BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
- Bull rider and saddle bronc rider Stetson Wright is on quest for a $1 million and a fifth consecutive PRCA All-Around World Title. A member of one of the most prolific rodeo families of all time, Stetson Wright already has four All-Around World Titles, two Bull Riding World Titles and a Saddle Bronc Riding World Title. Last season, he broke the PRCA’s single-season earnings record with more than $800,000. On several occasions in 2023, he has stated his goal is to a win $1 million and three World Championships.
- Bareback riders Keenan Hayes and Leighton Berry are locked in a tight battle for the top spot in the PRCA World Standings. After slowly gaining on him since April, Hayes, a rookie, overtook Berry for the No. 1 spot in June. Currently, Hayes has $134,329 to his name and Berry has $126,881, no other bareback rider has made six figures.
- Second-year tie-down roper Riley Webb is lapping the field. The reigning Resistol Rookie of the Year has made $154,465 this season and the next closest cowboy is Shad Mayfield, the 2020 World Champion, at $82,967. Only three tie-down ropers in 2022 made more than $150,000 in the regular season. We have still have three full months to go.
- Winning RodeoHouston is crucial. Across all nine rodeo disciplines (team roping header and heeler standings are separate), the winner of RodeoHouston is No. 1 in the world. The $50,000 payday for the champions matches the largest in the PRCA, with The Calgary Stampede, which takes place in July, being the other one.
- More on the Texas Swing.....RodeoHouston is part of a crucial stretch in the season from January-April known as the Texas Swing. Those rodeos are the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo ($959,000 total payout), San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo ($1,353,600), RodeoHouston ($1,959,030), Rodeo Austin ($519,000) and the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo ($699,700). All five of those rodeos are among the Top 11 highest paying in the PRCA.
- And now on to 100 Rodeos in 100 Days.....This is where the season really heats up. Most cowboys and cowgirls will make anywhere from 50-75 percent of their season earnings from the middle of June until Sept. 30. It is not uncommon for athletes to compete in more than 50 rodeos during the 3 month+ extravaganza. It also means that there are several rodeos on The Cowboy Channel and The Cowgirl Channel each night all summer long.
- Barrel racer Jordon Briggs is looking to enter the NFR No. 1 for second straight year. Briggs, the daughter of four-time World Champion Kristie Peterson, is a World Champion herself, doing so in 2021. In 2022, she won RodeoHouston and stayed the top-ranked barrel racer from March all the way until the NFR in December, where she was upended by Hailey Kinsel. Kinsel, a four-time World Champion, got a big of revenge last year as she entered 2021 No. 1 when Briggs left Las Vegas with the Gold Buckle.
- Saddle bronc rider Sage Newman is continuing his regular season domination. The Montana native is currently No. 1 in the world after winning RodeoHouston for the second straight year. It’s a familiar place for him, he entered the NFR No. 1 last year by breaking the PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding regular season earnings record with more than $253,191.
- Bull riders and saddle bronc riders have gotten the biggest paydays so far this season. So far this season, a total of 10 athletes have cleared $100,000 in earnings and four of them are bull riders and four of them are saddle bronc riders. The bull riders are Ky Hamilton ($143,110), Stetson Wright ($133,513), Josh Frost ($132,840) and Jestyn Woodward ($100,702). The saddle bronc riders are Sage Newman ($136,096), Stetson Wright ($124,478), Zeke Thurston ($120,235) and Kade Bruno ($114,963).
- How the PRCA Playoff Series works....The 60 highest paying rodeos of the season make up the Playoff Rodeo Series, which is used to determine the field for the Cinch Playoffs in September. Those rodeos often have the deepest fields and pay between $154,000 and $1.91 million.
- Where the reigning World Champions stack up in 2023.....Let’s run through those who topped the mountain last year, bareback rider Jess Pope is No. 24, steer wrestler Tyler Waguespack is No. 3, header Kaleb Driggers is No. 4, heeler Junior Nogueira is No. 3, saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston is No. 3, tie-down roper Caleb Smidt is No. 37, barrel racer Hailey Kinsel is No. 8 and bull rider Stetson Wright is No. 2.
- Meet the Resistol Rookie of the Year Race leaders.....The prestigious award helps launch the rodeo careers of several athletes each year. This year’s leaders so far are Keenan Hayes in bareback riding ($134,321), Cash Robb in steer wrestling ($38,371), Cole Thomas on the head side of team roping ($26,743), Clay Clayman on the heel side ($28,418), Ryder Sanford in saddle bronc riding ($51,475), Cash Enderli in tie-down roping ($27,231), Kali McCall in barrel racing ($16,560), MaryBeth Beam in breakaway roping ($13,728) and Jestyn Woodward in bull riding ($100,702).
- The Top 5 in steer wrestling is star-studded. Dalton Massey, who has never made the NFR, is No. 1 in the PRCA World Standings, but behind him are some of the best in the world. No. 2 Jesse Brown has been to three straight NFRs with Top 6 finishes each of the last two seasons, No. 3 Tyler Waguespack is a four-time World Champion (including the last two), No. 4 Jacob Talley has two Top 7 finishes in the last three years and No. 5 Will Lummus has finished second in the world the last two seasons.
- Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira are looking to three-peat in team roping. From 2016-2019, Nogueira finished second in the world each year and Driggers was No. 2 in each of those years except 2019 (when he was No. 3). The pair finally broke through in 2021 by winning their first Gold Buckle together and went wire-to-wire to do it again in 2022. This year, they’re both in the Top 5 as they look to make it three in a row in Las Vegas.
- Rookies are finding unprecedented success in the bareback riding. In the past three seasons, only four rookie bareback riders have made the NFR. This year, there are five in the Top 15 and even more in the Top 25. They’re headlined by No. 1 Keenan Hayes, No. 7 Kade Sonnier and No. 11 Dean Thompson.