Fabrizio geared up for 2022

Jordan Jo Fabrizio was immediately back in the saddle when the 2021 season came to a close in September. After being crowned National Finals Breakaway Roping Average Champion in 2020, Fabrizio missed finishing in the top-15 this year.

But like all champions, Fabrizio is looking ahead.

“I’m definitely going to do it again this year,” she says. “I was kind of in a bind last year and didn’t do very well. I struggled. I started off great at Reno, then I got to a low point and didn’t have much success.”

In the last month of the 2021 season - a month in which she competed in one rodeo a day - Fabrizio found herself in the top 25 of world standings. She needed $12,000 to reach the top-15 and qualify for the NFR. The breakneck pace to qualify for Vegas - “I wouldn’t recommend it,” she says with a sigh - exhausted the usually inexhaustible cowgirl.

“You hope that if your season kicks off right, you can pick and choose where you go throughout the year,” she explains. “So this year (2022), I don’t know if that number will be the same. But I think that’s what we’re looking at because there isn’t a rodeo count for breakaway. Unless you absolutely kick butt and take names, you’re looking at anywhere from 60 to 75 rodeos throughout the year to make it to the top 15 and go to the NFR.”

Besides the number of rodeos Fabrizio competes in annually, her calendar stays full for many other reasons. It’s hard to believe she has time to chat at all considering the number of jobs she’s holding down at once. Breakaway pro, assistant college rodeo coach, marketing consultant, broadcaster, podcast host.

But the enterprising Fabrizio does make time, mostly because she’s so passionate about every facet of her life. 

“Mostly what my day is like is connecting with my clients in the mornings and then in the afternoons, I rope all day,” she says. “I would tell myself when I was in school that when I was done, I’m going to have more time. In my life, it’s been like, once I get this or that done, I’ll have more time. But I always find more to do.”

When Fabrizio is not making time for all her business pursuits, she’s making history. In 2019, she became the first-ever World Champion breakaway roper at Cheyenne Frontier Days, the first time breakaway roping appeared at the event. She finished the year ranked sixth in the WPRA Breakaway Roping World Standings. In 2020, she placed in seven out of ten rounds to win third in the world standings. While 2021 didn’t end how she wanted, the fire to compete is burning brightly in 2022, starting with a breakaway event in Odessa in January. 

The pace she sets for herself isn’t for everyone, but Fabrizio says she’s uniquely qualified for it.

“I’m a little crazy,” she says with a laugh. “But I wouldn’t change a thing.”