The dust has settled from the Texas Swing and several athletes have taken full advantage of the high-paying rodeos. Few had a better Texas Swing than Rider Damian Brennan, who has a strong grip on the No. 1 spot in the PRCA Saddle Bronc World Standings.
Here is a breakdown of the Top 20 in the World Standings as we near 100 Rodeos in 100 Days.
No. 1 Damian Brennan, $124,230
Damian Brennan is coming off the best year of his career, finishing No. 5 in the PRCA World Standings with just under $300,000 earned in 2023. He has continued his momentum in 2024 as he currently has a $50,000 lead in the standings thanks to an excellent Texas Swing.
Brennan has already won five rodeos this year, including RodeoHouston and the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
His first rodeo of the year was in Fort Worth where he was marked 91.5 points in the Finals and posted three total scores of 89 points or better to get the win.
In Houston, Brennan posted back-to-back rides in the 90s to get the win. He was 90 points in the Semis and 91 points in the Finals on R.Watson’s Ed Bishop
Brennan also added wins at the Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo and the Rocky Mountain Rodeo Challenge (Utah).
No. 2 Lefty Holman, $72,862
Lefty Holman may only have one rodeo win this season, but that hasn’t stopped him from being one of the top earners in the PRCA. Holman is over $72,000 on the year thanks to his consistency throughout the Texas Swing.
Holman had a great showing at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo where he placed second in the Finals with an 87-point ride. It was one of four rides at the rodeo that were 87 points or higher for Holman who earned around $20,000 at the rodeo.
RodeoHouston was similar to San Antonio for Holman. He would again place second in the Finals, this time with an 89-point ride. Holman again earned over $20,000 at the rodeo.
No. 3 Statler Wright, $71,377
The highest-ranked member of the Wright family is Statler, who currently holds the No. 3 spot in the World Standings thanks to a strong Texas Swing. Statler is up to six wins on the season, his biggest coming at La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros (Arizona), where he placed first in the Average with a score of 169 on two head.
Looking at the major Texas Swing rodeos, Wright earned around $10,000 at both the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo and the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. In Fort Worth, Wright placed in four rounds, including two round wins. His highest-marked ride came in the second round where he was 90 points. In the Finals, he was 88 points on Xplosive Skies, which was good for fourth place.
Moving to San Antonio, Wright won the opening round with an 87-point ride to earn just over $5,100. He followed that up with an 86.5-point ride in the Semis to capture another $5,000. Wright failed to place in the Finals.
No. 4 Wyatt Casper, $68,354
Wyatt Casper is off to another great start, filling the No. 4 spot in the Saddle Bronc World Standings.
Casper found success in Fort Worth thanks to a big ride in the Finals, which took his earnings from $4,000 to $12,000 on the event.
In San Antonio, he added another $8,000 as well.
No. 5 Logan Hay, $61,840
Logan Hay’s biggest win of the year came at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo where he took home the win and over $21,000 in total thanks to an 87.5-point ride in the Finals.
Hay has had a strong showing over the last few weeks as well with a third-place finish at the Clovis Rodeo (California) which earned him over $4,500 and a second-place finish in Red Bluff Round-Up (California) to earn another $6,000.
No. 6 Ryder Wright, $61,216
Ryder had a great end to his Texas Swing and beginning of the California run over the last few weeks. Wright ended the Texas Swing with a win at the San Angelo Cinch Chute-Out with an 88.5-point ride in the Finals, which won him $7,500.
Wright followed that up with a win at Clovis with an 88-point ride on Lyin’ Lunatic. That ride earned him an additional $8,900.
No. 7 Sage Newman, $56,821
Sage Newman won more than any other Saddle Bronc Rider at the San Angelo Rodeo after taking home nearly $13,000 thanks to an 87.5 and an 86.5-point ride to split first in the Average.
Newman followed that up with a win at the Angelina Benefit Rodeo (Texas) with an 89-point ride on Joker Poker to take home over $4,100.
No. 8 Kade Bruno, $54,339
Kade Bruno had a great second half of April where he earned two wins and another third-place finish. Bruno took the Clovis Rodeo with an 88-point ride on Monster which won him the rodeo and earned him nearly $9,000.
Over the same weekend as Clovis, Bruno was also crowned the champion of the Lakeside Rodeo thanks to an 85.5-point ride which earned him over $4,100.
Bruno placed third in Red Bluff a week ago which earned him over $2,500. In total, the last two weeks have made Bruno over $15,000.
No. 9 Logan Cook, $48,670
Cook made a big jump in the standings thanks to a win at the Red Bluff Round-Up where he was marked 89.5 points on Yeti Rambler. The win earned Cook over $7,800 and helped him jump inside the Top 10 in the PRCA Saddle Bronc World Standings. During the Texas Swing, Cook earned $6,000 in San Antonio and made the Finals there.
No. 10 Brody Cress, $48,065
Brody Cress did not have a big Texas Swing like we have seen from him in the past, but he remains inside the Top 10 thanks a win at the National Western (Colorado) and the Brad Gjermundson Extreme Broncs which have paid him more than $30,000 combined.
No. 11 Cole Elshere, $48,002
Elshere has three wins on the season, his most recent coming at the PRCA Xtreme Bares and Broncs (North Dakota) where he made over $9,900 thanks to an 85.5-point ride in the opening round and an 87.5-point ride in the Finals. He is looking for his first NFR since 2020.
No. 12 Parker Fleet, $45,223
Fleet had a great showing at the Clovis Rodeo where he placed third thanks to an 87.5-point ride on Flap Jack. The ride earned him a check of $4,700. That check was the first check of $1,000 or more since the beginning of March and was also his single biggest check of the season.
No. 13 Ryder Sanford, $43,527
Sanford has had a strong stretch of riding over the last two weeks, with four rides all marked 82.5 points or higher. Most recently he placed third at the Red Bluff Round-Up with an 86.5-point ride. The ride earned him over $2,600. Earlier in April, Sanford won the opening round at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo which earned him nearly $5,500.
No. 14 Zeke Thurston, $40,619
The 2023 World Champion didn’t have a big Texas Swing but remains inside the Top 15 as he looks to defend his title. Thurston’s best showing during the Texas Swing came at the
Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo where he made $16,000 thanks to a second-place finish after back-to-back rides of over 90 points.
In the Semifinals, Thruston was marked 92 points on Exotic Warrior to get the round win and $4,000. In the Finals Thurston went 90.5 points which was good for a second-place finish and an additional $12,000.
No. 15 Brody Wells, $38,709
Wells got his second win of the season in late March at the MSU-Northern PRCA Xtreme Bares & Broncs Challenge (Montana) with an 83-point ride. That ride earned him nearly $5,000. Since then he has placed second at the Clark County Fair and Rodeo Rodeo to earn over $4,600 and placed third at the Rocky Mountain Rodeo Challenge which earned him over $3,100.
No. 16 Kolby Wanchuk, $32,128
Wanchuk has not cashed a check since the Parada Del Sol (Arizona) in early March where he took home the win with an 87.5-point ride and the $2,000 check that came along with it.
No. 17 Ben Andersen, $31,739
Andersen’s best showing over the Texas Swing came at RodeoHouston where he placed in two rounds and earned over $4,000. and placed in all three rounds of his Super Series. Andersen also won more than $8,000 at the Brad Gjermundson Extreme Broncs.
No. 18 Isaac Diaz, $31,526
Diaz put together a nice stretch of riding between the end of March and mid-April. During the stretch he earned four checks of at least $1,000, the biggest coming at the Clark County Fair & Rodeo where he placed second with an 86.5-point ride to earn over $4,600.
No. 19 Riggin Smith, $30,864
Smith made a big jump in the standings in mid-April thanks to a win at the Clark County Fair and Rodeo where he was 89 points. The win earned him his biggest single paycheck of the year at just under $7,000. He also won over $6,000 for a fourth place finish in Austin and $3,600 for a round win at La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros.
No. 20 Sterling Crawley, $30,253
Sterling’s biggest payday over the Texas Swing came at Rodeo Austin where he placed in two rounds and earned $5,000 in total. Crawley has three wins in Texas this season - the ABC Pro Rodeo, the Walker County Fiar and Rodeo and the Texas Circuit Finals, the latter earned him about about $8,500 back in October of 2023.
Standings current as of prorodeo.com on May 2 at 2:00 PM EST.
