Three was definitely a charming number for Jake Vold as he won his third straight Canadian title.
Vold, who had a pair of cowboys tugging on his collar for the bareback title at the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) last weekend, capped off a superb week with a huge final ride to win his third title in as many years.
Vold scored an 87.5 on Reckless Margie to win Sunday’s performance, making it the third time he took home top honours during the week plus he scored on all six of his rides at the event. All the more impressive was his consistency, with no scores lower than 83.25 and a high of 89, which earned him the bareback aggregate title. Overall, Vold walked off with almost $91,500.
“There were some tough guys out there this year who came in hurt and gutted it out,” Vold said after the final performance.
“This year was a lot of fun and different with the great fight during the week. That made it a great test for my mental toughness and that feels good to be able to come out on top.”
Vold was just a little over $5,000 ahead of Caleb Bennett heading into the final performance. He then watched Bennett put up an 85.25 ride that put him ahead in the race for the title with Vold to ride next. Vold needed a big score to assure him of the title, but knew he was likely to do it on the horse he had drawn.
“Reckless Margie is a phenomenal mare and a lot of guys have won a lot of money on her,” he said. “I was super excited when I found out I had drawn her for that final ride, even though I had never been on her before.”
Accomplishing winning a third Canadian title has pushed Vold’s confidence to an all-time high and also has him thinking about his future.
“I want to be among the greats and all of those guys won at least three Canadian championships, so this means a lot to me,” he said.
“I certainly don’t think or hope this isn’t the end. I’m just 29 and in my prime. I am staying in shape, so I think I can keep going for a while.”
With his confidence high, Vold is looking forward to what lays ahead in what will be his second appearance in Las Vegas at the National Finals Rodeo, which runs Dec. 1 to 10. His first was in 2014, where he ended up fourth in the average.
“It will be nice and I need a bit of a break after doing this all summer,” Vold stated, who also got married.
“But all of those guys that dominated and earned titles have wanted to have the NFR title, so I’m looking forward to it.”