2023 Wrangler NFR Round 5 News & Notes
Round 5 – Dec. 12, 2023 Round 5 Daysheet
Tonight is Resistol Rookie Night. Country singer Drake Milligan is the opening act, and contest winner Christopher Sverdsten, a 6-year-old from Idaho, will perform the national anthem. The performance sponsor is Resistol.
WRANGLER NFR LIVE ON TELEVISION AND INTERNET
The 2023 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo® presented by Teton Ridge airs nightly from Dec. 10-16 at 5:45 p.m. PST/8:45 p.m. (EST). There also will be a matinee performance at 12 p.m. (EST) on Dec. 13. To maintain the tradition of the ten rounds of the NFR, an additional make up-round has been added. There will be no public access to this round. Due to the tragic events that occurred on the UNLV Campus on Wednesday, Dec. 6, the original starting date – Dec. 7 – was cancelled. The Cowboy Channel is the official network partner of PRORODEO® and the exclusive broadcast and streaming partner of the NFR. Live coverage of the NFR is on The Cowboy Channel and RFD-TV through its cable and satellite partners, and online at cowboychannelplus.com.
KY HAMILTON TAKES CHARGE IN BULL RIDING RACE WITH ROUND 4 TRIUMPHANT
Winning a PRCA World Championship is all about seizing the moment at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge.
That’s exactly what bull rider Ky Hamilton is doing.
The Australia native has won two rounds at the 2023 Wrangler NFR with his latest coming on Monday night with an 89-point ride on Bridwell Pro Rodeos’ Fred to win Round 4 before 17,362 fans at the Thomas & Mack Center. Hamilton and Sage Kimzey (88 points on Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Vitalix Bio-K Anthrax) were the only two cowboys to ride. With ground money – which counts in the world standings – Hamilton and Kimzey earned $52,746 and $46,307, respectively. Hamilton, who also won Round 1 with his 86.5-point ride aboard Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Vitalix Theodore on Dec. 8, has earned $147,849 at this year’s NFR.
“It’s the way I expect myself to ride every time. From the moment I started riding, my expectations were, ‘there is nothing that you can’t ride that they run in there.’ That’s just what I expect of myself every time and I’m just happy to be here doing it,” Hamilton said. Hamilton moved into the lead in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $402,013. Hamilton leads the average with 341 points on four head.
NEWS & NOTES
In bareback riding…2019 PRCA World Champion Clayton Biglow will have a golden opportunity in Round 5. Biglow was drawn Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Night Crawler, the 2023 “Pendleton Whisky Let ‘er Buck Bareback Riding Horse of the Year.” The top two scores of the ProRodeo regular season both came on Night Crawler, with Kaycee Feild registering scores of 93.5 and 93 points, respectively. Reigning world champion Jess Pope will look to claim his first-round win on Tuesday night. Pope will go head-to-head with Macza Pro Rodeo’s OLS Tubs Stevie Knicks. Keenan Hayes finished second at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo with a 90.5-point ride on the horse…Saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston continues his pursuit for a second-straight PRCA World Championship and fourth overall. He’s currently sitting second in the PRCA | RAM World Standings. The Canadian cowboy will square off with the 2023 “Pendleton Whisky’s Let ‘er Buck Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year,” Calgary Stampede’s Xplosive Skies. The two have already matched up twice this season, highlighted by a 90.5-point trip at the San Antonio (Texas) Stock Show & Rodeo back in February. Brody Cress sits tied atop the leaderboard in the average with 342 points on four head, hoping to claim his fourth NFR average title. Cress will hop on The Cervi Brothers’ Vitalix Womanizer, the 2020 saddle bronc horse of the year winner. The 27-year-old rode the bucking horse earlier this year, capturing a win at the Sikeston (Mo.) Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo with a 91-point ride…Bull rider Jared Parsonage looks to regain his footing after failing to reach the eight-second whistle the past two nights. The Round 2 winner will match up with Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Priefert’s Time Bomb. Fellow NFR rider Josh Frost has landed the only qualified ride on the bull this season, notching an 87-point ride. Sage Kimzey aims to keep the momentum going following his second-place finish in Round 4. The seven-time world champion drew Stace Smith Pro Rodeos’ Polar Express, a bull that is yet to concede a qualified ride in its career.
Record times and scores for Round 3 of the 2023 Wrangler NFR:
Bareback Riding *93 points, Clayton Biglow, on C5 Rodeo’s Virgil, 2018
Steer Wrestling *3.0 seconds, Steve Duhon, 1986
Team Roping 3.6 seconds, Garrett Tonozzi/Kinney Harrell, 2006; JoJo LeMond/Cory Petska, 2010; Clay Smith/Jade Corkill, 2020
Saddle Bronc Riding *93 points, Jesse Kruse, on Calgary Stampede’s Hell’s Half Ace, 2009; Jesse Wright, on Frontier Rodeo’s Wild Bill, 2012
Tie-Down Roping 6.7 seconds, Caleb Smidt, 2016
Barrel Racing 13.43 seconds, Emily Miller-Beisel, 2021
Bull Riding 94.5 points, Stetson Wright, on Powder River Rodeo’s Chiseled, 2021
*Denotes WNFR record
Courtesy of PRCA