Taylor Santos' Comeback to Win 2026 Cinch Timed Event Championship

Hey everyone, welcome back to the score.

This is Taylor Vaughlin, so Chelsea is out vacationing.

We are very jealous, of course, and asked me to step in for this week's episode, which

just so happens to feature our new since-time event champion, Taylor Santos.

Taylor topped the 2026 CTC with a time of 351.7 on the Iron Man's 25-head for the famous

100 Grand, making his second Iron Man title, if you'll remember, he was the 2020 champ

as well.

But a lot of people, myself included, were pretty moved by Taylor's story.

Taylor last competed at the time of the event in 2023, and in the two years since then,

he stepped away from competition and underwent three surgeries after trying to manage

pain that had lingered for years.

I think most of us knew that Taylor was out of competition for the last couple of years,

but hearing his story firsthand was pretty interesting, and so I don't want to spoil

things for you.

You're just going to have to take a listen to this episode, which is brought to you by

our friends at FASPEC Groups.

FASPEC Groups has long been a supporter of so much that we do here at the Team Rooking

Journal, so we are so grateful for their support.

But like I said, Taylor talks about a lot in this episode.

He talks about what the last two years of recovery looked like, how encouraging and helpful

his life has been in his rehab, his horse power at this year's time event, and so much

more that I promise you're not going to want to miss.

Congratulations, sir.

Thank you so much.

Now, give us the rundown.

What have you been doing the last two years?

Where have you been?

It's been two years since you've been here.

The last time I came was 23.

I took 24 and 25 off.

In 24, I was planning on coming, and I went and saw a tandy about my hips.

I've been bugging me since then.

If I were in 21, I'd try to just kind of battle through it for a couple of years, and

I went and saw him.

He took some images.

And I actually flew to a humor zone.

I flew into San Diego to get a humor.

I had a trip and so I got to do both events, and I was play along, and I was sitting there

having lunch at some seafood, and Tandy's office called me and asked me what I was doing.

I told him I was going to a radio, and they said, enjoy it because it's your last one.

And so after that, we started physical therapy, and went to fly in the Nashville.

And Dr. Bird did such a good job.

He wrote the book on that hip surgery.

What hip surgery was it?

It was very similar to what Shad had.

He had the microfracture.

I didn't have the microfracture.

But both my librarians were shredded, torn up, so they had to suture those back together

and go in there and clean up all the spurs and stuff.

It was everything that was giving me an impingement.

And they make you wait 10 or 11 weeks in between surgeries.

So how you do one, and then you start doing physical therapy, and my knee had bugged me.

But a lot of times it's common after you get the hip surgeries that you need and hurting more.

So I went ahead and did both hip surgeries, and it was rehabbing.

And it felt fine at the house.

And then whenever I went back to rope, but like the third day my right knee went to being sore again.

And so I went back to candy and took more images.

And then he had a torn meniscus.

There wasn't much left, and there were some cysts in there.

And so he decompressed the cysts and fixed my meniscus and back to physical therapy I went.

Was this, was returning here on your radar during that time?

There was times during it that, yeah, whenever you'd be sitting on the bike or the elliptical for 45 minutes an hour,

you know, you're trying to motivate yourself because it can get some monotonous.

And yeah, you would think about it.

And then there'd be other days where you didn't know if you'd ever be able to compete at a high level again.

And that would drift in.

And my wife was so positive and just was on me every day about the power of the tongue and speaking positivity over the health of my body and being able to get back.

And feel the show, though, that you can come back from adversity and do great things.

I think that's, that's the best part or the most proud that, that whenever I'm old and I'm sitting in my recliner,

I'll be able to tell him that what I went through to, to come back and win it again.

Oh, you want me? I'm not so good at that, but I'll hold you.

Come here.

You're going to get sick of me.

Hi.

What do you guys?

Um, so tell me when did it become a reality that you were going to come back here?

When did you like, when were you sure?

Uh, Dan started calling me.

Um, he had a hip surgery too.

So he kind of knew what I was going through with it.

And I just kept, I kind of put him off a little bit just because I wanted to give my knee plenty of time to heal and,

and give my hips even a little bit extra time to heal.

And so he, he would call me maybe once a month or every month and a half.

So I haven't rubbed in calves, but whenever I do, I'll let you know how it feels.

Because I want, this is a such a competitive deal.

And, and with the stock and the score here, you can't come out at 50%.

So I had to make sure that, that I was going to be able to do it at a high level and, uh,

went to tripping a little bit last summer and, uh, I was actually staying at my in-laws in South Dakota and had some calves around there.

And, uh, I decided to enter Cheyenne and I drew me out due to qualification.

So I didn't get tested out.

And then everybody gets into Pendleton.

And so I entered Pendleton and all pop a few calves around for me and let me tie some.

And it started feeling pretty good.

And, and then after I rubbed the Pendleton, I think whenever I told Dan, I'd, I'd be a game on.

Gotcha. So when was your first bulldog in jump?

Because I feel like there's, there's roping calves and there's tripping and all those things.

But I don't jump any before I come. I shoot dog.

Uh, I just catch them out of the shoot.

Um, yeah.

We ran so many steers at John W. Jones' house.

Uh, with him and John Sr. as, as kids and, uh, after I had back surgery in 2015.

Uh, that was kind of the, the end of my practice and, um,

um, and before I came to the time to vent in 2020, I had to jump to steer.

And since, uh, 15 or 16, uh, in college and will,

but I was actually hazing for me at the college radio.

I went to Rome, same Houston.

And so now, like, I try to just keep couple of street dog and steers around old tripping.

Both of them were old tripping steers.

One of my old tripping steers from Play Long had an old tripping steer that had a bazillion runs on him.

I put them on the feeder and tried to bulk them up a little bit.

I kept them with the calves and the steers and everything.

And if we were team-rupping and bulldog and steer ran in,

I'd just hop off the head horse of the heel horse and cheat dog and just try to get,

get in the vibe of, you know, the switch disciplines and focus right away.

And seems like that.

That does a lot for my bulldog.

So were you nervous at all?

Did it feel different coming back this time after all that time off?

Uh, like the first few weeks.

I mean, we've been going at it for a long time, trying to get ready for it.

And at the beginning, it's so fun getting ready for it and then get about four or five days out.

And I don't think it's burning out, but it's just like you've been doing all five events every day for at least a month.

And then it was good.

Riley's girlfriend was up at San Antonio and so I kind of took two days off

and just let my body heal a little bit.

And then we got back after it for a few days and then probably two or three days before we mainly team-roaked.

And then we had a bulldog and tripped a lot of steers.

Yeah.

So, um, back into the box, though, round one.

Just old hat.

Yeah, I don't know.

The first one always seems like it's not.

It seems silly at a 25-letter, but the first one almost seems the hardest.

And then because there's so much anticipation and haven't been back for a couple years.

So, but after the first head-in steer, then you kind of get the feel back and you get the rhythm back and you break a little sweat.

And then you feel back at home.

Yeah.

Um, tell me about your horse power.

Give me the full rundown.

Whose horses were you riding?

Tell me their stories.

Uh, the head horse was Chad Mathesys.

Um, I've had him at the house since November.

Uh, just been tripping steers on him for him.

He'd already tripped some on him.

And I was just trying to get him further and long and took him with some jackpots for him and stuff.

Uh, hopefully having ready for him to trip on this summer with the rodeos.

And every once in a while, the steer horses, it's good to...

I keep a bunch of jerseys around and so I like to head on the steer horses and just be able to stand them up and have full control.

And he felt so good.

Roping those.

I called him and asked him if I could take him to a couple of World Series to get a good feel.

And so, actually, we went to Hamilton and Stevenville and I headed for railway to film the 15s,

just to...

because they still have the real barrier and not the World Series barrier and tried to get the real feel for it.

And then, uh, in the calf rope and I started out on, uh, Dre Merrick's Mountains.

And she was doing fine, but I just...

I didn't have the feel that I wanted here.

Our timing was off.

And so after the second round, I walked over.

And I walked over and said, I know I got to do something different.

If you have room on the buckskin, I'd love to get on.

And he was gracious enough to let me on.

And not that it was bad before, but it just seemed like a fresh new deal just to just kind of get back rolling.

Um, so that was awesome.

And then the healing about that horse from the San Juan Ranch is a three-year-old clay bomber,

I showed him with this knuckle bit.

That's awesome.

And he just been around the house, uh, starving as a calf horse.

And he was...

he was pretty good.

And then just kind of got okay, like not quite ready a horse, but just a good solid horse.

And then decided to team up on him a little bit.

So team up on him a little bit.

And then I kind of needed a steer horse.

I tripped gears on him for a while.

And uh, he's just a mainstay around the house.

I think he's eight now.

Is he a CD diamond or is that a CD diamond?

Yeah.

Uh, yeah.

He's a S.J.R. diamond Odysseus.

Got it.

And he was out of a good high-gruffout mirror that won good.

And um, he's just been cool to have around.

I keep him around the house, uh, and all rough calves, tripped, team up on him.

And then in the summer time, I sent him up to Colorado.

My uncle and he heads on him all summer and just keeps him legged up on rodeo.

And then in the bulldogging, I've had my own that horse for years.

Really?

Uh, I hadn't rode him before here.

But I had my eye on him.

I'd rather wake people than fiddle to know him.

And I've followed him since that day.

And dang sure, at Cheyenne last summer, I walked over there.

And he had five or six guys in the semis.

And I think two or three made it to the finals.

Rowdy Parrot rode him.

And I've watched so many runs of that horse.

What's his name?

Mario.

Mario, okay.

Mario.

And who owns him?

Alan Good.

I would have to double check with Alan.

But I'm not so sure that it's not the horse that his son won Cheyenne on.

Okay.

In maybe 24.

And who was the Hayes and for you?

Alan Good.

Alan White Hayes and for you too.

Okay, gosh.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He is for me, Raleway Field, and quite high.

We all rode the same horse.

Gotcha.

And yeah, that horse was awesome.

And then the steer horse, that's Chisholm Allen's, too.

Uh-huh.

We rode him a little bit last summer.

And then I've just kind of had him at the house since.

And he's really coming to his own.

I think they bought him at the Diamond of the Desert sale in Vegas.

I'm not so sure he didn't come from the Wilson's.

And I think he weighed 1480 or something.

If they come from the Wilson's, they usually do.

Yeah.

I think he weighed 1480 or something whenever they bought him.

And he's just sure made a nice horse.

They did a great job.

Chisholm did a good job getting him started.

He was in the square open.

And we've kind of fine tuned a couple of things.

And he was super reliable over here.

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You, um, that last round, talking through, was there panic at all when you had to throw

the second loop?

In the trippin?

Yeah.

Well, I mean, if there was in the heading too, I mean you made the heading look pretty

easy.

Yeah, it was kind of in the same spot, really.

Yeah.

I mean, kind of the same angle made both shots, but, uh, it did give me a little piece of

mind.

The second rope that I had tied on in the seer open, uh, was an old core king that I used

in all ten rounds of my first NFSR.

So it was kind of a hug from an old friend getting that beauty again.

But no, it, I, I didn't think that I could drop down past maybe.

I didn't, I went sure either second or third and whenever I wrote, and I've been, I've

been on the first floor, taking a swing or two over the back and just sure shot them.

And I don't know, I missed the barrier or tick and it just felt like I needed to be a little

bit aggressive.

And I guess wasn't the play, but I can't change it now.

And, uh, so whenever I go on my second rope, at that point, that it's almost a nothing

to lose kind of like you need to try to make a shot.

Thank you, Bobbigeau.

Kind of need to make a shot and that steer wasn't great on the ground, uh, previously.

And so I just did the best I could, tried to get on this one and my trip was riding

up.

The steer was gassing away from me, it kept crawling up and so I kicked hard as I could

and then whenever I felt the tug figured I'd better try to get a string on it.

Yeah.

Did you, like, did you know you had it done?

Could you hear Justin saying like you got time?

Could you?

It was pretty black at that point.

I couldn't hear anything.

I kind of gave it a little glance up at the scoreboard because I was ride under it and

I couldn't see any of the numbers and then whenever I, whenever I got on, I could, my

audible came back and I could hear and, uh, I was so emotional.

Yeah.

Tell me about the emotions.

What was, like, where was it coming from?

Just, just everything, just, uh, the surgeries and being done for a while, um, being able to

share this one with my wife, Jordan and my, and our little boy, Beau Frank, uh, that's

so special.

Um, the pictures of him and I and Jordan up here and, and the memories and the stories

we'll get to tell him about this day, uh, just so much emotion and then, and then obviously

the preparation.

I mean, so much blood sweat and tears and I mean, people don't really talk about it but

how much money you invest to get ready.

Yeah.

I don't know if anybody's checked the cattle market lately, but, uh, can just go to the sale

bar and buy a $300 trippin' steer or cash, um, you're a lot more than $1500 and either

one or maybe two grand in the trippin' steer and so, yeah, you spend a lot of money and

it's investing in yourself and it feels worth it right now, but yeah, I mean, it's, there's

some finances involved trying to get ready for it and trying to get all the horses lined

up and what about Jake Clay, though?

I was back there last night, him and Colter Todd had their horses tied next to each other

and like, I'm a guy you can't compare generations because of cattle and different things, but

I walked up to him and I had one on each side and I said, in my lifetime of watching it,

you guys might be the two greatest switch-enders that I've seen.

Absolutely.

Not that, I mean, I haven't paid enough attention, I guess.

Yeah, I don't want to leave anybody else out, but like, those guys are unbelievable.

Like, I trust Jake Clay with anything and he made me feel like a healer.

Yeah, and he's been, I'm not saying he's out of practice with heading, but he's been

healing.

But I mean, yeah.

Right before the first one, I was kind of telling him what our first steer did and he

said, okay, perfect.

And I said, I couldn't have any more confidence in you knowing that you won the BFI here

in this arena that the lungs score.

I said, let's be a cakewalk for you.

So that was, he was unbelievable.

And so cool that he trips, like, he gets the whole deal, he's competed here, he made

the tripping finals, like the guy is just so handy with his rope, has good horses, that

horse he had in on, he rode a San Antonio steer up another day and he worked lights out.

And the healer, he said, in the next couple weeks, he's going to start tripping on him.

So just what a handy guy.

Absolutely.

Now, you're talking about how expensive this is to kind of get ready for and just battle

or pricey.

What have you been doing?

You can tell me I'm not allowed to ask this question, but like the last couple years,

while you haven't been able to rodeo, like, what has been the get-by strategy?

Obviously, Jordan is a boss babe and she works your butt off.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it's, I mean, it's a while, really.

Whenever I found out I was going to have all the surgeries, I sold two or three horses

and figured we'd better keep the rest of them as assets in case we needed some more light

bill money.

And you sit out and have, I had those three surgeries and then I figured heck at this

point of mine as well, go get Lysix, so I won't, and I'd Lysix done just to make this

move even four surgeries.

But yeah, I mean, I sold a calf horse and I started calf horse and it doesn't take long

to burn through that kind of money and then I got started late in the spring tripping

and didn't make finals, came up a few spots short and it was a little tight, thankful

that Jordan was working and then, you know, after my knee surgery, I had my knee surgery

three or seven days after both, Frank was born and so I mean, add all that together.

It doesn't, doesn't really pencil out.

We sold a horse a couple months ago and that kind of helped get us along, but yeah, I mean,

the memories and, and all the things, but yeah, a huge financial day for our family too.

Yeah, 100,000.

What did you do with it the last time?

What did the 100,000 help last time?

Well, that year, COVID year, I didn't, I didn't rodeo that year, but I started tripping

that year and so I bought that tripping horse and, and of course, failure helped and, and

all the stuff and, and that would have been 20.

The rest of it ended up, I ended up buying a calf horse in 21.

Gotcha.

So I rode up to the finals in 21.

Decent investment then.

Yeah.

Yeah, that one was good.

Well, congratulations.

Pretty wild, the horse, the one top horse in the junior Iron Man was my high school rodeo

calf horse.

No, the man's, right?

The man's.

Yeah, from Tatch Creek, California.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

I bought him a Rick and Shadow's horse sale.

Really?

California.

So.

How long has that kid had him?

I don't know exactly how long.

You didn't sell him straight to him.

No.

I sold him as a trail riding horse.

Okay.

So.

Yeah.

And he got a little age on him and got better in the box and now he's winning more.

There's a trail riding horses don't go for house buying money or anything.

So.

No.

No.

That's phenomenal.

Yeah.

I had one stayed on him and I once overstayed on him one year.

So I got two trailers out of him, but yeah, he kind of had my number in the box.

He was like in scoring and so yeah, I got rid of him and I think he went through two

or three guys and ended up with him and he said, I think he rode him last year up here

whenever he won the junior Iron Man so it's cool that somebody can have success on a horse

like that.

That's wild.

I don't know.

It would be weird.

It would be weird for me not to ask about your mom, but to get to share this with her

twice.

Absolutely.

Tell me about it.

She just been my day one, you know.

And that's, I don't think you can even compare either win to because you know the first

one was so emotional with my mom and my brother and my grandpa being alive still and getting

to know that.

Just getting to know that he got to witness that and know about that and yeah, he's just

so amazing.

I mean, they talk about whenever they were creating the event that he was one of the guys that

they looked at and thought that that kind of guy would be good in an event like this

so just to be able to come here and just make him proud, it's so emotional but you know

for different reasons with that and then now that it still gets shared with my mom and

my brother being here, so cool that line flew in and such peace that it gave me to have

him back there in my corner but then also to be able to share it with Jordan and our

son Bo Frank and that's just unbelievable.

Well, I'm so happy for you.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Thanks so much for listening today to this episode with Taylor Santos.

Even though Chelsea wasn't here, I appreciate you putting up with me being your host.

Once again, we appreciate fast back ropes for all of their support and if you're interested

you can learn more at fastbackroaps.com to order ropes, find a retailer down the catalog

or to shop for gear and merch.