Jennifer Sharp

Jennifer Sharp – Richards, Texas ($91,754)
First-time WNFR qualifier

Jennifer Sharp started the 2019 season with a bang, winning second at Odessa, Texas, and then taking the championship at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver in January. Riding Six French Smooches “Smooch”, she won nearly $12,000. Smooch, a six-year-old palomino mare is owned by Terri Lamp of Cat Springs, Texas.

Jennifer and Smooch then finished second at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Those winnings and some other early success meant Sharp was holding the number one spot in the world championship standings in February.

Jennifer and her husband Robbie train barrel horses in South Texas and she entered Denver planning to ride her 8-year-old Dash Ta Fame stallion Kr Famous Tequilla. When Smooch did well at Odessa, Jennifer opted to ride her in Denver and that decision proved to be a good one.

In the world championship standings, she had dropped to 5th in April, then to 7th in June. She won more than $30,000 in June and early July, moving back up to 5th. She placed second in her pool at the Calgary Stampede, but knocked over a barrel in the finals there.

While this is Jennifer’s first trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, she has plenty of barrel racing experience. She has excelled in the futurity world and is a former American Quarter Horse Association barrel racing champion. She also qualified for her first Canadian Finals Rodeo this year spending much of the summer north of the border.

“I’m from South Texas, so I nearly froze in June (in Canada),” she said, adding that Tequilla liked the arenas in Canada and placed at nearly every rodeo they entered while there.

Jennifer started barrel racing at age 8, even though her family did not own horses. A friend who lived down the road was a barrel racer and introduced Jennifer to play days. She won her first saddle at age 9 and continued barrel racing. She qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo in pole bending three times and won two state championships in that event.

Every horse she rode while growing up was one she had trained herself and Jennifer grateful for that experience now, crediting it with helping her become the rider she is today.