Cheyenne McCartney is sitting exactly where every cowboy or cowgirl hopes to to be in August. She is on top and plans to stay there. The Kingston, Oklahoma, cowgirl has taken over the No. 1 spot in the WPRA World Standings after a summer that has included championship titles at two of the biggest rodeos of the year. She left the Calgary Stampede as the champion and the new leader in the world standings and then went to Cheyenne Frontier Days and won again, opening up an even bigger lead as the regular season heads toward its final stretch. McCartney now has $164,775.62 won in the 2026 season. Hali Williams sits second with $135,229.77 after a big week of her own. Williams won RODEOHOUSTON this past winter and had been number 1 ever since before McCartney moved past her in the standings. The numbers tell you where Cheynne McCartney is now, but how did she get there? Calgary Stampede Rodeo Roundtable got to catch up with Cheyenne after Calgary. She had just moved into the number 1 spot in the world, but still much of the summer remained. She didn't know then that another major win at Cheyenne Frontier Days was coming her way. All she knew was that she has a great string of horses, a great support team behind her, and more rodeos to hit on the road. "I think my goal is just to do the best I can, one calf at a time," McCartney said. At a rodeo like Calgary, where the draw is such a huge variable, that goal is a must. McCartney competed in Pool B and worked her way through the tournament style rodeo before reaching the final four. She had already made a 3.2 second run earlier in that Championship day. That would ty her for fourth and fifth, but she won the tiebreaker to earn her spot in the showdown.
"I knew I had a great calf, and if I didn't beat myself I would have a really good chance to win it, or if not walk away with a lot of money," said Cheyenne explaining the showdown round. The final round brought its own kind of pressure. McCartney was first out. She made her run, and all that was left to do was wait and watch. Three other talented ladies still had their chances. "I really had no idea," McCartney said. "I feel like with breakaway, you just really never know. That was probably what I was most nervous for was watching to see where I ended up. I knew the remaining three calves were probably really good and anything could happen." This big win on July 12th had even more meaning than a big check though. Cheyenne's dad passed away 6 years ago, and July 12th is his birthday. He is the one that taught her how to rope, and could of never dreamed of the stages that she would get to do so on. There is no better way to honor her amazing dad then a Calgary Stampede Championship on his birthday. - Cheyenne McCartney Horsemanship at the Center McCartney rode Lexus, a 12-year-old mare who has become an important part of her program. McCartney bought her in January of the previous year, and this is only their second season together. This is a partnership that has continued to get better. At Calgary, that mattered. The setup was different from many of the rodeos on the summer schedule, and the calves could run hard and straight or change directions quickly. McCartney needed a horse that would score, stay locked in and track the calf well enough to give her a clean opportunity. That is exactly what Lexus did, giving her the chance to become the Calgary Stampede Champion. Speaking of good horses, Cheyenne and her husband, Cody, are known for training and riding the very best. McCartney doesn't believe there is some secret formula to building a great breakaway horse. It starts with the horse itself. "I think just starting with a horse that's really talented and wants to do it and wants to be good is probably the biggest thing," she said A horse has to learn how to handle different arenas, different cattle and different setups. The horse McCartney takes to a big summer rodeo can't only work in one familiar environment. It has to adjust as quickly as she does. That has been one of the biggest parts of McCartney's success this year. Lexus and Cheyenne in Calgary - Kevin Todd The Daddy of Em All Cheyenne Frontier Days was the next huge win for McCartney. Backing into the box on the Championship day, she knew she had to be a 5.0 or faster to get the win. Per usual, Cheyenne did her job, and made it happen in 4.3 to win the Daddy.
The win in Wyoming was aboard another horse by the name of Teddy. That talented sorrel horse has been with McCartneys through his futurity years and has become of the most successful calf horses going today. His ability to not only find the calf and get to it fast, but also lock off and break the rope is incredible. The Cheyenne Frontier Days Championship was the second big win for McCartney within a month, and she didn't slow down after that. She has steadily won money at nearly every place she goes, and is making it clear that she belongs in number 1. Gold Buckle Goals Calgary was different, Cheyenne was different, those winter building rodeos are different. The goal has remained the same though. Stacking one win at a time, she has a gold buckle on her mind. McCartney has spent years learning how to make those adjustments, both as a roper and as someone who spends a significant amount of time around young horses. She and Cody, are deeply involved in the futurity horse world, training horses that go on to compete in breakaway and tie-down roping. Their life revolves around horses even when they aren't on the road competing. That experience matters when McCartney climbs aboard a horse at a rodeo and has only a few seconds to trust what she has underneath her. She knows what she wants from a horse, and what she needs to win, and she knows that the best horse in the world still needs to be prepared for the job in the front of them. McCartney's own rodeo career has also prepared her for this moment. She is not new to the biggest stages in breakaway roping. She has qualified for the National Finals Breakaway Roping four times, making the finals in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025. In 2023, she won the NFBR average championship. McCartney's approach didn't change after Calgary. She still planned to haul down the road and go to everything, make her runs and take each calf as it came. "I don't think it really changes my goals," she said after Calgary. "My goal is just to do the best I can, one calf at a time." That mindset may be more important now than it was then. Cheyenne wins Calgary - Kevin Todd Being No. 1 comes with a different kind of pressure. There is no longer any one to chase except yourself. The rest of their field is now chasing Cheyenne. There is still a lot of season remaining, though we are into August now. There is enough money up for grabs still, that McCartney could very well have around $200,000 won before the finals even begin. She will have to keep finding money through the rest of the regular season before the NFBR arrives in December at the Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas. Williams is right behind her, and there are plenty of talented women who can make a move before the season is over. The top 7 ladies in the world right now all have over $100,000 won on the season. McCartney has given herself a lead going into the final stretch of the season. Seeing her name at the top of the standings is not just because of Calgary or Cheyenne or any other big win. This is an accomplishment built for years. The work has been there; the horses and horsemanship have been there. Now, the money has caught up, and Cheyenne McCartney will be roping for her first World Championship this December.