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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Friday, June 26, 2009
Hometown Cowgirl
By Vince Kong
Journal Staff Writer
The last time Christen Martinez took home prize money at the Rodeo de Santa Fe, she was — well, 4 years old.
“She was mutton busting and she won a whole $7,” her mother Leticia Martinez said. “They asked her what she was going to do with the money and she said, 'Save it for college.' ”
The 23-year-old Santa Fe High graduate now has the opportunity to earn a lot more than that after making her professional debut as a barrel racer at the Rodeo de Santa Fe on Thursday.
Martinez, riding her horse, Cisco, recorded a time of 17.13 seconds — good enough for fourth place after the morning's performance.
“You just want to try and be aggressive the whole way through,” she said. “And that first barrel is everything. ”
Martinez, wearing a white shirt, matching white cowboy hat and shiny silver belt, shot out of the gate, rounding the first of three barrels without her gelding ever breaking stride.
Her assessment of that first barrel? “You can't get any better than that,” she said with a wide grin, still breathing heavily after her run.
Martinez went on to clear the other two barrels with the same ease.
Last year, Martinez performed in a barrel-racing exhibition as a junior. This year, she shaved nearly a half second off that run.
The only person more satisfied with the run was her brother, Robert Martinez, 20, who competes in both calf and team roping at New Mexico Highlands and hopes to turn pro next year.
“Everyone was laughing at me because I was the one yelling on the fence,” he said. “But this was the best she's done in a long time. It was a really good run.”
But now comes the hardest part, she said. “It's so hard — the wait is so long,” Christen said. “It's frustrating, but that's how it goes.”
The Highlands grad, who qualified for two National College Finals rodeos, has to wait through three more rounds of barrel racing before all the contestants finish and she finds out where she sits in the field.
But considering she finished out of the top 10 in her only other two rodeos — Roswell and Silver City — finishing no worse than fourth place isn't so bad, she said.
“Out of all these girls that travel here from all over the country, this proves that I'm able to compete,” she said.
Leticia said she still couldn't believe that Christen was competing in the same venue the mother would bring her daughter as a child.
“She was fabulous,” she said. “I'm not even competing, and I was so nervous.”
Said Christen: “I was coming here for as long as I could walk. This is where I grew up. It was awesome to finally get a chance to compete.”
There was, however, one thing that could have made the day more memorable, Leticia said.
“It was a shame that she didn't draw in the evening where there would be a lot more people here to support her,” she said. “But, you know what, she had plenty of family here to support her. I'm really, really proud of her — our hometown cowgirl.”
Her next stop is the Rodeo de Taos.
From there: “I just want to go to as many rodeos I can,” she said. “Anywhere I can go, I'm gone.”
Leticia did admit that she is concerned about her daughter rodeoing full time. But, then again: “You get nervous because that's your position as a parent,” she said. “But I support her in everything she does. This is her dream, and she's really good with the horses — she's a cowgirl.”
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