Jess Pope rides Frontier Rodeo’s Painted Smoke for 84.5 points to place in Friday’s ninth round of the National Finals Rodeo. It was the third night in a row he has earned NFR money and sixth time overall. He will ride for a world championship Saturday night.
(PRCA PHOTO BY LARA ST JACQUES)

 

LAS VEGAS – Jess Pope’s somewhat cold experience at his sixth National Finals Rodeo heated in a hurry.

It’s good timing.

He’s placed in six go-rounds, including the last three in a row, two of which were victories paying $36,668 each. He also added a $2,957 payday after posting an 84.5-point ride on Frontier Rodeo’s Painted Smoke to finish in a tie for sixth place in Friday’s ninth round.

The result is simple: Pope is in the middle of another bareback riding world-championship race heading into Saturday’s 10th round, the final night of the 2025 ProRodeo season.

“I feel really good heading into tomorrow,” he said Friday night. “I feel like I’ve been riding well. I did the best I could on that horse tonight, and that’s all I can do. It feels good to get another check, so we’ll just try to keep that going.”

Pope has earned $139,521 so far at this year’s NFR. He’s third in the world standings with $343,150. He trails the standings leader, Rocker Steiner, by $103,000 but is just behind the No. 2 man, Sam Petersen, by just $5,600.

There’s a caveat, though. Pope, a three-time NFR average champion (2020-22), leads the aggregate race with a nine-ride cumulative score of 769 points. He has a 2.5-point lead over Petersen heading into the 10th round. That’s a valuable position. The cowboy that wins the aggregate will earn an additional $94,036; second-place pays a hair more than $76,000.

“I just need to focus on my job and put on the best spur ride I can on the horse I have drawn,” said Pope, a six-time NFR qualifier and the 2022 world champion from Waverly, Kansas. “I can’t control how the horse bucks, and I can write down my own scores, so I’m just going to focus on doing what I can.

“This thing’s going to end how it’s supposed to end. We’ll see how it all shakes out come tomorrow night.”

Steiner, too, is in position to add an average check. It’s going to come down to who finishes off this rugged, 10-day finale the best to see who will win the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. Pope will be matched with Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Top Notch as he closes out his campaign.

“Yeah, it’s exciting, but at the same time, I’m here to do a job to the best of my ability every night,” Pope said. “I want to win the round and see what happens after that. The rest is out of my control.”