Team Roping took center stage on this week’s episode of Zero In. Here are Five Fast Facts as we get nearer to the NFR.
1. Every Team Roper on the Header at the NFR is within the average payout of each other. No. 1 and No. 15 are separated by less than $65,000. Kaleb Diggers leads the standings with 160,000 earned and Luke Brown is in 15th at just under $98,000
2. Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira are looking to win three Gold Buckles in a row as partners for the first time since Speed Williams and Rich Skelton did so from 2002 to 2004. Those three wins were part of their streak of eight Gold Buckles in a row between 1997 and 2004.
3. Colter Todd is the No. 3 Heeler in the world and this will be his first NFR appearance since finishing ninth in the world in 2008. Todd has not finished inside the top 35 since at least 2012
4. Standings leader Wesley Thorp rode 9-year-old Juiced Up Cat to more than half of his ProRodeo earnings in 2023, with the horse’s total year earnings at $143,620 Juiced Up Cat won the 2020 American Rope Hors futurity Championship and has helped Thorp earn the majority of his 172,000 on the season.
5. Kaleb Driggers leads the Heading Standings with $160,185 won on the season. He rode at least nine horses this year at official PRCA rodeos. Driggers holds a small lead of $6,000 on the head side.