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World Champion Miller Looking for Big Payday in Houston

By Jolee Jordan

Fallon Taylor
PHOTO COURTESY of RodeoHouston

Houston, Texas — Going fast is all that matters as the 2018 edition of RodeoHouston rushes towards its conclusion this weekend. There are just three rounds remaining in the tournament style rodeo before a champion is crowned and one barrel racer gets to at least dig out her suitcase for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) in Las Vegas in December.

Because the final round on Saturday night, St. Patrick’s Day, is worth $50,000 to the lucky winner, and a berth at the WNFR is earned with somewhere in the ballpark of $75,000 won, the RodeoHouston Champion will be well on her way to her Vegas goal.

From a starting point of 40 cowgirls two weeks ago, only 20 remain but the four best from each semi-final have already earned their spots in the Championship Round, competing this week on Wednesday and Thursday.

Twelve ladies have another run before the final night, in Friday’s Wild Card Round, but only two will move on, making the Wild Card one of the most pressure packed runs of the year NOT coming in a final go round.

Championship Saturday night is a two-run race to the finish. The 10 finalists will make one run with the four fastest getting another shot that night in the Shootout Round, where the title and big money are finally distributed to the winner of this marathon of nerves and speed.

Semi-Final 1

Reigning WPRA World Champion Nellie Miller finished fourth at RodeoHouston in 2017, earning a big paycheck that eventually led her to her first World Championship. Miller is a proponent of “less-is-more” as the Californian competed in just 48 rodeos last season, the third-fewest of all the cowgirls in the top 35 of the WPRA World standings.

Miller is planning on following the same tracks as she looks to defend her title in 2018. RodeoHouston is just her fifth rodeo of the relatively new season and she had already doubled the season earnings that had her 51st in the standings last week.

Miller ran right in the middle of the pack during semi-final 1, already staring down two sub-fifteen second times set by Carley Richardson, who was third here a year ago, and Amberleigh Moore. Interestingly, Richardson was the only 2018 Super Series Champ to compete in the opening round of semi-finals action.

Riding her great roan mare Sister, Miller not only won her second round of the rodeo but also galloped her way to the fastest time of the rodeo at 14.63 seconds, picking up another $3,000 in earnings as she advanced to the Championship Round for the second consecutive year.

Richardson will join her after posting a time of 14.90 seconds while Carmel Wright scored a 14.92 from ninth on the ground. Moore was fourth in the round, earning a spot on Saturday night with a run of 14.97 seconds.

Richardson comes to Houston ninth in the standings and working towards her third trip to Vegas. Wright entered Houston 28th and is hoping for a big check here to push her over the top to her first WNFR. Meanwhile, Moore continues a nuclear winter pace, already ranked first in the WPRA World standings with more than $64,000 won.

Semi-Final 2

The second night of semi-final action lived up to its billing. With four of the five Super Series Champs on the docket which includes four of the six top money winners in the barrel racing thus far, not to mention the winningest cowgirl in WPRA history, fans knew they were in for a treat and the 10 ladies did not disappoint.

The night began with a sub-fifteen second run from Florida cowgirl Ericka Nelson at 14.99 seconds. In the previous16 nights of action, there had only been one round where a 14 second run did not ensure a paycheck, going back to Round Two of Super Series II.

But the competition takes a step up as each elimination round is reached and this round was to be the ultimate illustration of that fact.

Taci Bettis
PHOTO COURTESY of RodeoHouston

Hailey Kinsel ran third and quickly took over the top spot with a 14.82 second run. That mark only survived one cowgirl as Fallon Taylor, a RodeoHouston champion back in 1997, ran fifth and took the lead with her flawless run at 14.74 seconds.

Cayla Small and Gator posted their best run of the rodeo at 14.89 seconds, already third in the round at the time she ran sixth in the draw.

2017 WPRA Rookie of the Year Taci Bettis ran seventh; the Texas cowgirl is competing in her first RodeoHouston and continues to impress in her sophomore season as a pro. She and her gelding Smash rocketed to a tie with Taylor atop the leaderboard.

One of the final three cowgirls in the draw, Tracy Nowlin drew up ninth, broke into the 14 second range and it was just enough to advance the Prairie Circuit champion. She and mare Dolly Jo were 14.87 seconds to bump Small to the crying hole.

It was by far the fastest overall round of the rodeo thus far with six of the 10 ladies stopping the clock at less than fifteen seconds. Strangely, the draw positions of third, fifth, and ninth were lucky in both semi-finals as three of the four cowgirls advancing on both nights ran from those spots.

The shared round win was Taylor’s third of this year’s rodeo and Bettis’ second. The cowgirls have both won $9,500, best of all the barrel racers so far this year; while Bettis is already ranked high in the standings at third, Taylor is 83rd before Houston and looking to make a huge upward move by Sunday. She is the lowest ranked competitor to qualify into the Championship thus far.

Kinsel and Nowlin move into the Championship Round. With Bettis, they are three Houston rookies, an interesting contrast to the four qualifiers from semi-finals 1 which includes two of last year’s Shootout competitors as well as two ladies who have competed here in the past. Not surprisingly, all five Super Series Champions have qualified to compete on the final night.

Wild Card

For the 12 semi-finalists who missed the mark the first time around, Friday night, March 16 represents a last grasp to contend for the huge check given here. Last year, Kathy Grimes made the Championship from the Wild Card and finished as the RodeoHouston Reserve Champ, earning $28,000 and a big boost towards her first WNFR.

The Wild Card is packed with star-power with the WPRA’s only $2 million cowgirls: Sherry Cervi (who has actually won $3.4 million), Lisa Lockhart and Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi. Cervi has won RodeoHouston four times, on three different horses, and Lockhart has been second several times. The rest of the field is riddled with former WNFR qualifiers, circuit champions and top 30 cowgirls for whom Friday is win or go home – rodeo’s version of March Madness.

For more information on Rodeo Houston, visit them on-line at www.rodeohouston.com and stay tuned to www.wpra.com for continuing updates.


Results

Semi-Final 1

1. Nellie Miller, Rafter W Minnie Reba, 14.63, $3,000

2. Carley Richardson, Doda Flit, 14.90, $2,000

3. Carmel Wright, Fortunes Last Xtrem, 14.92, $1,000

4. Amberleigh Moore, CP Dark Moon, 14.97, $750

Semi-Final 2

1/2. Fallon Taylor, Flos Heiress/Taci Bettis, Bogis is a Smash, 14.74, $2,500

3. Hailey Kinsel, DM Sissy Hayday, 14.82, $1,000

4. Tracy Nowlin, DJG Madison, 14.87, $750

Wild Card Competitors

Name, Super Series, Money Won So Far

Sherry Cervi, SSIII, $5,000

Emily Miller, SSIV, $4,500

Lisa Lockhart, SSV, $4,000

Sabra O’Quinn, SSI, $4,000

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, SSII, $4,000

Ivy Conrado, SSIV, $3,500

Kelly Bruner, SSI, $3,000

Kelly Tovar, SSIV, $3,000

Tiany Schuster, SSIII, $3,000

Ericka Nelson, SSI, $2,375

Kellie Collier, SSII, $2,000

Cayla Small, SSV, $1,000

Championship Round (Plus Top 2 from Wild Card to be held March 16)

Taylor, SSV, $9,500

Bettis, SSI, $9,500

Miller, SSV, $8,750

Richardson, SSIV, $8,000

Kinsel, SSII, $7,000

Wright, SSIII, $5,500

Moore, SSII, $5,750

Nowlin, SSIII, $5,750

Courtesy of WPRA

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