Jess Pope, the 2022 world champion bareback rider, returned to his home turf at the National Finals Rodeo, scoring a third-place finish during Thursday’s opening round of the National Finals Rodeo.
(PRCA PHOTO BY MALLORY BEINBORN)

 

LAS VEGAS – Home for Jess Pope is a nice place in the Kansas Flint Hills that he shares with his wife, but he’s made quite a second residence in Sin City.

He proved it again during Thursday’s first go-round of the National Finals Rodeo, riding the Sankey Pro Rodeo & Phenom Genetics bronc Land of Fancy for 86.5 points to finish in third place, collecting $21,882. He moved from fourth to second in the bareback riding world standings with $235,512.

“That’s one I’ve really been wanting to get on,” said Pope, the 2022 world champion from Waverly, Kansas. “I got on her in the short round of Pendleton (Oregon). She kind of dragged her nose on the ground when I got on her the first time, and I ended up third on her. When I saw that draw out for today, I was pretty damned tickled.”

He proved why. The bay mare allowed Pope to show off his spur stroke, which is why the two matched for a high finish and big bucks.

“She’s one of the younger horses, and last year was the first year we brought her to the finals,” he said, pointing out that the bareback riders select the top 105 horses from throughout the season to be part of the 10-day championship. “When you go to one of the (Sankey) rodeos, she’s definitely one of the ones you want.”

It also helps that Pope is riding a wave of confidence. This marks the sixth straight NFR qualification for the cowboy who competed in intercollegiate rodeo at Missouri Valley College. He is a three-time NFR average champion; he had the best 10-ride cumulative score in 2020, ’21 and ’22. He’s comfortable competing on ProRodeo’s biggest stage.

The NFR features only the top 15 contestants in each event from the given regular season. The men and women who compete in Las Vegas have earned the right to battle for rodeo’s gold.

“Everybody’s got a different way of looking in our locker room,” Pope said, referring to the 14 other bareback riders. “The only thing that everybody has the same thing for is the respect, because it takes a hell of a lot of work to get there. Everybody respects everybody that’s sitting in there. Everybody just handles everything different.

“The young guys are wound tighter than a clock, and then you’ve got me and Tilden (Hooper) that are just cracking dad jokes and hanging out just laughing and having fun. But we all love riding bucking horses and have mad respect for how you get to that room.”

Make no mistake, this event has a level of magnitude that is unmatched in rodeo. There can be a lot of emotions involved with playing in the sport’s World Series.

“It all just seems surreal,” he said. “Just showing up, I think, ‘Wow, I’m actually here.’ It’s weird, because the last couple of years, I’ve gotten calmer and calmer coming into Round 1, but tonight, I was about freaking myself out thinking, ‘Golly, should I be a little bit more wound up than this?’ I’m back there yawning and singing the national anthem and just kind of hanging out, but I think it’s good.

“When I crawl in that bucking chute, it’s time to go.”

It’s the NFR, so it’s always go-time for Pope.