Chad Fike quick off the mark again in Rangeland Derby, credits 'beautiful' outfit of horses
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Just like at last year's Calgary Stampede, Fike posted the fastest time on the opening night of the Rangeland Derby presented by Play Alberta.
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'I don't know what it is about the first night here for us, but we've had good luck,' said Fike, who won the top day-money prize of $6,000 aboard his Steelhaus Tryton wagon. 'I think that's our third day money on the first night here, so I'm pretty happy.'
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Racing in Heat 8 off barrel No. 3, Fike knew he had to have a strong showing after watching Chanse Vigen set a quick standard of 1:12.25 aboard his VisitLethbridge.com rig two heats earlier.
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'Vigen's always tough and there's a lot of beautiful outfits here,' said Fike, who traversed the GMC Stadium track in the night's quickest clocking of 1:11.73. 'This is not an easy thing to do to win the top time of the night because there's some amazing horses.'
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To start the 10-day show, Fike went with his lead team of Blacktop on the right and Blue on the left with Rider as his right wheeler and Bro on the left wheel.
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'That outfit's been pretty beautiful for me all year,' said the 37-year-old reinsman from Cremona, Alta. 'They come in, they stand like soldiers. When the horn goes, they really start and make a nice smooth turn. And then if I don't outturn them guys, they can really run, too, so I'm just pretty blessed to own those four horses.
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'They start, they turn and they run. You need to do all three things to be tough and they do it.'
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As for his outriders, Kale Lajeunesse rode Oscar on opening night, while Ryan McAleney galloped around the track behind Fike on Voodoo.
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In need of an outrider to work for him at the 2024 Wild West WPCA World Chuckwagon Finals in Ponoka, Alta., Fike persuaded McAleney to come out of retirement.
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'At the finals last year, we were short of guys and I convinced him to come back and he caught the bug again,' said Fike, who used to outride with McAleney back in the day before switching to being a full-time driver. 'He used to drive chuckwagons on the Western Chuckwagon Association circuit until his dad (Bruce) passed away and then he was out of the sport and always wanted to get back into it.'
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Fike has confidence that he and his team can build upon their strong start to the Rangeland Derby.
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