GUTHRIE, Okla. — Colorado buddies Darren Ridley of Las Animas and Jason Devore of Fort Lupton realized the biggest recreational team-roping win of their lives this week in Guthrie, Okla. They hit the jackpot on March 31 in the 11.5 Businessman’s Roping, which began as the signature event associated with the annual Bob Feist Invitational in Reno, Nev. The latter anchored Wrangler BFI Week, which ran March 26 through April 1 and paid out a record $6 million in cash and prizes.
Ridley said he’d assumed beforehand that the team roping would pay some $60,000 each to win, but when he and Devore roped all four in 31.42 seconds, they padded their pockets with $80,000 per man.
“I’ve been waiting on one of these wins for a long time,” said Devore, 46, who finally got to enter a BFI Week roping himself after hauling his son nearly 10 hours out to Guthrie for the Junior BFI in the past…