Luke Branquinho suffered a gruesome hamstring injury at the beginning of the summer run, but the five-time PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler didn’t let it slow him down for long.

The Los Alamos, Calif., cowboy wrapped up his Fourth of July run over the weekend by winning the average at the 85th annual St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo. He put together a couple solid runs to finish in 8.4 seconds on two head.

“We were in a great pen of steers, and I had a great set of guys to compete against this weekend,” said Branquinho, 40. “I was on a great horse with riding Baby in St. Paul. Jacob Talley’s been riding her the last few years at the (Wrangler National Finals Rodeo). The mare’s been working awesome, I won a pile on her over the last week or so.”

In addition to his win at St. Paul, Branquinho, who won world titles in 2004, 2008, 2011-12 and 2014, also finished second at the Livingston (Mont.) Roundup Rodeo. He went into the weekend sitting 18th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $20,515, just $2,971 behind Marc Joiner for the 15th spot in the world. Branquinho’s performance at St. Paul added $7,597 to his season earnings. This Cowboy Christmas run has him in a prime spot to climb the standings.

“Obviously, anytime somebody can have a great run like that over Cowboy Christmas it’s going to help, especially being that close in the standings,” Branquinho said. “I missed over three weeks with my hamstring injury, so being able to come back strong, going to five rodeos and winning what I did over the Fourth is awesome no matter where you’re at.”

Branquinho, who said he tore his hamstring, admits the injury still bothers him at times, but he puts that to the back of his mind once he climbs aboard that horse. His only focus is getting back to the Wrangler NFR for the first time since 2015.

“You can’t worry about it, there’s nothing that you can do. Whether you’re hurt or not you have to go make your runs and give it your all no matter what,” Branquinho said. “It would mean everything to get back to Vegas. Each year I set out with the goal to make the Wrangler NFR and win a gold buckle.”

Other winners at the $326,796 rodeo were bareback rider Austin Foss (87.5 points on Flying 5 Rodeo’s Cougar Country); team ropers Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira (10.4 seconds on two head); saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston (88 points on Big Bend Rodeo’s Broken Camp); tie-down roper Haven Meged (15.9 seconds on two head); and bull rider JC Mortensen (87 points on Corey & Lange Rodeo’s Highway to Hell).

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

A few tenths of a second and just more than $3,600 is the difference between Shane Hanchey owning three gold buckles as the PRCA World Champion Tie-down Roper instead of one.

Despite winning the most money in tie-down roping at the last two Wrangler National Finals Rodeos and winning the average in 2020, Hanchey fell just short of the title in both seasons, finishing third by $2,408 in 2020 and second in 2019 by an even slimmer $1,181.

Coming that close has certainly lit a fire under the 2013 PRCA World Champion and 11-time NFR qualifier in 2021.

“I want to lie and say it doesn’t cross my mind at least once every day,” Hanchey said. “But it does.

“It gives me extra motivation because the end goal every season is to win that gold buckle.”

At this point in his highly decorated career, there aren’t many rodeo titles missing from his résumé, but Hanchey filled in one of the few holes with a win at the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz., after roping two calves in 18.4 seconds June 29. The rodeo concluded July 4.

“I think if you’d told me before the Fourth that I would only win maybe $10,000 but I’d win Prescott, I think I probably would have said, ‘I’ll take it.’ I’ve never won a dime in Prescott before,” Hanchey said. “But I’ve always seen the buckle and wanted to win one.”

Hanchey was just out of the money on his first run with a 9.3-second effort and stayed consistent with a 9.1 in round two that picked up a share of sixth. He added $5,044 to his pocketbook, pushing him over $100,000 on the season. He also maintained his lead in the ProRodeo Tour and PRCA | RAM World Standings.

Making the win sweeter for Hanchey was the fact that it was earned aboard his great horse Si, registered Simon Cow, the 2017 PRCA | AQHA Tie-down Roping Horse of the Year.

Si suffered a major injury to his left hind ankle and Hanchey turned the gelding out on pasture.

“It’s a pretty cool story . . . I’ve just brought him back after more than a year off after an injury,” Hanchey said. “We kicked him out with the broodmares and babies.”

In October 2020, Hanchey and his horseshoer were trimming horses in that pasture when Si came running up to the pair. Seeing that he appeared sound, Hanchey scheduled an appointment with his veterinarian, who confirmed the gelding had rehabilitated himself.

Hanchey began the process of getting Si back in shape, and he returned to competition at The American Semi-Finals in the breakaway roping with Hanchey’s wife, Taylor. In addition to the Prescott win, Hanchey also won the Guymon (Okla.) Pioneer Days Rodeo on Si in May.

“We just went from there (the American), and he’s gotten better and better,” Hanchey said. “He’s that kind of set-up horse … those long scores like Guymon and Prescott.

“We’re just picking the spots for him, but it’s pretty cool knowing that I can use him when I need to in those situations.”

Solid horsepower is a key part of Hanchey’s success this season – in addition to Si, he’s been riding his mare Pam Pam and TJ, a horse owned by Logan Bird.

“This whole game is confidence,” Hanchey said. “If you don’t have it, it’s hard to win. I came off a great NFR and have a lot of confidence in my horsepower. I’m in a good place mentally and physically.”

Other winners at the $268,895 rodeo were all-around cowboy Stetson Wright ($8,410, saddle bronc riding and bull riding); bareback rider Caleb Bennett (90 points on New Star Pro Rodeo’s Chosen One); steer wrestler Dirk Tavenner (9.1 seconds on two head); team ropers Derrick Begay/Cory Petska and Clint Summers/Ross Ashford (12.5 seconds on two head); saddle bronc rider Ryder Wright (89 points on Vold Rodeo’s Sun Glow); barrel racer Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi (34.68 seconds on two runs); steer roper Taylor Santos (36.0 seconds on three head); and bull rider Shawn Bennett Jr. (88.5 points on 4L & Diamond S Rodeo’s Crazy Nights).

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

The heartbreak of barely missing the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo has become a common reality for bull rider Ruger Piva.

Piva finished 17th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings the past two seasons and had to put his Wrangler NFR debut on hold.

“Being so close twice has definitely pushed me a lot harder this year,” said Piva, 26. “It can either be a negative or a positive and I’m trying to make sure it will never happen again.”

Piva is doing his best to not have his NFR bubble burst in 2021, he is sitting 13th in the world standings with $43,028.

Piva’s also been making a point to compete in the ProRodeo Tour rodeos and that decision has paid off as he’s fourth in the ProRodeo Tour standings with 2056.93 points.

“Last year right after San Antonio (in February) I was right up there in the world standings, and I went to the doctor because my hip was hurting really bad,” Piva said. “I had to have reconstructive surgery on most of the muscles on my right hip. Right when COVID hit, it kind of worked out for me, but I came back a little too soon and I had the lowest riding percentage of my career, around 30 percent, and I still almost made the NFR.”

“This year, I’m feeling healthy, that has been part of it, and I’ve just been taking every bull serious, not overlooking anything.”

Piva finished second at the San Antonio Stock & Rodeo on Feb. 27, earning a season-best $12,800.

The ProRodeo Tour is the culmination of the most prestigious tour on the PRCA circuit. The Tour finale will take place at California Rodeo Salinas, Sept. 23-26 and will punch tickets to the Wrangler NFR for a majority of ProRodeo athletes.

Something not lost on Piva.

“I have made a point to go to the ProRodeo Tour rodeos,” Piva said. “There’s going to be a lot of money there in Salinas. It is also good money at the (ProRodeo Tour) rodeos as well so it is just a win-win.”

The Top 24 competitors in each event in the ProRodeo Tour Standings advance to the Tour Finale and will compete in the high-dollar rodeo on the season’s final weekend.

“With Salinas paying a lot of money it can be the difference of a guy being 30th in the world (standings) to qualifying for the NFR if he can win Salinas,” Piva said. “I would definitely like to win it or be in one of the top places in Salinas for sure this year.”

The Tour Finale will air on The Cowboy Channel and will stream on the PRCA on Cowboy Channel Plus App. For more information, visit cowboychannelplus.com.

The ProRodeo season ends Sept. 30. The Top 15 athletes in the PRCA | RAM World Standings in each event will qualify for the Wrangler NFR.

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

Erich Rogers has been through plenty of Fourth of July runs.

The 2020 season’s Fourth run was one of the best for the 2017 team roping header world champion.

The team roping header has been a PRCA member since 2006. Last season, he and heeler Paden Bray used a Fourth of July run that garnered them $17,134 each to make a run to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

The duo then won the NFR average in Arlington, Texas, as Rogers finished third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings among headers with $175,503 and Bray second among heelers with the same amount.

Their 2020 Fourth run saw them earn more money than any other competitor regardless of event during that stretch and that was during an abbreviated version of the Fourth of July run because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was a good Fourth, we did get lucky and did well at some big ones,” Rogers. “We drew really good and placed at just about every one of them we went to. We drew really good steers and have good horses. Once you draw them and use those good ones, it makes life a little easier.”

The 2021 Cowboy Christmas is currently rolling full speed ahead

Rookie bareback rider Cole Franks is hoping to have a Fourth of July like Rogers and Bray.

Franks is leading the PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings with $25,411 and is 13th in the World Standings with the same amount.

He also won’t have to figure out how to navigate a busy Fourth. Last year, as a permit holder, Franks got into a handful of rodeos. This season, he’s going to nearly a dozen. And he’s traveling with three-time World Champion Bareback Rider Tim O’Connell and reigning NFR average champion Jess Pope.

“I’m excited,” said Franks, 20. “It’s going to be very busy. I think we’re entered in 10-12 rodeos in four days.”

It’s a bit different from a year ago.

“Last year on my permit, it was kind of three or four (rodeos) in that week over the Fourth,” he said. “I got drawn out of stuff. This is the first time I’ve actually done it, made an actual Fourth of July run.”

PRCA RODEO SCHEDULE

Recent Fourth of July Runs

Recent winners
2020: Erich Rogers/Paden Bray, TR, $17,134 each*

2019: Stetson Wright, SB, BR, $35,757

2018: Tim O’Connell, BB, $31,014

* Payouts, rodeos affected by pandemic

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

RENO, Nev. – Hunter Cure and the Reno Rodeo are a great fit.

The Holliday, Texas cowboy won the prestigious rodeo for the fourth time in his career before a sold-out crowd of 9,000 at the Reno Rodeo arena Saturday night.

Cure won the average with a 13.1-second time on three head in the ProRodeo Tour stop.

Cure secured the win with a 4.3-second run in the short-go to edge out Tyler Pearson by two tenths of a second for the title. Cure has now won Reno in 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020.

Cure, a PRCA World Champion in 2013 and 2015, has had a tough season, battling injuries all year long but he was all smiles Saturday night as he left town after earning $12,025.

“More than anything headed into the final round I knew that steer was great in the earlier rounds,” Cure said. “Tyler Pearson had a run with him first, mine wasn’t as clean of run as his by any means. He did a phenomenal job all week long, I just had a better steer tonight than he did.”

Coming into Reno, Cure was sitting 47th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $8,279. The Reno win added to the $2,745 he earned for splitting second at the Rodeo of the Ozarks in Springdale, Ark., which also concluded June 26, made it a $15,625 windfall for Cure.

“This (Reno win) has taken me from not even being able to get into the winter rodeos all the way to winning a gold buckle before,” Cure said. “So, I’ll look to try to and repeat what’s already been laid out ahead of me.”

Cure will be a busy man over the next couple of weeks, starting with the Greeley (Colo.) Stampede on Monday morning, but he says the performance at the Reno Rodeo will be one he remembers for quite some time.

“I feel like if a man was ever to leave a legacy or have a rodeo define his career it’s probably Reno for me,” Cure said. “Maybe this will put my stamp in the books here.”

Bull rider J.B. Mauney wins Reno for first time in career

There’s very little bull rider J.B. Mauney hasn’t accomplished in his career.

Now, the superstar has decided to make his mark in the PRCA.

Mauney left his stamp on the PRCA by winning the Reno Rodeo for the first time in his career Saturday night.

Mauney won the two-head average with 176 points.

“This is a big accomplishment,” said Mauney, 34. “I grew up watching Reno, and the NFR and Cheyenne and when I decided the first of this year, I was just going to strictly rodeo I wanted to come to the big ones and do good. This feels really good.”

Mauney, who was making his first appearance at the Reno Rodeo since 2009, had an 87-point ride on Bridwell Pro Rodeo’s C smoke in the short round.

“I had never seen that bull before and I didn’t know anything about him,” Mauney said. “They said he was good. That is all I knew. I do way better shooting from the hip.”

Mauney earned $20,920 for his Reno performance. He entered Reno 14th in the world standings with $35,713 and will move up near the top five after this effort.

Hooper collects bareback riding Reno championship

Tilden Hooper’s magical season continued at the Reno Rodeo.

After winning RFD-TV’s The American in March in Arlington, Texas and added a Reno win Saturday. Hooper won the average with 254.5 points on three head.

Hooper, who came into the short round as the leader, clinched the crown with his 84-point ride on Bridwell Pro Rodeo’s Ted. It was his second career Reno win.

“It was 2011 when I won it the first time and just to be able to be riding and competing at this level, I really feel thankful to do what I love.”

Hooper, who had dropped to second in the most recent world standings after holding the top spot for weeks, will move back into first with his $14,080 in Reno earnings.

Begay/Petska snare Reno title

Veteran team ropers Derrick Begay/Cory Petska teamed up a week before the Reno Rodeo.

On June 26, they walked away as the champions of the prestigious rodeo for their first time in their careers with a 16.5-second time on three head.

“We just got together,” said Begay, an eight-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier (2008-13, 2015, 2018). “Our first rodeo together was in Pleasant, Grove, Utah (June 16-19) and Reno was our fourth rodeo together. We picked a nice one to be our first win (together). This is a big accomplishment.”

They each earned $13,864 for the victory.

Begay, entered Reno 18th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $14,972, and will jump into the top 15. Petska, the 2017 PRCA World Champion heeler, competes on a limited basis and was thrilled to add the Reno win to his impressive resume.

“I won second three times here in over 20 years,” Petska said. “This (win) is really special, a dream come true. I have come here since I was a little kid watching my mom and dad and it is just amazing to win it. My career has been absolutely amazing. I have literally got to do everything I wanted to do, and I have won all the big dream rodeos, and my career has been amazing. This win seals the deal for me.”

Saddle bronc rider Tegan Smith takes Reno crown

Saddle bronc rider Tegan Smith is a rising star in the PRCA ranks and he showed why Saturday night.
Smith snared the coveted Reno Rodeo championship with 254.5 points on three head. He secured the crown with an 86-point ride on Rosser Rodeo’s California Dreamin.

“I knew that horse because my traveling partner Jake Finlay was 87 on her earlier this year and he told me she was the best feeling horse,” Smith said. “I waited all week to come back, knowing I needed that draw and it worked like a charm for me.”

The Winterset, Iowa cowboy came to Reno 13th in the world standings and will certainly move up the ladder after his big win where he earned $10,495.

Smith is trying to make the Wrangler NFR for the first time in his career.

Tie-down roper Justin Smith tops Reno field

Tie-down roper Justin Smith just missed making his Wrangler National Finals debut the past two years.

The Leesville, La., cowboy finished 17th and 18th in the world standings the past two seasons.

Smith took a big step to reaching the NFR Saturday night by winning the Reno Rodeo with a 26.7-second time on three head. He earned $13,484.

“This is the third time I have been to Reno, and I made the short round in 2019 and ended up breaking the barrier,” Smith said. “Tonight, I was just glad to get these spurs. This is definitely the biggest win of my career, and it couldn’t come at a better time starting off the summer and getting things rolling.”

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

NELSONVILLE, Ohio – Durango® Boots has been named the official boot of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association®’s (PRCA) Wrangler National Finals Rodeo® (Wrangler NFR), the richest and most prestigious rodeo in the world. The three-year partnership will elevate Durango®’s presence at the event with onsite activations including sales, promotions and giveaways.

“The Wrangler NFR draws rodeo fans from across the world to celebrate and enjoy the pinnacle of western sports,” said Mike Fuller, Durango® Vice President/General Manager. “Durango® remains committed to supporting the rodeo industry and athletes, not only through events like this, but also through our robust research and development to create and build boots that support athletes and fans alike. We are proud to be named the Official Boot of the Wrangler NFR and National Sponsor of ProRodeo.”

The 2021 event will return to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas December 2–11, with Durango’s featured night being during round eight. Throughout the week, fans can interact with Durango® brand representatives and purchase Durango products at their various retail activations at Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas and Stetson Country Christmas.

“The PRCA is proud to welcome Durango Boots as the official boot of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo® and as a national sponsor of ProRodeo,” PRCA CEO George Taylor said. “Durango Boots has a long history with ProRodeo athletes. Now, the PRCA and Durango Boots are creating history together.”

In recent years, Durango® has built a stable of Team Durango® athletes including Lisa Lockhart, Luke Brown, Paul Eaves, Ty Erickson, Shane Hanchey, Kelsie Chace, Zeke Thurston, Orin Larsen, Jeff Askey, Stevi Hillman, Riley Webb and professional rodeo announcer Garrett Yerigan. In partnership with these athletes, the brand has launched a collection of performance-driven styles for men and women, including the comfortable and durable Rebel Pro™ and Lady Rebel Pro™ collections.

For more information on the Official Boot partnership, visit durangoboots.com. To purchase tickets to the 2021 Wrangler NFR, visit NFRexperience.com.

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

The ProRodeo Tour is a lucrative venture for ProRodeo cowboys.

And cowboys like six-time PRCA World Champion Bull Rider Sage Kimzey and 2014 Tie-down Roping World Champion Tyson Durfey are well aware of that.

The combined amount of money to be paid out at this weekend’s Tour stops in Reno, Nev., Springdale, Ark., and Pecos, Texas, is expected to exceed $1 million, with the combined committee purses alone hitting $700,000. By the time the ProRodeo Tour Finale concludes in Salinas, Calif., Sept. 26, the Tour will have paid out approximately $11 million.

Some of the biggest ProRodeo Tour stops on the schedule ahead include the Calgary Stampede (July 9-18), Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days (July 24-Aug. 1) and the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up (Sept. 15-18). The ProRodeo Tour Finale is slated to take place at California Rodeo Salinas, Sept. 23-26, the final weekend of the 2021 regular season.

Cowboy Christmas follows on the heels of the big weekend. Over Cowboy Christmas (June 28-July 5), cowboys will make their way through six more Tour stops – the Greeley (Colo.) Stampede, the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz., the Cody (Wyo.) Stampede, the Livingston (Mont.) Roundup, the St. Paul (Ore.) Rodeo and the Oakley Independence Day Rodeo in Oakley City, Utah.

WATCH ON COWBOY CHANNEL, PRCA ON COWBOY CHANNEL PLUS APP

Kimzey, who won six consecutive PRCA world titles from 2014-19, understands the importance of the Tour. He finished fifth in the PRCA | RAM World Standings last year and is leading the standings now with $104,202. He’s second in the ProRodeo Tour standings behind Stetson Wright, the reigning bull riding and all-around world champion.

“The ProRodeo Tour is huge,” said Kimzey, 26. “The Tour rodeos are the rodeos I want to win. They are the majors of ProRodeo, and it’s one of those deals if a guy doesn’t do well at Tour rodeos, their season is pretty incomplete. I have always put the big rodeos that are Tour rodeos at the top of my list.”

Durfey knows how big a boost the ProRodeo Tour and Tour Finale can be. Last season, he won the Tour Finale in Rapid City, S.D., Sept. 26, to earn $8,740. That secured his 14th NFR qualification in the No. 12 position.

PRORODEO TOUR STANDINGS

“Right now, the ProRodeo Tour is probably more important than ever,” said Durfey, who is outside the top 50 in the world standings. “It puts an even-bigger emphasis of doing well at rodeos like Reno and Cheyenne or Salinas to get that huge bump because it takes a huge bump like that to make the NFR. I really think the way to the Finals is through the big rodeos, and it is great to get to the Tour Finale because of the timing of that rodeo late in the (regular season).”

The Top 24 competitors in each event in the ProRodeo Tour Standings advance to the Tour Finale and will compete for their share of prize money at the high-dollar rodeo. The Tour Finale at California Rodeo Salinas will crown the ProRodeo Tour champions.

The Finale’s significant payout, which will be a record amount, will come on the season’s final weekend and will play a pivotal role in determining the Top 15 in the world standings to catapult athletes into the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

Bareback rider Tilden Hooper is leading the PRCA | RAM World Standings and searching for his first world title.

Dakota Eldridge is a six-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier and trying to make a seventh trip to the Finals, sitting 10th in the world standings as of June 15. He too is looking for his first gold buckle.

But both cowboys are experiencing a different kind of first on Sunday, June 19, a first Father’s Day as a dad.

Hooper and his wife, Melissa, will be celebrating with their son, Tell McLain, who was born in January.

“I don’t feel pressure to provide as much as I feel pressure to be a good father and husband,” Hooper told ProRodeo Sports News recently.

Eldridge and his wife, Quincy, will be getting ready to celebrate their daughter’s first birthday as the 2021 regular season winds up its final month. Sally Lou will be 1 in September, and Eldridge is finding it harder to leave his little girl.

“Everybody tells you how babies will soften you up and it gets harder to leave,” he said in an interview with PSN. “It wasn’t that big of a deal at first, but now she has a personality and is almost walking. She knows who you are now, so it is tough to take off.”

To read more about Hooper and Eldridge and Father’s Day, check out the June 11, 2021, edition of ProRodeo Sports News.

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

The Reno Rodeo is back and better than ever in 2021. Last year’s even was canceled due to the coronavirus but the Reno Livestock Event Center is ready to welcome back cowboys in full force this week.

The 10-day event begins June 17 with the Division 1 Xtreme Bulls event, with $54,000 added money. The Reno Rodeo Xtreme Bulls and the Reno Rodeo, which runs from June 18-26, will be broadcast live on The Cowboy Channel, and streamed on the PRCA on the Cowboy Channel Plus App at 10 p.m. (EDT).

WATCH ON THE COWBOY CHANNEL PLUS APP

Sage Kimzey, the 2019 Reno Xtreme Bulls and Reno Rodeo champ, is back to defend his titles.

“It’s always a great event and it kind of starts our whole summer run off,” said Kimzey, who will be up at the Reno Rodeo June 21. “So, everybody is always looking forward to Reno. If you can do good at Reno it sets you up, it fuels you to have a successful summer. “

Kimzey, a six-time world champion (2014-2019) currently sits atop the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $91,189.

“Reno always has good crowds, and they bring the energy from the very beginning of each performance,” Kimzey said. “So, we’re definitely excited for that.”

Kimzey won’t be the only former champ returning to the Silver State this week.

Bareback rider Clayton Biglow, who won Reno in 2016 and the world title in 2019, is thrilled to be back in Reno, which is three hours from his home in Clements, Calif.

“Reno has a special place in my heart, I grew up just right over the hill from Reno, I’ve been going there since I was a kid,” he said. “It’s not a hometown rodeo, but it sure does feel like one. I have a ton of friends and family who show up.”

CHECK OUT PRCA | RAM WORLD STANDINGS

Biglow sits third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $52,507, coming off a second-place finish at Riggin Rally Xtreme Broncs bareback riding event in Darby, Mont., June 6.

“I feel great coming into this week, I have a couple of good ones drawn there, so I’m definitely looking forward to it,” Biglow said.

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.

Twenty-two-year-old, Coleman, Texas, cowboy Walt Arnold found himself in a groove over the weekend at the Gladewater (Texas) Round-Up Rodeo.
 
He clocked a 3.3-second run to earn the steer wrestling title, which also moved him into a tie for second for the fastest steer wrestling time in 2021. Denell Henderson also posted a 3.3 over the week, doing it at the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo June 8.
 
“I tell you what, I was pretty pumped after it, “Arnold said. “It looked like it could be pretty fast, I caught up to him in a really good spot to get the job done.”

RELATED: 2021 Leaderboard 
 
He took home $2,591 for the win, bumping him up to 32nd in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. The win moves his yearly total to $10,857. He hopes this run can jumpstart his season as he works towards qualifying for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. 
 
“I’ve started riding Hunter Cure’s horses a little bit here before we leave for the summer, and it’s kind of nice to have a run like that,”Arnold said. “It definitely built my confidence and kind of got me fired up a little bit. We’re about to have a heck of a couple weeks, so it’s nice to get the ball rolling before we head out.”
 
He still has some work to do though to reach that Top 15. Riley Duvall is sitting in 15th with $17,619.
 
Below, are the other top times and rides for the week.
 

• Seth Hardwick posted the highest bareback ride of the week, recording a 90-point ride on Macza Pro Rodeo’s Ols Tubs Stevie Knicks in Weatherford, Texas, June 11.

• The team roping duo of Cash Duty and Boogie Ray wrapped up the Johnson County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo in Cleburne, Texas, with a run of 3.9 June 9. But not to be outdone, Britt and Jake Smith recorded the exact time later that day.

• Shorty Garrett put together another impressive performance last week. He won the Fallon County Xtreme Broncs in Baker, Mont., with a 90.5-point ride on Outlawbuckers Rodeo’s Magic Carpet June 10.

• Shad Mayfield had the top tie-down roping time on the week, finishing with a time of 7.5 seconds  in Gladewater June 11.

• Carlee Otero posted the best barrel racing time of the week, finishing with a time of 14.88 seconds to claim the Johnson County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo title on June 10.

• Martha Angelone continues to shine in the lady’s breakaway roping. Last week, she had a 1.9-second run to win the Cleburne Breakaway Roping.

• J.B. Mauney scored a 90.5-point ride on United Pro Rodeo’s The Duke at the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days Xtreme Bulls event June 8. That was tied for the top score of the week when Sage Kimzey posted a 90.5-point ride a day later at the Gladewater Round-Up Xtreme Bulls.

• Garrett Hale showed why he’s one of the top steer ropers in the world last week. The Texas native posted a time of 8.9 to win the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo on June 10.

Source: ProRodeo

For more information for Wrangler NFR, please visit www.nfrexperience.com. and ProRodeo.com Check out our latest news at www.wranglernfrlive.com or through social media at /LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR.