 November, 2018 -
Shane Hanchey knew he’d had to let his hair down in the final round of the 2018 Canadian Finals Rodeo.
“That’s not usually the way I do things,” Hanchey admitted. “I’m normally known as an average, consistent roper and I’m not going to wow a lot of people with my speed, but the way the roping worked out today, I knew I had to go at him and it worked out.”
In fact, it worked out well enough that the Louisiana cowboy collected his third Canadian Tie Down Roping Championship. Hanchey posted a 7.9 second run to win the final go-round and the aggregate to give him $65,338 in season earnings and a $1700 margin of victory over the hard-charging Canadian talent—Kyle Lucas.
“This one was harder than the other two,” Hanchey conceded. “I had those kids breathing down my neck. I used to be the kid but now it’s guys like Kyle and Logan Bird and Riley Warren and then you’ve got the veterans like Curtis Cassidy and Al Bouchard—that’s a really talented field so it feels really good to win this.”
As he generally does, Hanchey was quick to credit his four-legged partner. “It wouldn’t have been possible without TJ (Logan Bird’s 2016 Tie Down Roping Horse of the Year). “He was the same every time. I never had to worry about him. I bet you could draw a circle around the spot I roped all my calves this week. I’ve been fortunate to ride a lot of great horses and TJ just keeps climbing that ladder for me.”
The 2013 World Champion rides the outstanding grey horse at other times during the season as well. “I’ve gotten to be good friends with Logan. He’s a great roper and a force to be reckoned with as well. I fly up here several times during the season and Logan and I enter together. I’m so fortunate to be able to ride a great horse like TJ.”
Hanchey also heaped praise on the new home of the CFR. “I was really excited about being here in Red Deer. It wasn’t just the Westerner Park people who were great but all over the city, the hotel, the restaurants, you could tell people were excited about the CFR being here. I loved it. I hope I can be back here next year.”
The Canadian title (and his subsequent trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas as the #1 ranked tie down roper in the world) was the culmination of what Hanchey called the best year start-to-finish of his career, a career that includes nine NFR qualifications for the 29 year-old superstar.
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