Rangeland Derby leader Chad Fike relies on two outfits from 'barn full of beautiful horses'

The leader in the aggregate standings at the 2024 Cowboys Rangeland Derby has relied on two outfits to put him into first place.

“I’ve got a barn full of beautiful horses in there,” said Fike, whose cumulative time of 5:59.26 through five nights of racing leads Rae Croteau Jr. by 1.6 seconds. “They try their butts off for me every night. They’re beautiful athletes and they deserve all the credit. I’m just grateful to own the horses.”

In a photo finish on Tuesday in the ninth heat, Fike piloted his Summit Fleet wagon to a second-place showing in a time of 1:11.61, just 5/100ths of second behind Croteau.

Fike decided to go with his outfit of Blue and Blacktop as his left and right leaders on Tuesday, who were joined by Bro and Rider as his left and right wheelers.

“I’ve got two outfits that can run me in the top five pretty consistently,” said Fike Tuesday morning during a barn tour for media members to learn about the daily activities of drivers and how they care for their horses. “I haven’t put the same outfit two consecutive nights yet. I’ve been alternating every night, just the way the draw’s worked out for me. This is the outfit that got day money the first night.”

While Fike maintained his lead atop the standings, it was Wade Salmond who took flight in his De Havilland Aircraft of Canada rig in Heat 6 to win $6,000 by virtue of his time of 1:10.81 being the fastest clocking of the night. On Monday, Fike raced around the Stampede Park track in 1:12.30 to win the ninth heat with his other outfit.

“I had a couple veterans on there,” said the 38-year-old reinsman from Cremona, Alta. “There was an Equine Award winner — he’s been a champion right wheeler on the WPCA (World Professional Chuckwagon Association) the last two years — Rocco, and then Legend on the right lead with Cowboy on the left lead. Then a rookie horse that was probably in his, I want to say, fourth or fifth race ever (Monday) on the left wheel, Holiday.

“I’m super proud of ’em. They worked good and we got around there clean. It wasn’t a super fast time (Monday), but clean was the name of the game.”

Fike cautioned that there’s still a long way to go before the top three drivers earn the right to compete in next Sunday’s championship Dash For Cash.

“It’s definitely a marathon,” he said. “It’s not a sprint. You don’t win this show in one day, but you can sure lose it in one day. Every second matters out there on the race track, because when it comes down to Day 9, it’s going to be less than a second to get into … the top heat.”

Out of the top five in the standings, Fike is one of two drivers (the other is defending champion Layne MacGillivray) who has yet to take a penalty through five nights of action.

“Obviously, there’s some really tough outfits and they’re starting to take some penalties and we’re just keeping ’er clean and consistent,” Fike said. “That’s our strategy all along and that’s going to continue to be our strategy going forward.

“The horses are working good and they’re just getting stronger as the week goes on.”

One driver who Fike has noticed in his rear-view mirror at this year’s Calgary Stampede is Troy Dorchester, who had Monday’s fastest clocking of 1:10.93.

“I wasn’t surprised,” said Fike of Dorchester, who won the Rangeland Derby in 2012. “He’s got a really nice outfit there. They can really haul.

“Troy knows how to win. He’s been on the stage before. He’s been in a little bit of a rebuild the last few years, but it’s good to see him crack out and make some big runs.”

Dorchester credited his speediness on Monday to his horses having an early charge, which carried him to the victory aboard his Interact rig.

“They’ve got lots of early speed,” said affable 51-year-old driver from Westerose, Alta. “I haven’t had lots of that. The year I won it here in 2012, it was closing speed. I turned close and then I’d come-a runnin’, but the track’s changed. It’s shortened, so we bought a little more early speed horses the last few years.”

Unfortunately for Dorchester, he had a tougher night on Tuesday as he finished third in his heat with a time of 1:14.17 to fall from eighth to 10th in the standings.
Being in contention has still been special for Dorchester, who hasn’t liked the start he has had to his WPCA season.

“I haven’t had a great year on the tour — too many crunched barrels and stuff,” admitted Dorchester. “The outfits have been working good, just a little bit of driver issues.

“Coming here is a clean slate and I’ve always liked racing here. It brings a different mental game here. You just kind of go in and it’s brand new year kind of thing, so that’s the way I look at it when I get to Calgary.”