Category Archives: Uncategorized

LAS VEGAS – The first thing header Coleman Proctor must do after he backs into the timed-event box is get a good start; it’s a vital piece of the puzzle that is team roping. Sometimes, though, it’s more about the finish. “I’ve taken a lot of great tarts here and not finished very well, and it’s cost me a lot,” said Proctor of Pryor, Oklahoma. “(His horse) Heisman got me out of the barrier, and I felt like I was right next to the steer. It probably affected some of those guys behind me because sometimes when you get such a great start, it shows them there’s more stretch in the barrier than they think, and there’s a few guys that got the barrier tonight that we haven’t seen.” As the 11th team to rope, Proctor and his heeling partner, Logan Medlin, posted the fastest run of the night, a 3.8-second run to win Friday’s ninth round, adding another $33,687 to each of their coffers. They have roped seven of nine steers for a cumulative time of 28.5 seconds and sit fourth in the aggregate race, and each man has earned nearly $141,000 in Las Vegas. Friday was a big move for the tandem. Proctor moved to second in the heading world standings at $296,736, $38,000 behind Tyler Wade, but Wade and his partner, Wesley Thorp, have times on just five steers. That’s where a solid average check can come into play. In addition, tie-down roper Shad Mayfield, who led the all-around standings heading into Friday, had to use two loops and settled for a 14.9-second run. That moved Proctor into the lead in the all-around race with $326,648, and he has a $31,924 advantage over Mayfield and a $33,607 lead over the No. 3 man, heeler Junior Nogueira. “I’ve had a lot of people ask me this week about what it’s like heeling for somebody that’s chasing the all-around buckle, and he’s busted his butt all year for this to give himself a chance for this,” said Medlin of Tatum, New Mexico. “Just to be along or the ride, to play a role in that, I just feel honored to be a part.” It’s the combination of teamwork and perseverance for both men. Proctor also competes in steer roping and finished 17th in the standings. That’s one of the reasons he’s in this position. “Logan has been part of almost every major all-around title in my career, so this is nothing new to him,” Proctor said. There have been a mix of emotions throughout the first nine days. They went through a stretch in Rounds 3-5 that took them off the mountaintop, then they started riding the train back up. They returned to the pay window on Night 6, then won Round 7, finished second on the eighth night and won again Friday. “We should know it’s going to be a roller coaster of emotions,” Proctor said. “We all plan on dominating from Round 1, so it does hit you. It’s hit me this week, and I’m a nine-time veteran, and it’s still the same roller-coaster ride, and it’s also the fun of it, too.” Medin is also in contention for the heeling world title, so he’s invested just as much. “This is tones of fun,” he said. “This is what I dreamed of as a kid, getting to wine these go-rounds and just being able to bring people to their feet and bring a sense of excitement for the sport of team roping. “I think this week of team roping has been amazing. There are so many people that have told me it’s been their favorite event to watch this week, and I think that just shows how competitive it is and how tough it is to win. There’s no greater feeling than tonight to beat the 14 best teams in the world and come out on top tonight.” The NFR is rodeo’s Super Bowl and World Series wrapped up in a 10-day championship. It features only the best from the regular season, and they’re all battling for rodeo’s gold. Fans pack into the Thomas & Mack Center and help create an atmosphere that is nothing short of electric. “We’re excited about it, and there’s no better feeling in the world like just making 19,000 people start standing up and screaming for you,” Proctor said.

LAS VEGAS – With the right horses under him, 2022 world champion bareback rider Jess Pope shines, especially at the National Finals Rodeo. He’s a three-time winner of the NFR’s average championship and finished second a year ago. The computer-generated drawing system hasn’t been quite as kind to Pope in 2024. He’s had two rounds where his score didn’t reach 80 points, which is a big reason why he’s sixth in the aggregate race, seven points behind the leader. The drawing gods looked out for him for Friday’s ninth round, though. Pope matched moves with Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Secrets Out for 89.5 points to win the night and collect another payday worth nearly $34,000. “I thought that (horse) was kind of lay-up in this pen,” he said, referring to the electric nature of the 6-year-old bay mare’s bucking style, which was highlighted in a grouping of horses considered the easiest to ride. “I told (fellow bareback riders) after the fourth round that I thought we had that horse mispenned, but there’s really no way we could move here around.” “I think next year it’ll be penned differently, and I was kicking myself in the butt when I said that. When I saw the draw last night, I thought, ‘Boy, I’m glad nobody went through with this.’ ” This is the first time to Las Vegas for the mare, but she’s excelled in the Thomas & Mack Center, the NFR’s home since 1985. She guided Texan Bradlee Miller to the Round 4 victory. In two nights of performing, she’s helped two cowboys earn more than $67,000. Being the beneficiary of that, Pope increased his Sin City earnings to $106,896. He’s fifth in the world standings with $275,050 and has one night left on his 2024 season He is matched with C5 Rodeo’s Virgil for Saturday’s 10th round; the bronc is a two-time PRCA Bareback Horse of the Year and joins Frontier Rodeo’s Gun Fire as the Bareback Horses of this year’s NFR. Pope finished third after posting a 90-point ride on Gun Fire on Night 5. “I know I’m riding good,” said Pope of Waverly, Kansas. “I’ve had a lot of people ask me today what I thought of my draw, and I finally just got to a point where I started telling people that I have no expectations. We’re going to have fun the last two rounds. We’re not going to worry about it and just enjoy the time that I get to be here.”

LAS VEGAS – The truth for bareback rider Bradlee Miller is that he has to play the game he loves in some serious pain. He suffered a neck injury during his fifth-round ride, and it’s cause extreme discomfort. As with anything to do with the spine, there are some side affects that aren’t helping either. “It’s getting pretty bad,” said Miller, 21, of Huntsville, Texas. “The last few nights, it was only my right side that was going numb and hurting me. The last two days, my left arm has completely went limp.” He’s blocking out the pain and unpleasantness during his inaugural National Finals Rodeo. Whatever is ailing him didn’t show during Friday’s ninth round when he rode Macza Pro Rodeo’s Side Show for 86 points to finish in a three-way tie for third place. He earned $14,308 and increased his NFR payroll to $212,848. He’s done that in just nine nights of ProRodeo’s grand finale, placing eight times with three round victories. He’s jumped to No. 2 in the world standings with $350,213 and is firmly in contention for the world championship. Yes, he’s in a position he never considered when he first arrived n Las Vegas less than two weeks ago. He trails fellow Texan Rocker Steiner by less than $30,000 with one night remaining in the 2024 ProRodeo season. “About halfway through the ride, she set off a pretty bad stinger in my neck,” Miller said of Side Show. “I had no control of my left arm whatsoever.” Miller rides right-handed, but his free-arm helps him maintain control on the bucking horses. It’s a scary situation to have an extremity go numb while trying to take care of business. He’s been able to maintain excellence despite his situation. “You now, for $34,000 a night, you can push through some things that you never thought were possible,” Miller said of the nightly payouts to round winners. “Right now is a testament to that. If it was a regular-season rodeo, I’d probably go home for a little while. Here at the National Finals, there’s nothing going to slow me down.”

LAS VEGAS – He’s not wearing camouflage, but J.D. Struxness is definitely a hunter. He’s not trapsing through the woods in search of food; he’s in Las Vegas, and his prey is the steer wrestling world standings. He’s been stalking for nine nights, and he’s closing in on his target with one round remaining at the National Finals Rodeo. Struxness struck again during Friday’s ninth round, grappling his steer to the ground in 4.0 seconds to finish in a tie for second place worth $23,364. He also moved up a spot to eighth in the NFR aggregate race with an eight-run cumulative time of 32.4 seconds while earning more than $127,000. Should he remain in that spot in the average, Struxness will add $8,150 Saturday night. He trails the world-standings leader, Nevadan Dakota Eldridge, by $13,351. Eldridge also was 4.0 seconds Friday, so no ground was made up. “He’s wanting to keep it interesting at the end there and not let me get the head start on him,” said Struxness, who has season earnings of $274,446. “It wouldn’t be the first time I came from behind of Dakota. “It’s one of those endings where it’s stressful, but it’s fun. We’re in position where we have to cut loose and open up and try things, because we’re needing to place good every night to even have a chance. That makes it fun, because we’re cutting loose wide open, trying to set things up, trying to be as fast as we can, taking chances. We’re doing things on steers that are making the steers better and doing things that are going our way on these steers.” The trump card in this race is NFR veteran Will Lummus, who is third in the world standings and trails Struxness by nearly $37,000. Lummus, though, is second in the average race and could win $70,000 by finishing in that position when the curtain closes Saturday night. “We’re just backing in there,” Struxness said. “The horses are still locked in. They’ve been doing great all week, and they’re taking it well. We jut rock and roll, go out there and open up and try to do our job. We just try to keep placing high “We’re in one of those situations where we have nothing to lose. We need to capitalize, maximize and over-maximize our steers we have, then we’ll sit back and watch how it shakes out after that.”

LAS VEGAS – The National Finals Rodeo is a roller coaster of emotions. There are peaks and valleys, and the climb is sometimes the best part. Bareback rider Richmond Champion is still hoping for a ride to the top. He rode Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Risky Business for 86 points to finish in a three-way tie for third place during Friday’s ninth round, but it was just his second payday of the NFR so far. “I don’t place a whole lot in the ‘hopper rounds,’ ” Champion, a nine-time NFR qualifier from Stevensville, Montana, said of the Round 9 pen of broncs. “I feel really good about that, because it’s another check and am still solid in the average. Life is good.” He has pocketed just $28,435 in go-round checks, but he’s ridden nine horses for a cumulative score of 750 points to sit eighth in the average. Should he remain there when the 10th round concludes Saturday night, he’ll pad his earnings to the tune of $8,150. If he moves up a spot to seventh, it’s worth $14,670. He will enter the final night of the 2024 campaign 13th in the world standings with $167,400. “Eighth in the average is money, and I don’t want to leave anything on the table that I have an opportunity for,” he said. “I feel like I haven’t had a lot of opportunities this week. I’ve played the cards I’ve been dealt, and here we are with one more opportunity. “Technically, it’s two big opportunities with the average, so I’m pumped. This is the best I’ve ever felt coming into Round 9.” That’s saying something, because bareback riding is brutal. Cowboys wear specially designed gloves with binds in them, then wedge their riding hands into a rigging that is strapped tightly around the horse. They are locked onto a 1,200-pound bucking machine. The men are also only half the score. The animal, and the way it bucks, is a big part of the equation. The cowboy is marked by how well he spurs the horse from in front of its shoulders back to the rigging in rhythm with the bucking motion. If the horse isn’t having a great day, it affects the overall score. “Drawing well is part of it,” Champion said. “I don’t actually know how you train for that, but I’ll figure it out before next year.” Champion has a plan of attack, and he hopes to finish strong at this year’s finale and carry that momentum into the 2025 campaign.

LAS VEGAS – If the National Finals Rodeo was a class, Dean Thompson would be a straight-A student. He’s not just in town to ride bucking horses; he’s paying attention to all the details. This is the sport’s championship event, and he understands the business that goes into it isn’t just spurring broncs. He didn’t know much about the horse he had drawn for Thursday’s eighth round, so he began the work necessary. “I haven’t been on that horse, but I’ve been doing some studying, though,” said Thompson, who won the round on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Dusty Roads with an 88-point ride, worth $33,687. “I saw Bradlee (Miller) go 86 on it, I saw Tanner (Aus) go 83 on it, I saw Rocker (Steiner) go 84 on it and I saw Orin (Larsen) get bucked off. “When Orin bucked off that thing, I knew I had a real chance because it was bucking.” It certainly was in Las Vegas. With half the score coming from the animal, Thompson needed some help to post a marking like that, especially in the grouping of horses the cowboys call the “eliminator pen.” Many of the bronc busters fret the toughest-to-ride horses, but Thompson has figured out how to make it all work. “Last year it was definitely a restless night,” said Thompson of Altamont, Utah. “I probably didn’t sleep 30 minutes last year during the ‘E pen,’ but this year, I have changed my attitude, and it’s changed the amount of nerves I feel going on to a ride. I walk in there with zero expectations.” He placed each of the first five nights, including a share of the Round 5 win. He missed the pay window two nights in a row, then returned with a vengeance. He has ridden eight horses for a cumulative score of 680.5 points and is second in the aggregate race, a point and a half behind Cole Franks. Thompson has earned $121,746 over eight nights and sits fourth in the world standings with $293,672. “That Dusty Roads is a great horse,” he said. “That was a top-five pick for me, so to get a round win on that thing is just awesome. If I would have let my expectations get ahold of me, they would have said, ‘You shouldn’t place more than fifth on that horse,’ and they might have held me back. “I try to drop my expectations completely, go in there and give it all I’ve got. I just want to make great spur rides. You expect it to be difficult, especially in the “eliminator” round. That’s the only expectation you can have, so you have to try really hard and basically flex every single muscle in your body.” He entered the first round of the NFR with great confidence, and it hasn’t diminished, but he’s hoping it will continue to build toward a crescendo come Saturday night. The bareback riders will go from the toughest horses to the ones considered the easiest, so it should be a spurring contest on Night 9. “It’s going to be fantastic,” Thompson said. “The only thing you can do wrong is underestimate those horses, and that’s an easy thing to do. I’m going to expect my horse to buck, and the rest I’ll take care of myself.”

LAS VEGAS – For a man in a couple of world-title races, Coleman Proctor is focused on something rather sophomoric. “It got pretty simple after we missed the second steer of this week,” said Proctor, who is fourth in the heading standings and third in the all-around hunt. “If we didn’t win, it wasn’t going to matter. I’ve got to be winning first or second, maybe tolerate a third. Our plan stays the same: We’re going to pin our ears back and go hard.” He and his heeler, Logan Medlin, stopped the clock in 4.1 seconds to finish as the runners-up during Thursday’s eighth round, earning $26,624. They have each collected $107,258 so far, and they have two nights remaining to see what else can happen, and a great deal has over the initial eight days. In fact, Proctor and Medlin have shot up to sixth in the aggregate race even though they’ve had two no-times. They have knocked down six steers in 24.7 seconds. That could be a factor when the week is done, because the top eight teams in the average will earn bonuses. The higher the placing, the more money they earn. “When those first few teams went out of the average, I knew we were close, and then they’d had seven caught, and we were only one steer down,” Proctor said. When I watched them struggle, I was sitting right next to (tie-down roper) Shane Hanchey and said, ‘Man, one thing about it; my plan can’t change.’ Thankfully it looked like things took a better turn for us for the overall picture, but none of that matters. It’s team roping.” Proctor sits fourth in the heading world standings with $263,048 and is just $63,000 behind the leader Tyler Wade. Proctor is third in a tight all-around race, but he’s just $1,800 behind the No. 1 man, tie-down roper Shad Mayfield, and just $80 behind the runner-up, heeler Junior Nogueira. Both gold buckles are very much in play. “Luke Branquinho told me best,” Proctor said of the five-time world champion steer wrestler. “He said, ‘You’re the only person that controls that pressure valve. Don’t let anybody get it turned up on you.’ It’s been nice just backing in. We’ve got to go as fast as we can and try to win deep every night. That’s the big thing and just keep trying to do our jobs. The money we’re putting in the bank is just putting pressure on somebody else. “If I can jut keep hammering the barrier and giving my guy looks, I feel like it’s going to go favorable for us toward the end.” The race for a world championship is a marathon that began 14 months ago, but it’s turning into a sprint with two nights left on the 2024 ProRodeo campaign. It’s the last 200 meters of a kilometer run, and Proctor has his gas pedal on the floor. “The main thing is having the experience coming back here nine times,” he said. “I’ve only been in the world-title race one other time, and I’ll never forget that pressure and never forget that feeling. It came hot. It overwhelmed me. I’ve had a lot of growth and maturity that certainly has helped me out a whole lot, but we hope that the gray hairs I’m starting to get from those three little girls will start paying dividends in this roping arena.”

LAS VEGAS – Cole Franks has more influence than he thought. When visiting with the rest of the bareback riders about the horses that had been featured the first five nights, he recommended that Championship Pro Rodeo’s Ranch & Crow Interiors be switched from the fifth and 10th rounds’ “TV pens” to the “eliminator pen,” which is featured in the third and eighth rounds. “He just always seemed to me like he was a little too hard to be in the ‘TV pen,’ ” said Franks of Clarendon, Texas. “We swapped him over to tonight, and I lucked out and drew him.” The result was an 86-point ride, which helped Franks finish fourth in Thursday’s eighth round, worth $14,127. He has ridden eight horses for a cumulative score of 682 points and is first in the all-important aggregate race with two nights left at the NFR. He has also earned $83,532 and has moved to seventh in the world standings with a little more than $223,000. “He was a little bit of a day off in this pen, but he was really good,” he said. “It was a lot of fun, which is a very weird thing to say about the ‘E pen.’ ” The horses that were out Thursday are typically the hardest to ride throughout the season. There were no-scores and low scores, but the right match-ups can pay off. The winning score was 88 points; it took 89.5 points to win the last time the horses were out in Round 3. By now, the bareback riders have worked through the soreness that typically comes early in the 10-day affair. There are a few exceptions, like cowboys with injuries that are receiving treatment. They’ve built their bodies and their minds for this experience, because they know they’ll tangle with the best bucking horses in the PRCA from 2024. Those eight-second rides can be rugged, especially in bareback riding. They face a lot of force from athletic horses that weigh anywhere from 1,000-1,200 pounds – pure bucking muscle. Franks gets as much rest as possible and makes sure to get a hot-tub treatment each night. “That’s a lot on your body, especially 10 days in a row,” he said. “I let my body rest as much as I can.” A world championship is still within reach, but a lot of things must occur for that to happen. He trails the standings leader, traveling partner Rocker Steiner, by more than $100,000 and is $98,000 behind the No. 2 man, Bradlee Miller. But winning the average title can go a long way toward that race and will most certainly catapult Franks up the world standings. He just needs to stay on top by the time the curtain closes Saturday night, and he’ll cash in another $86,391. “It’s a lot of pressure, but I like pressure,” Franks said. “I kind of feed off pressure, so I enjoy being No. 1 in the average right now with two of the funnest pens of horses in the world to get on.”

LAS VEGAS – In his first week of competition in Sin City, J.C. Yeahquo has learned that there’s a lot more to do than gamble and party. “It’s been fun out here,” said Yeahquo, a first-time National Finals Rodeo qualifying header from Stephenville, Texas. “When I’m riding into the box, that’s the most fun I have at night. “I might be wrong, but if I was doing bad, I’d probably say I was still having fun because I get to be out here. It’s very enjoyable. I’ve got all my family out here, and we’re all just hanging out every day and taking it easy. It’s been good.” So has Yeahquo. He’s placed five straight nights. His most recent came with a 4.1-second run to finish fifth in Wednesday’s seventh round, worth $8,700. He his heeler, Buddy Hawkins, were saddled with a no-time on Night 1, and they suffered a five-second penalty in the second round. They’ve placed every night since and have a six-run cumulative time of 30.9 seconds. They are third in the aggregate race with three rounds remaining for this NFR and have each roped $88,513. Yeahquo is sixth in the heading world standings with $214,808, but there’s a ton of money still up for grabs over the coming nights. Should the team remain third in the aggregate race, each will add a bonus of more than $55,000 when the championship concludes Saturday night. If they move up one spot, it’ll pay $70,000. There’s a ton of confidence coming out of the North Dakota-born cowboy, and a good portion of that rests on El Chapo, a 14-year-old sorrel gelding. Yeahquo relies on the red racer to put him in position, then he trusts Hawkins to finish stopping the clock. “El Chapo is a finished horse,” he said. “I don’t know that I could do anything now to make him any better than he is. I think he’s right the way he is now, and I think he’ll always be. He’s perfect for this setup, and he does a great job of pulling the cow and letting the cow’s hip swing just perfect for Buddy to be able to heel him. He definitely loves it.” Every team roping tandem has a quarterback, and oftentimes it’s the header because he’s the cowboy that must start in time with the steer and secure the first loop. That’s not the case with Hawkins and Yeahquo, the latter of whom understands his job. “I try to make it happen and let Buddy finish,” Yeahquo said. “I try to make it to where we can be fast. I told him when we started roping that I’d feel more comfortable going further across the arena than down the arena. If I can hit him fast and let Buddy do the tracking, that’s what feels best for me. Buddy has been teeing off on them.” It’s working, and that’s a valuable asset in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – Every cowboy who has ever competed has dreamed of being in a race for a world championship. J.D. Struxness is living it. He is third in the world standings with $222,105 after placing in Tuesday’s sixth round of the National Finals Rodeo and trails the leader, Will Lummus, by less than $16,000. He can move into the top spot by finishing third or better in one go-round, but he still has four nights left at this year’s championship to make things happen. “This was our strong pen of steers,” said Struxness of Milan, Minnesota. “There are a couple of good ones in there where they’re going to slip in there and be threes (sub-4-second runs), but if you can be a short 4, there’s a chance to place.” That’s exactly what he did, stopping the clock in 4.3 seconds to collect $2,717. He has earned $75,000 so far in Las Vegas, and he’s seeking more. “We could maybe clean it up a little bit and place higher, but for the way that tonight did, we’ll just take the place we got,” he said. “You’ve got to take whatever steer you get and wo what you can with them. We’ll have to watch the video back and see if there is anything we could do to have sped them up. We knew that steer ran a lot and was going to try on the ground, so we needed to get a start and max him out and get a chunk of the round.” In an event that takes place in mere seconds, there are technical aspects all competitors make to speed up the process. Canadian Scott Guenthner won the round but was half a second faster. He earned $31,000 more than Struxness. The Minnesota cowboy, now living in Texas, was saddled with a no-time on Night 1, but he has bounced back and placed in four of the next five rounds – he was just two-tenths of a second out of placing Monday night. He made up ground Tuesday, though. “I felt like I was fairly aggressive at the better, and then that steer was just trying down the pen,” he said. “The horses were good and (hazer) Matt (Reeves) was up there doing his job, and we made a pretty decent run on the ground. “It’s what we could do on the steer for the night, and we landed in there to catch some money, so we’ll take it.”

LAS VEGAS – The pressure that builds during the National Finals Rodeo is like no other event in the sport. There’s an incredible purse, family cheering, friends cheering, fans with expectations. There’s also the dream of owning a Montana Silversmiths gold buckle, and for those in contention, that just adds to it all. Coleman Proctor is figuring out how to control his pressure valve when he is in Las Vegas, but there’s one aspect of it he can’t deny. “I’m just excited that I finally got a go-round win out here, because this Stella Proctor has gotten so mad each and every night,” he said of his 7-year-old daughter, the oldest of three girls he has with his wife, Stephanie. “She said, ‘I’m just disappointed in you, Daddy.’ I’m like, ‘But, baby, we still won.’ “And she goes, ‘You didn’t win first, and we don’t get to go on that party bus.’ ” That bus is what carries Proctor and his family from the Thomas & Mack Center to the South Point Hotel and Casino for the nightly go-round buckle presentation. After Proctor and his heeler, Logan Medlin, stopped the clock in 3.5 seconds to win Wednesday’s seventh round, the party started. “We’re fixin’ to go get that party bus and head to the South Point,” he said. Proctor and Medlin placed in the first, second and sixth rounds before taking the top honors on Night 7. That was worth $33,687 and increased their Las Vegas cash to $80,634 apiece. They suffered no-times in the third and fifth rounds, but they sit ninth in the aggregate race. Only the top eight places in the 10-round cumulative score will win a bonus Saturday night, but they still have three nights to make something happen. They worked their way back into the money Tuesday by placing in a tie for sixth in the round. That may have been the catapult they needed. “When we bounce back with any kind of a check out of this place, it’s huge,” said Proctor, who is fourth in the heading world standings with $236,435. “It was a good moment for us to be back in the winning column. You’re going again. Sometimes every cut starts with a little nick, so that was our little nick (Tuesday) night that got this going for us. “Now, we’re back with them with a lot of confidence, and we both know where we’re at. We’re aware of the situation. We’ve done this game long enough; we know we’ve got to win.” While Proctor and Medlin are the face of their franchises, both have teams of people in their corners. For Proctor, it starts with family and shifts to his ace in the hole, Tiffany Wagner, who takes care of many details, maybe the biggest of which is getting his horse, Heisman, ready for each round. “I have a beautiful wife that I’m very blessed that I got to marry the love of my life, then I’ve got three wonderful daughters, and I’ve got her mother and our cousin, Amy, out here helping with the girls,” said Proctor of Pryor, Oklahoma. “We’ve got Tiffany, and she’s a rock star. She’s kind of the glue that holds this whole thing together for us. “Without them, I wouldn’t be here, and I’m so appreciative of each and every one of them. They give me so much of their time, and they sacrifice. That’s such a valuable resource. I’m so honored they’re going to give it up for me to let me chase this dream.”

LAS VEGAS – Frontier Rodeo’s Full Baggage is a two-time Bareback Horse of the Year and is still bucking at the National Finals Rodeo at 22 years of age. Bradlee Miller is a year younger than the titan, but the two matched together like veterans for 88.5 points during Wednesday’s seventh round of the National Finals Rodeo to win the night and add to Miller’s incredible NFR pocketbook. It was the third round win for the Huntsville, Texas, cowboy, at his first NFR, and another $33,687 pushed his Las Vegas earnings to $178,436. He is second in the world standings with $315,801, trailing only Rocker Steiner on the money list. What might be the most telling of all is that he’s done all this after suffering a neck injury on the fifth night of this championship. “Uncomfortable might be an understatement,” he said, his head tilted toward his right shoulder to show just how much pain he was actually experiencing. “I’m ready to go to the locker room and lay down in the corner for a little bit. When they rush you up tomorrow, I’ll be ready to go.” His spectacular run through the first seven nights of ProRodeo’s grand finale has put the Western world on notice. In addition to pushing himself into the world-championship picture among the top 15 bareback riders, Miller is also second in the NFR’s Top Gun race, which will reward the single-event contestant who earns the most money over the 10-day championship. Barrel racer Kassie Mowry holds a lead of just less than $20,000 over Miller. She is fourth in the barrel racing aggregate race, which could be worth another $41,000 when the NFR concludes Saturday night. For his part, Miller is fifth in the bareback riding average. That bonus would be just shy of $30,000 if he is to maintain that position. “I’m just taking it day by day,” said Miller, a senior on the Sam Houston State University rodeo team, which is coached by his father, Bubba. “I’m trying not to think too much about the big picture. This sport’s about eight seconds at a time.” His neck injury may be painful, but he’s been able to deal with it because of the help of the Justin Sportsmedicine Team, a group of athletic trainers and doctors dedicated to assist rodeo athletes. They travel across the country caring for cowboys and cowgirls, and the team has a large contingent in Las Vegas to care for the 120 contestants in the competition. “The sports medicine team has helped me a lot by feeling good before I get on,” Miller said. “Before I get down in that chute, I’m feeling nearly 100 percent. It’s just after where it gets me.” Just in time for Christmas, Miller’s biggest present this December is pain management, and he’s handling it the best way he can.

LAS VEGAS – It’s hard to not be frustrated when things aren’t going right. Richmond Champion has battled that during his ninth National Finals Rodeo. He’s been angered to a point but continued to remind himself that he’s earned the right to be in Las Vegas for the 10-round affair and that some things are just out of his control. “Now, we’re rolling,” said Champion, who scored 85 points on Wayne Vold Rodeo’s True Grit to finish fourth in Wednesday’s seventh round to earn $14,127 – it was his first payday since receiving a $10,000 qualification bonus. “It’s been a very long week up to this point, but also a very short week where you feel like you’re just trying to hang on to time and slow things down. You want to go back and have things be different. Meanwhile, it’s doing Vegas things, and it’s rolling by faster than ever, and it felt so good just to break the ice.” With is, he moved up one spot to 14th in the world standings with $153,092. Every streak starts with one, so he’s hoping to cash in over the final three nights of the season. He’s in Sin City to handle business, but sometimes the register doesn’t ring as much as he’d like. “I’m so happy, and that’s the first thing me and (wife) Paige talk about every morning,” said Champion of Stevensville, Montana. “The plan is working. I feel like I’m riding at my best, and I just haven’t really drawn the right horses. Sometimes luck isn’t on your side, but they give you 10, so it can’t be like that 10 times in a row.” Over his trips to the NFR, Champion has had similar moments. In his first qualification a decade ago, he didn’t earn a payday until the fifth round but still earned more than $100,000 over the final six nights. “It can go a lot of different ways,” he said, noting that several in Las Vegas have asked about his situation and asking what’s behind his struggles. “We get dealt 10 cards, every single one of us. Sometimes they’re a flop. That’s what they were for me. This is the most competitive the sport’s ever been.” “It’s the best horses that have ever been. There’s always going to be a top and a bottom when you bring in the very best. As much as there were times where I was just so frustrated, I couldn’t see that. I’ve had those moments, but it’s going to turn. Those great horses are also here for me; it’s not just everybody else. I’m just doing my job, so it’s going to come together.” Champion has had some considerable history on True Grit, and that was a strong factor in how they both performed Wednesday. “That was the sixth time I got on her,” he said. “She’s just super solid. You just have so much confidence in them that they’re going to do their job, and all you have to do is yours, because they’re definitely going to take care of their end.”

LAS VEGAS – Professional athletes have been known to play with pain. Bareback rider Weston Timberman is proving that during his first National Finals Rodeo. “In the second round, I acquired some pretty gnarly forearm splits; it’s like shin splits in your forearm,” said Timberman, 20, of Columbus, Montana. “It’s been a pretty serious thing for me the last couple of rounds, but it’s just something you’ve got to really fight through and deal with. “At the end of the day, you’ve still got a bucking horse to ride, and that’s what we’re doing.” His mental game is a big reason why he scored 86 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Fox Hole Gunner, good enough for third place during Wednesday’s seventh round and worth $20,104. He’s ridden seven broncs for a cumulative score of 593.5 points and is third in the aggregate race. He’s collected $77,918 in Las Vegas, and if his status in the average holds up could add another $55,000 when Saturday’s final round ends. Fox Hole Gunner has been selected to perform at the NFR two times. The 11-year-old gray bronc is part of the “semi-eliminator pen” of bucking horses, and the animal proved his place in the round. “I’ve seen that horse a couple of times, and I knew that if he did his job, it was going to be a big score,” said Timberman, a two-time intercollegiate titlist at Clarendon (Texas) College who earned the PRCA Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year title in 2024. “I was just going to have to match him.” He’s sixth in the world standings with $232,017. He was hoping that match-up would be worth a first-place payday, but he understands just how difficult it is to win rounds in Las Vegas. He won the title on opening night and has now placed four times in seven days. “You can’t be too mad when you’re making $20,000 in a night,” he said with a grin. To score big at the NFR, it takes extreme talent, a good match via the random draw and a little bit of luck. For Timberman, he’s having to administer a mental pain block to make sure he’s at peak form. He’s chasing every dollar the City of Entertainment has to offer. “I think I’ve come out here proving my point, and I’m just here to take one horse at a time, keep doing my job and keep chasing that (world) title,” Timberman said. “It’s not over until it’s over, and I feel like I still have a pretty good shot.”

LAS VEGAS – Sometimes the penny slots cans still offer nice rewards. After failing to find the pay window for three rounds at the National Finals Rodeo, bareback rider Cole Franks pulled the handle on an old campaigner and came up winner. It may not have been three 7s as he’d hoped, but his 84.5-point ride on Rafter G Rodeo’s Ankle Biter helped him to a $4,709 payday for finishing in a three-way tie for fifth place in Wednesday’s seventh round. “I got on him in the second round the last time I was here in 2022,” said Franks of Clarendon, Texas. “I was one point higher than I was the first time I got on him, but I placed both times.” He has ridden seven broncs for a cumulative score of 596 points and is second in the aggregate race, just a point and a half behind the leader, reigning world champion Keenan Hayes. Franks has earned just shy of $70,000 at this year’s NFR and is eighth in the world standings with $209,000.  “That horse leaves (the chute) a little funky,” Franks said. “He leaves hard and a little back and forth, which is kind of hard to keep up with. Then once he starts angling to the left, it’s a lot of fun. It’s hard, but it’s still a lot of fun. I really didn’t know what he was going to do, because every now and then, he’ll turn back and spin like a bull almost.” Did having familiarity with Ankle Biter help? “It depends on the horse, but it’s a lot better going in knowing what the horse is, knowing how it fit and how it feels,” he said. “I’d never been on my first five horses before, and it keeps you guessing. You don’t know what to expect. I’ve been on these last two horses before, so it’s a little better going into it.” That hasn’t really seemed to matter to Franks. He’s been consistent through seven nights, and he has three more rounds in this 2024 ProRodeo season to see what will happen. It’s all part of the process. His goal is to continue to remain on task. Winning the average championship would add more than $86,000 to his pocketbook and provide him with the second-most prestigious title in ProRodeo. “It’s just a matter of staying consistent and trying to take advantage of situations when I can,” said Franks, the bareback riding and all-around intercollegiate champion and the PRCA Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year in 2021. “You just take each round for what it is and see where it all falls.”

LAS VEGAS – The race for a world championship is more of a marathon, a year-long battle that began in October 2023. The track meanders across North America at outposts like Gillette, Wyoming; Salinas, California; and Regina, Saskatchewan. Those are just a few of the places Wyatt Casper won titles in 2024, and they’re a big reason why he’s in the hunt for a world championship at this year’s National Finals Rodeo. The finish line is Las Vegas, and the competitors are on the final straightaway with a Montana Silversmiths gold buckle in sight. He’s second in the world standings with $332,837, about $45,000 behind two-time titlist Ryder Wright, but Casper has an ace up his sleeve; he leads the aggregate race with a seven-ride cumulative score of 600.5 points. Casper added to that Wednesday night, riding Beutler & Son Rodeo’s Foul Motion for 87 points to finish in a three-way tie for second. That was worth more than $20,000, and it pushed his NFR earnings to $113,054. He owns a 6.5-point aggregate leader over a couple of Canadians, Zeke Thurston and Dawson Hay. The average winner will add more than $86,000 when Saturday’s 10th round concludes. “It’s pretty cool to have so much won by now,” said Casper of Miami, Texas. “I’m just enjoying it. I’m trying to not let the pressure get to me. I try not to get all caught up in the hopping and hollering. I just try to take it one horse at a time, and the cards will fall where they’re going to fall.” Making significant rides on a horse like Foul Motion is a big step in the process. The animal’s sire was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2019. “I’ve seen him a bunch, and this is my fourth time getting on him,” Casper said. “It felt really good. That’s a bucking sucker. He was a little tougher than I’ve had him in the past, but every time that dud’s going to fire, so it was a lot of fun.” Until it wasn’t. After the ride, the cowboy got off on the pickup man, but when he settled into the dirt, Casper sprained his left ankle. He has received treatment by the Justin Sportsmedicine Team and will continue to battle for the final three nights of the 2024 campaign. He’ll push the pain aside and focus on the business of winning rodeo’s gold. “I’ve been in positions like this before,” he said. “I do this day in and day out rodeoing all year. You just try not to make it more than what it is.”

LAS VEGAS – Through the first five nights of ProRodeo’s grand finale, first-year player Bradlee Miller has felt the ups and downs that come with riding bareback horses at an elite level. He’s won two go-rounds outright and placed in two others, but getting on consecutive bucking broncs can be tortuous, especially in his specific event. Cowboys wear specially designed with binds on the edges, then they wedge them into a rigging that is strapped tightly to the horse. Every bucking motion the horse does puts pressure on each man’s hand, elbow, shoulder and neck. Add the pressure of riding the best horses from this year, the jarring power can be felt in every bone, every muscle. Miller experienced that a bit Monday night while competing in the fifth round of the National Finals Rodeo. He rode J Bar J Rodeo’s Straight Stick for 89 points to finish fourth, worth $14,127, but he also felt the tingling sensation of a pinched nerve in his neck, what athletes and describe as a burner. He spent time with the Justin Sportsmedicine Team following his ride to make sure his body is ready for the final five nights of this 10-round title bout in the Nevada desert. He’s made a significant move since he arrived, having earned $118,125 so far. He’s moved seven spots to fourth place in the world standings with $225,490. At just 21 years of age, Miller has proven his resiliency. After finishing 28th in the world standings in 2023 in his rookie campaign, he found some big wins and earned a lot of paychecks during his sophomore season in ProRodeo. Unlike other professional sports, rodeo cowboys can compete at both the intercollegiate level and the professional level at the same time. Miller is a senior on the Sam Houston State University rodeo team, which is coached by his father, Bubba. He’s earned three straight qualifications to the College National Finals Rodeo and is one his way to another trip to Casper, Wyoming, next June, sitting atop the Southern Region bareback riding standings with five events remaining in the spring semester. Alas, his focus this week is staying healthy and cashing in on as many opportunities as possible. It’s a rugged 10 days in Sin City, but it’s worth it.

LAS VEGAS – Over his five qualifications to the National Finals Rodeo, Wyatt Casper has developed a bit of a routine. He enjoys spending time with his family and also has NFR and sponsor appearances, where he signs autographs and meets with fans. It’s there that he gains a true understanding of what’s special about rodeo. “It’s pretty cool,” said Casper of Miami, Texas. “You wouldn’t think anybody would even know you, but it’s pretty cool to go in there and have people tell you how good you’re doing. I enjoy it because rodeo is all about the fans. We wouldn’t have a sport without the fans.” There are about 17,000 who crowd into the Thomas & Mack Center each night, but there are more than 100,000 folks in Las Vegas per day just for the rodeo and to experience the cowboy culture in the City of Entertainment. It’s a sought-after ticket for the fans, and Casper is putting on quite a show. He has placed five straight nights, most recently in Tuesday’s sixth round by finishing in a tie for second place after posting an 86.5-point ride on Outlawbuckers Rodeo’s Little Muffin, worth $23,364. “I’ve had Little Muffin out here before, and, shoot, this is probably the fifth time I’ve been on Little Muffin,” he said. “It’s a really good horse. This was our nice horses tonight, kind of the weaker ones the whole week, but you’ve still got to treat them all the same.” His mindset is working. Casper has ridden six horses for a cumulative score of 513.5 points. He is first in the aggregate race by two seconds over the field and has pocketed $92,769 so far. He’s fourth in the world standings with $313,553. “It’s always nice to collect those top-three checks,” said Casper, the 2016 intercollegiate champion while attending Clarendon (Texas) College. “Anytime you can do anything in a day for $20,000, that’s pretty dang nice.” With rounds paying so much, the Texas cowboy is holding his focus per night. He understands that he can make a ton of money each of he four nights, but doing well in the aggregate race is also vital when competing for a world championship. The average winner will be awarded a bonus of $86,391 when the NFR concludes Saturday night. “I’m just trying to take it horse by horse,” he said. “It’s nice to look at that and see I do have a little bit of a lead (in the average), but I’m not ever going to safety up. I’m going to just treat every single horse like I’m trying to win the round. “I think that’s where you can stub your to is when you start thinking about the average and maybe trying to stay on your horse instead of riding them.” Casper is $45,000 behind the money-list leader, two-time world champion Ryder Wright, but there’s a lot of money remaining in the round payouts. Wright has also had a no-score and is not in the aggregate picture just yet, so it could all come down to who has the best final four rounds. After two years of struggling through injuries prior to the NFR, he is healthy and ready to race toward the finish. “I feel good, and I got to treat this fall how I wanted to instead of being hurt,” Casper said. “I got to get on all the practice horses I wanted. I enjoy not having a torn hamstring.”

LAS VEGAS – When things get rolling in this city, it goes fast. Take Tuesday’s sixth round of team roping at the National Finals Rodeo. Five of the 15 tandems posted runs of 3.8 seconds or faster, which is lightning quick, especially considering there are five elements involved: a header, a heeler, two horses and a steer. J.C. Yeahquo and his heeler, Buddy Hawkins, stopped the clock so fast that ProRodeo officials questioned Yeahquo’s release point. A header must be outside the timed-event box before he can release his rope. Instant replay was used, and the judges said no infraction took place. The result: The clock stopped in 3.6 seconds. The funny thing is, Yeahquo and Hawkins settled to tie for second place with reigning world champions and standings leaders Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp. Brenten Hall and Kaden Profilli won the round with a 3.5. “We had a good steer,” said Yeahquo, 24, of Stephenville, Texas. “They put No. 60 on the best one, and I guess that’s the one we had. We just took advantage of the steer and were able to be fast enough on him.” While he didn’t win the round, the money for their feat was still outstanding. He earned $23,364 and has collected just shy of $80,000 during his stay in Las Vegas. After being saddled with a no-time in the first round and suffering a five-second penalty on Night 2, Yeahquo and Hawkins have placed in four straight nights. They have a cumulative time of 26.8 seconds on five qualified runs and have jumped to fourth in the aggregate race. The average winners in each event will earn a bonus of more than $86,000 when the NFR concludes. Should Yeahquo remain fourth through Saturday night, he will add nearly $41,000. He’s already moved up to fifth in the world standings with $206,115. “I try to just let my instincts take over and go from there,” Yeahquo said of his solid performances. “I try not to plan too much. I just try to rope and have fun. I don’t even know the numbers (of the steer) or anything like that. I think all (the steers) are pretty good, so I’m jut taking advantage. “These were our best steers, the softer set. When you have a set of steers like that and they’re all going to naturally do the same thing and just be medium speed, time times are going to be fast like that.” He has found a rhythm, which is important at ProRodeo’s grand finale. This is a tough place to play the game, especially with the pressure to perform that’s on every contestant. Yeahquo isn’t responding like a first-timer to the NFR. “I think we’re just rolling with the flow,” he said. “I think missing the first one probably helped me. I think if I had started out catching, I would have just been trying to play along rather than trying to win money every night.” Everything is clicking for Yeahquo and Hawkins, and there are still four more nights of chances before them.

LAS VEGAS – Anybody that’s been to this desert city understands that three days in Las Vegas can be really long. That’s been the case for team roping header Coleman Proctor. After placing in the opening two rounds, he and his partner, Logan Medlin, experienced a three-day drought of reaching the pay window at the National Finals Rodeo. That stretch included no-times in Rounds 3 and 5 and a seventh-place finish on the fourth night – only the top six in a round earn money. Proctor and Medlin found a few drops of water during Tuesday’s sixth go-round, stopping the clock in 4.0 seconds to finish in a tie for sixth place worth $2,717. It increased his NFR earnings to $47,000; he sits sixth in the heading world standings with $202,738. “It’s good to be back winning, even if it was only $2,700,” said Proctor of Pryor, Oklahoma. Money is the name of the game in the City of Lights, and it’s not just at the casinos. This is rodeo’s richest rodeo and a chance at big things over 10 days. Proctor and Medlin have earned less money by winning rodeos across the country in their chase to qualify for the NFR. Expectations are high, but professional athletes understand the stakes. Their Tuesday time would have won the fourth round and helped them finish higher in the money in most rounds. As the second team competing, they took a quick lead, then watched as five teams posted runs of 3.8 seconds or better. The NFR is a championship event in every sense of the word. It’s world-class competition on the sport’s biggest stage, with only 15 teams competing each of the 10 days. Only one team has had times in all six rounds, because strange things happen in the Thomas & Mack Center. “I’m just really grateful to be here,” Proctor said. “This is an amazing experience that we get to do. You have to tip your hat to the competition. It was such a great night for team roping, one of those nights when it’s fun to watch and tough to beat.” He remains in the hunt for two world championships in the heading and all-around races. He is third in the all-around behind tie-down roper Shad Mayfield and heeler Junior Nogueira, but there are four rounds remaining in the season. Anything can happen at the NFR, which is another reason why Proctor is continuing to push the envelope.

LAS VEGAS – The 2024 ProRodeo Rookies of the Year were recognized during Tuesday’s sixth round of the National Finals Rodeo, and Weston Timberman’s smile shined inside the Thomas & Mack Center. He earned the bareback riding rookie title this season long before he arrived in town to compete at ProRodeo’s championship. On opening night, he proved his place among the sport’s elite by winning the round. He placed again in Sunday’s fourth round, then earned his third check in six nights Tuesday. Timberman rode Diamond G Rodeo’s Good Girl for 86 points to finish sixth on Night 6, pushing his NFR earnings to $57,814. He has a cumulative score of 507.5 points and is fifth in the aggregate race. If he were to hold that position through the final four nights of the campaign, he will add a bonus of $29,340. He is seventh in the world standings with $211,914, which is a pretty salty way to continue his inaugural season in ProRodeo.

LAS VEGAS – Bradlee Miller barely cracked a smile. His head tilted toward the right, the pain resonating from his neck and shoulder was visible to everyone who saw him. His Monday night ride caused the issue, originally diagnosed as a burner, a pinched nerve in the neck. An MRI taken Tuesday was inconclusive, so Miller rode again. He may be in pain, but he didn’t show it for that 8 seconds he was in the arena during Tuesday’s sixth go-round of the National Finals Rodeo. He matched moves with Harper & Morgan Rodeo Co.’s Sippin Firewater for 87.5 points to finish second and pocket another $26,624. “Cole Franks actually had that horse at his house for a long time before it went on the truck with Harper & Morgan Rodeo Co., and he showed me a few tricks on how to get her to settle down,” said Miller, who has earned just shy of $145,000 in six nights in Las Vegas. “The only problem with that horse is she can get a little antsy and want to be a goofball and buck in the chute. I just scratched her under the chin, and it chilled her out.” It worked, and Miller increased his 2024 salary to $282,114. He is third in the world standing and just $30,000 behind the leader, fellow Texan Rocker Steiner. “It would have been a lot more fun if I was completely healthy,” said Miller of Huntsville, Texas. “I have some stuff going on between my neck and my shoulder in my riding arm, and it definitely makes it a lot more of a fight than it should have been. “I feel like I’m up for the fight. Whenever you enter the bareback riding, you have to be.” In the interim, he will continue to seek treatment from the trainers and doctors in the Justin Sportsmedicine room at the Thomas and Mack Center. The Justin crew works with rodeo athletes all year and have specialists to help with all sorts of injuries. The plan is to continue on for the final four nights of the 2024 campaign and see how everything adds up. “That’s more money than I’ve ever seen before,” Miller said. “It’s unreal how much this rodeo pays. I think $140,000 during the regular season seems like a lot of money, but by the time you have to charter planes and do all the traveling we do, there’s not as much left over as most people would figure. “To be able to come here for 10 days and make some money, it’s definitely a lot more profitable.”

LAS VEGAS – Call it good fortune or willing things to happen, but Wyatt Casper is still climbing the ladder that is the National Finals Rodeo. After failing to place on opening night, he has collected nearly $70,000 in Las Vegas money by placing four straight nights, most recently finishing in a tie for fifth place during Monday’s fifth round. He rode Summit Pro Rodeo’s Cat Walk for 87.5 points and earned $7,063, increasing his annual earnings to just shy of $290,000. In a round that featured four cowboys with scores even higher, it was an electric night of saddle bronc riding inside the Thomas and Mack Center. “Yeah, I’m just lucky to get a check,” said Casper of Miami, Texas. “You put that pen of horses together, it’s not going to take very many points to separate first to sixth.” He is fourth in the world standings and trails the leader, two-time world titlist Ryder Wright, by $67,000. It may seem insurmountable to some, but that’s never the case at the NFR, where go-round winners will collect more than $34,000 per night. Casper also has an ace up his sleeve in Sin City; he has ridden five horses for a cumulative score of 427 points. He’s No. 1 in the aggregate race, and the bonus for winning the average is more than $86,000.  “I’ve never really had to think about the average very much,” he said. “Coming out there, I think you need to be up there high in the average to have a chance to win the world title, so it’s pretty well on my mind every day to ride every horse as good as I can and to stay in it.” Having horses like Cat Walk helps. While each of the five pens of livestock are set up to be as even as possible, there are some animals that stand out a little more. Casper had ridden the big bay before, and that history played a role in his success on Night 5 in Las Vegas. “That horse has been phenomenal all year,” Casper said. “I felt like I rode him as good as I could. He must have just gotten a little soft at the end, because it felt like he started out really good and fired out of there, hit and came right down the chutes like you want them.” He holds just a half-point lead in the aggregate race over Canadian Dawson Hay, but anything can happen during the second half of ProRodeo’s grand finale. The goal now is for Casper to continue to hope the random draw works in his favor and for him to take advantage of it. “In every pen out here, there’s a top and a bottom,” he said. “We’ve still got to draw them top six horses to be successful.” Only the best men are in this field, and Casper has proven his place among the elite.

LAS VEGAS – J.C. Yeahquo is learning how to handle his business, and that’s an important part of ProRodeo. As a team roping header competing at his first National Finals Rodeo, he’s put on blinders and is staring straight ahead. He’s not affected by the pomp and circumstance of this major event or all that goes into it. Meet with fans? He loves it. Visit with potential sponsors? He’s good with it. When he arrives at the Thomas and Mack Center each night, he places his focus on the task at hand. It worked for the third straight night as he and his heeler, Buddy Hawkins, stopped the clock in 4.7 seconds to finish tied for fourth in Monday’s fifth go-round. It was worth $11,410 and has increased his Las Vegas earnings to more than $56,000. Coincidentally, that’s about what he and Hawkins each collected for their victory at RodeoHouston in March. “I haven’t even looked to see how much I’ve made or where I’m at out here,” said Yeahquo of Manderee, North Dakota, now living in Stephenville, Texas. “I’m just enjoying roping out here, so I don’t look at the standings. I’ve never really been one to just watch the standings. I think here I’m so far behind everybody else, I don’t even thing the standings really matter. “I get to just rope.” It’s working. He may not pay attention, but others are. Reigning world champions Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp have won three of five rounds and earned more than $111,000 so far, but they’ve had two no-times. Yeahquo and Hawkins have caught four of five steers and have a cumulative time of 23.2 seconds. They are fifth in the aggregate race. If they remain in that position for five more rounds, they’ll each add a $29,340 bonus. If they move up one spot, it increases by $11,000. The stakes are high at the NFR. Yeahquo is sixth in the world standings with $182,751. By not paying much attention to all that, he is in the right frame of mind. “I think it keeps me just wanting to rope the cow and be fast and win money every time rather than looking to see if I need to just catch or go fast and try to make something out of nothing,” he said. “I don’t want to be trying to be fast on a steer that’s not going to let me be fast because I need to be earning more money to get to a higher spot.” The arena is pretty tiny. Unlike big pens like Cheyenne, Wyoming, or Pecos, Texas, the Thomas and Mack’s dirt is roughly the same shape and dimensions of a hockey rink. That allows for some really fast times, but it is also a challenge. Only two of the 15 teams have stopped the clock all five rounds. “It’s such a tough game were in, and everybody is so talented with a rope,” Yeahquo said. “Everybody has such good horses that it makes it hard to win nowadays.” Yeahquo has a good one in El Chapo, a 14-year-old sorrel gelding he’s had for five years and rode his final year of high school and through college. El Chapo’s size fits the confines of the arena. “He’s pretty short-strided, and he lets me get close enough to the cow to hit him and doesn’t really get me in a tight spot where I’ve got to panic and try to make it happen,” Yeahquo said. “I don’t have to ride him much anymore, because he makes the same play every time.” He’s just another big part of a winning team.