We are another week closer to narrowing down who will be your Top 15 bareback riders that will go toe-to-toe with the best bareback horses in the world in December in Las Vegas.
Once again, the Top 5 in the world have remained unchanged with Keenan Hayes continuing to further his lead as No. 1 with an Ellensburg Rodeo win and No. 5 Clayton Biglow now within $3,000 of No. 4 Tim O’Connell.
As for your bubble watch, the rookies continue to battle while multi-time National Finals Rodeo qualifiers Tanner Aus, Taylor Broussard and Mason Clements fight for a shot to return behind the iconic yellow bucking chutes.
Here is a look at all Top 20 bareback riders in the World.
No. 6 Orin Larsen, $127,273
Larsen has chipped away at the leaderboard each week, winning just enough this past week to move up one spot. Consistency is key right now and Larsen placed fifth in both the Ellensburg Rodeo (Washington) and Walla Walla Frontier Days (Washington). An 84.5 on Brookman Rodeo’s Continental Drift was his ride in Walla Walla while it was a match up with Korkow Rodeo’s Dixies Gravy that was enough for a Go-Round payday in Ellensburg and to place him the Aggregate. In total, he made about $2,000.
No. 9 Richmond Champion, $111,711
Champion’s determination to climb the standings is paying off as he jumped from No. 13 to now No. 9 in just one week. A second-place finish at the Magic Valley Stampede (Idaho) came aboard Sankey Pro Rodeo and Phenom Genetics’ Land of Fancy and it was worth almost $3,000. From there, it was another second place finish at the Meagher County Labor Day Rodeo (Montana) and third place at the Lake County Round-Up (Oregon) that combined brought in another $5,200.
No. 14 Sam Petersen, $93,830
Also moving up one spot is the rookie from Montana. An 87-point ride on Powder River Rodeo’s Bet The Ranch kicked off Petersen’s week with a win at the Sanders County Fair and PRCA Rodeo (Montana) and it brought in his biggest payday of the week at $3,100. He kept it rolling when he placed in three more rodeos, including Round 1 of Ellensburg with an 84.5-point ride. Petersen is currently less than $200 ahead of fellow rookie Dean Thompson.
No. 16 Cole Franks, $90,832
Franks is another past NFR cowboy hoping for a chance to return, and he inches closer every week. He finished second at the Sanders County Fair and PRCA Rodeo and also placed in Round 1 of Ellensburg Rodeo and at the Iron County Fair and PRCA Rodeo (Utah). His biggest win came when he was 85.5 points to split the title the Walla Walla Frontier Days. Earning a total of $9,649 has helped him climb up three spots to sit just outside the Top 15.
| WORLD RANK | NAME | EARNINGS |
| 1. | Keenan Hayes | $225,349 |
| 2. | Leighton Berry | $152,696 |
| 3. | Kade Sonnier | $142,389 |
| 4. | Tim O’Connell | $139,095 |
| 5. | Clayton Biglow | $133,395 |
| 6. | Orin Larsen | $127,272 |
| 7. | Cole Reiner | $127,010 |
| 8. | Rocker Steiner | $126,806 |
| 9. | Richmond Champion | $111,711 |
| 10. | Kaycee Feild | $111,631 |
| 11. | Jayco Roper | $111,245 |
| 12. | Jess Pope | $110,252 |
| 13. | Tanner Aus | $110,015 |
| 14. | Sam Petersen | $93,830 |
| 15. | Dean Thompson | $93,698 |
| 16. | Cole Franks | $90,831 |
| 17. | Taylor Broussard | $89,897 |
| 18. | Mason Clements | $84,967 |
| 19. | Jacob Lees | $84,808 |
| 20. | Kody Lamb | $80,743 |
Standings current as of prorodeo.com on September, 6, 2023 at 1:45 PM EST.
