WNFR Daily News and Notes, Dec. 10

by ProRodeo.com | Dec 10, 2015

Country music star Charlie Daniels is the opening act and Morgan Kirby – a winner of the Wrangler NFR National Anthem Contest – will perform the National Anthem. Justin Boots is the performance sponsor.

WRANGLER NFR LIVE ON TELEVISION, RADIO AND INTERNET

Tonight’s Wrangler NFR presented by Polaris RANGER will be televised live and in HD on CBS Sports Net (DISH Network channel 158 and DirecTV channel 221) from 7-10 p.m. PT with Jeff Medders and Butch Knowles announcing, Joe Beaver and Don Gay providing commentary, Suzanne Alexander hosting the pre-show and Kadee Coffman as the sideline reporter. All 10 performances of the 2015 Wrangler NFR will be available live with a video-on-demand option via pay-per-view exclusively in Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. ProRodeo Live is airing coverage on a network of radio stations, including Rural Radio, and also online at www.prorodeolive.com with Steve Kenyon as the lead announcer.

BRAZILE ON CUSP OF $6 MILLION

Cue up the theme for the Six Million Dollar Man (www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEXkjl2xSMc). After Wednesday night’s team roping win, Trevor Brazile’s career earnings stand at $5,968,166 and he is in reach of yet another milestone, the $6 million mark (nobody else in rodeo history has gotten higher than $3.5 million) as early as tonight. His current season earnings are at $408,434, which places him less than $100,000 away from his single-season earnings record of $507,921 set in 2010, with three nights of team roping and tie-down roping competition left, plus those big average paychecks looming on Saturday night. He is currently fourth in the average in the tie-down roping and eighth in team roping. The 3.6-second time that Brazile and heeler Patrick Smith posted last night tied the Round 7 record and extended Brazile’s career record for most round wins in National Finals competition (including steer roping) to 62.

DEMOSS ALSO APPROACHING MILESTONE

It may be way down the list of things that Cody DeMoss is concerned about as he tries to break through for his first gold buckle, but he is poised to reach an historical milestone of his own tonight. A first- or second-place finish in the saddle bronc riding would make him the 24th man in PRCA history to surpass $2 million in career earnings. He is already in 24th place, having this week moved ahead of Todd Suhn, Jesse Bail and Ty Murray on the career list.

LEADING THE FEILD

With the difference between first and second in the average standings at $12,692, bareback rider Kaycee Feild controls his own destiny as he tries to secure his record-tying fifth consecutive bareback riding world championship (Joe Alexander won five in a row from 1971-75). Feild leads the world standings by $34,464 over Steven Peebles and is second to Peebles in the average. His bid for a record fifth straight average title? Well, for that he is going to need some luck. Peebles has a lead of 14.5 points with three rounds remaining.

STEER WRESTLING RACE HEATING UP

Wyoming’s Seth Brockman is the projected steer wrestling world champion with three days to go, which might seem odd until you remember he led the world standings for six weeks this summer (May 18 to June 28) and won the $1.3 million San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo back in February. He leads the WNFR average standings with a time of 31.7 seconds on seven head (an average of 4.53 seconds per run) and has earned checks in four of seven rounds. In his two previous WNFR years (2011 and 2014) Brockman finished 15th and 14th in the world standings. The last Wyoming bulldogger to win a gold buckle was Jason Miller in 2007.

NEWS & NOTES

Four-time world champion Bobby Mote has a great chance to win money tonight as he draws Frontier Rodeo’s Delta Ship. Delta Ship was the top bareback horse of the 2009 and 2011 Wrangler NFRs and was second in the WNFR voting in 2014. Seth Hardwick has a chance to deposit money in his bank account as he draws Powder River Rodeo’s Craig at Midnight, a horse which carried Kaycee Feild to 91 points at the RAM Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo in October. Feild draws Corey & Lange Rodeo’s Trip Wire, a horse Steve Peebles had an 88-point ride on to win the finals at the Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo Sept. 7. Frenchman Evan Jayne is still looking for his first WNFR round win and he has a chance as he draws Andrews Rodeo’s Cool Water. Peebles won Round 3 on the horse with an 86.5-point ride. Peebles has a great draw in Frontier Rodeo’s Full Baggage, the PRCA reserve Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2015. Austin Foss draws Burch Rodeo’s Holy Diver, a horse which was chosen Roughstock of the Night after Round 2. Clint Laye draws Big Stone Rodeo’s Spilled Perfume, a horse selected as Roughstock of the Night after Round 3. In saddle bronc riding, Jake Wright draws Summit Pro Rodeo’s Big Fork, who took Cody DeMoss to the Round 3 win with an 84-point ride. Bradley Harter draws J Bar J’s Julia, the same horse who helped Harter win the Justin Boots Championships in Omaha, Neb., Sept. 25 with an 84-point ride. Reigning world champion Spencer Wright, draws Korkow Rodeo’s Wiggle Worm, a horse his brother Jake Wright had an 83-point ride on to place third in Round 3. Rusty Wright draws Powder River Rodeo’s Lipstick N Whiskey, a horse Jacobs Crawley placed second on in Round 3 with an 83-point ride. That horse also carried Cody Wright, Rusty’s father, to an 88-point ride in Plains, Mont., in September. Sage Kimzey is closing in on his second straight world title, and is matched with a bull that should take him to the pay window if he’s able to stay on for eight seconds. Kimzey draws Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo’s Rattler, who has been ridden just once in 37 career outs, that by Joe Frost, who went for 85.5 points to win Round 1 in 2014. Rattler bucked Kody DeShon off in Round 5. At this point, Cody Teel appears to be the only man who can threaten Kimzey’s quest for a repeat. Teel trails Kimzey by roughly $45,000, but is first in the WNFR average after riding six of his first seven bulls. Tonight, he draws 4L & Diamond S Rodeo’s Paintball – a bull which Kimzey won the short round of the San Antonio Xtreme Bulls event on with an 88.5-point ride in February. Chandler Bownds has had a tough WNFR through seven nights, failing to make a qualified ride. He’ll take on Rosser Rodeo’s Jeepers Creepers, a bull which bucked him off after 5.34 seconds at the Reno Rodeo in June. DeShon split the win on the bull in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., in August with an 87-point trip.

Record times and scores for the eighth round of the WNFR:

Bareback riding: 89 points, Deb Greenough, 2000
Steer wrestling: 3.1 seconds, Shawn Greenfield, 2004
Team roping: 3.5 seconds, Travis Tryan/Cory Petska, 2008
Saddle bronc riding: 89.5 points, Billy Etbauer, 2004
Tie-down roping: 6.7 seconds, Ryan Jarrett, 2013
Barrel racing: 13.49 seconds, Sherry Cervi, 2010
Bull riding: 95 points, Colby Yates, 2002

Courtesy of PRCA