel racers just walk by and said they’d canceled the barrel race, and I was really shocked by that.

“It was definitely a new circumstance. I’d never heard of them canceling a short round like that, but I definitely wasn’t opposed to it by any means.”

The arena conditions were slick. Pickup men tested the ground and revealed the dangers to animals and competitors, which is how the authorities made their decision. But there was more to Peterson’s statement: She was the average leader, so that meant the 2025 Roundup buckle was hers. She finished in a tie for fourth place in the opening round with a 2.8-second run, then stopped the clock in 3.3 seconds to just miss out on the second-round money.

Her prize, outside the wearable trophy, was $6,466, a big move for the cowgirl who spent many days of her youth competing at various events inside Roundup Arena. It helped push her season earnings to nearly $75,000, and she moved into the top 15 in the world standings. She is also third on the money list in the Prairie Circuit.

“It’s a great rodeo for the circuit, but it’s also a really big rodeo for the summer run in general,” said Peterson, who attended Oklahoma Panhandle State University, just two hours southwest of Dodge City. “It’s a tour rodeo, so it’s got a lot of things that can bump you up in three different standings.”

Barrel racer Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi kept her momentum going in Dodge City. She was more than solid competing on the second day of the rodeo, Thursday, July 31. She stopped the clock in 17.22 seconds that morning to finish third in the first go-round, then ran a 16.94 to take the second-round lead; Emily Beisel topped that time a day later by five-hundredths of a second.

Pozzi Tonozzi, a 17-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier and three-time world champion from Lampasas, Texas, won the Roundup title with a two-run cumulative time of 34.16 seconds. She pocketed $8,190.

Events like Roundup, which feature a back-to-back format, allow contestants to get in and get out while also running for big bucks. That means horsepower is necessary, and Pozzi Tonozzi has had that for two decades. So does Peterson, who took advantage of two good calves and her quality mount to claim victory.

“He just does his job every time,” she said of Festus, a 12-year-old red roan gelding she acquired just before RodeoHouston. “I ride a bunch of horses, so I’m used to my horse maybe not working every trip but he’s something else. I just back in the box, and he does not flinch until I drop my hand.

“That’s really allowed me to just think about roping and not be worried about what my horse is going to do. It allows me to do my job a lot better. He maximizes all my chances on any calf.”

Festus was one of the shining moments in a Kansas cowgirl winning the state’s biggest ProRodeo.

“I’ve been in that arena for so many years growing up, and my sister lived in Dodge City for a few years, too,” Peterson said. “I’ve spent a lot of time at Dodge through junior high rodeo and high school rodeo. I’ve always loved that arena. To be able to go over there and win that was pretty special.”

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