It may have been a smaller class, but the payout—and the pressure—were sky high in the Open Gold Shootout at the 2025 Cinch RSNC World Finals where the ranch sorting team of Kody Ward of Fort Lupton, Colorado, and Kris Doornink of Sundance, Wyoming, took home the win, a check for $11,250, and World Champion trophy buckles by Professional’s Choice.
“It was a lot smaller than last year, but still a really good paying class,” said Ward, who took to the pen aboard his 2019 red road mare, Whip Smart (Metallic Cat x Smart Asa Whip). “They changed the ride limit from four to three, so the class was tighter.”
Despite fewer teams and only six advancing to the final round, the competition was fierce. In Round 2, Doornink and Ward made their move.
“We just took what we could get,” said Doornink, who rode Wood I Reylly (Dual Rey x Wood I Never), also a 2019 mare. “We got a decent lay and sent it—got 10 head.”
They weren’t alone in that feat, but it was still a key moment.
“There were seven 10-heads in the first round,” Ward said. “We only had nine because I made Kris play it pretty safe—no doubles. We just made it go slow.”
By the third round, strategy gave way to instinct and experience. Only six teams advanced. Ward sorted and Doornink worked the gate—and then it all nearly unraveled.
“I was pushing a cow out and thought, ‘We have to be getting short on time,’” Ward said. “I already had this cow all the way up to the gate, so I ran it through. I look up—57 seconds. Everyone starts screaming. I snap around and there’s five cows standing in front of me.”
“I saw an opportunity,” Doornink admitted. “Turns out I wasn’t right, but that’s what you have Kody in the gate for.”
It worked. They cleaned it up, finishing with 24 head.
The win capped off a breakout season for both riders. Ward had already claimed the Challenge of the Champions title in the Open division earlier in the week. Doornink, a #1 rated rider just three years ago, took home more than $12,000 in World Finals winnings in 2025 after crossing the $75,000 threshold of lifetime earnings and securing his place in the Cinch RSNC Hall of Fame as a Gold member.
“It’s been a great year,” Doornink said. “We’ve had the opportunity to ride with a lot of different people, learn a lot, and just have fun doing it.”
His rise—and that of his wife, Kara, who is the 2025 Challenge of the Champions Novice division champion—didn’t go unnoticed.
“Kris and Kara are the best testament to how far you can come in this sport in not a lot of time,” Ward said. “They were in one of my clinics three years ago. They were green, green riders.”
Now, they’re champions. While Ward isn’t yet sure if he’ll wear his buckle or put it on display, Doornink’s is headed straight to the mantle—right next to his wife Kara’s Challenge of the Champions buckle.
“She’s all about setting goals,” he said. “And that was one of them.”
As for the cows? Tough but fair.
“They’ve been tricky all week,” Ward said. “Not a horse race. You’ve got to give them space, and you can’t out-muscle them—you have to out-think them.”
And for $11,250, this team thought just right.
This article appears in the Summer 2025 issue of The Ranch Sorter, featuring World Champion stories, event recaps, regional results, and more.
This will open a pdf.