About: Ted

LAS VEGAS – The bright lights of Las Vegas can be blinding for newcomers to the National Finals Rodeo. Though saddle bronc rider Wyatt Casper is a veteran, now with five straight qualifications, he found out first-hand what Sin City can do during Saturday’s third go-round. Matched with Diamond G Rodeo’s Thunder Rollz, the horse struggled in the limelight. Fortunately, the officials noticed and gave Casper the option of another horse. “We took a chance on that horse; he’s pretty young and came from Crash Cooper up in Canada, and he’s been known to produce a bunch of good horses,” Casper said of the selection process for the NFR animals. “I’ve seen about seven videos of him, and he’s a badass. It’s just that Vegas can do some tricky stuff, especially for a horse that ain’t seen a whole lot. “It’s a tiny arena, and the horse was just a little lost.” It became a benefit for Casper. His re-ride horse was Cervi Championship Rodeo’s Ricky Bobby, a veteran of the game. In July, the two matched up for 90 points in Nampa, Idaho, where Casper shared the championship-round win. On Saturday in Las Vegas, the two tangoed across the Thomas & Mack Center dirt for 86 points, good enough to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the round, worth $20,285. It was the second straight night for Casper to cash-in at the NFR. After learning about his second chance, Casper eased back behind the chutes, grabbed his saddle, the halter he had used and the rein and began putting his equipment on Ricky Bobby. “I was just trying to take my time a little bit, saddle him in the back, pulled (the cinch) and we rolled out there and went,” said Casper of Miami, Texas. “I’ve had some history with that horse. He’s just the same every time, around there to the left. I knew the rein (measurement) at least, so that was good. That just makes it easier when you’re getting on.” He increased his NFR earnings to $35,718. He has ridden three horses for a cumulative score of 252 points and is tied for fourth place in the aggregate race. He has increased his annual salary to $255,502 and sits sixth on the money list with seven rounds remaining on the season. “We just keep chopping wood out there and using these horses how we can and roll the dice they’re throwing at us,” he said. “I feel like I’m riding good, so we just keep hoping they run the best ones under us, and we make sure we use them.”

LAS VEGAS – Team roping header J.C. Yeahquo is having the experience of a lifetime during his first qualification to the National Finals Rodeo. “It’s been great,” said Yeahquo, 24, originally from Manderee, North Dakota, raised in Crescent, Oklahoma, and now living in Stephenville, Texas. “I’ve been around great people. Everybody’s helped me fill in on all that I need to do, and it’s been extremely fun for me to be out here living a dream that I’ve had ever since I was a kid.” His status in the City of Entertainment got a little better when he and his heeling partner, Buddy Hawkins, stopped the clock in 4.0 seconds to finish in a tie for fourth place in Saturday’s third go-round. That was worth $11,410 and helped push his annual earnings to nearly $148,000. “I wasn’t nervous the first night when I was in the (timed-event) box,” he said. “The only time I was nervous was when I was sitting in the alley behind he boxes. I couldn’t swing my rope, and I was sitting there and watching all these guys rope that I’ve watched rope since I was a little kid. I was like, ‘This is the real deal here. This is this. All that I’ve waited for is right here.’ ” Saddled with a no-time on opening night, he rebounded in Friday’s Round 2. Unfortunately, Hawkins snagged one leg instead of two, and the team incurred a five-second penalty. All the while, though, they gained the confidence they needed to find a payday on Night 3. “I knew I could basically leave as soon as I nodded,” Yeahquo said. “With that, I didn’t have to worry about scoring; I just had to worry about roping. It takes all the hard stuff out of it that I’ve struggled with through the years, like scoring and riding. I just have to ride and rope. When you take all that other stuff out, it seems to be a lot easier.” It helps, too, to have a partner like Hawkins, a six-time NFR qualifier who won the NFR average title in 2021. “I didn’t give Buddy anything to go at on the first one, so that one was on me,” Yeahquo said. “I did the same thing on the second one, but he pencils it all down so good that he basically just knew it was going to happen again when the steer steeped right like that, so he just adapted, and he knows just what to do. “Winning money felt really good. I was so excited when I got out the back. I was just grabbing and shaking buddy. I was just so happy that we finally got a clean run.” It can be a long 10 days in the Nevada desert, but each evening offers a new chance and a new shot at making money. The focus now is on building to the momentum the team gained Saturday. “I think I’ll just keep my head down and keep roping the sharpest here,” he said. “The pen of steers we have (Sunday are probably the strongest set. I don’t know if the times will be quite as fast as they were (Saturday), but I bet there will be a lot of catches, and I think think it’s going to be pretty good.” It’s the next step in climbing the ladder to success in Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS – For 10 minutes after his Saturday night ride during the third round of the National Finals Rodeo, Cole Franks felt amazing. On Minute 11, he started to feel the affects of being in a Las Vegas prize fight, the after-effects of a battle with one of the rankest bucking horses in ProRodeo. Franks rode Duane Kesler’s Hot Shot for 87 points to finish third on the night, collecting $20,104. “You’ve got to ride as close to the same as you can on the buckers like that, but I was in kill mode for sure,” said Franks, who increased his NFR earnings to $62,885 through three nights of the sport’s grand championship. “You just bear down and get back down to the neck (with your spurs). That was definitely a kick fight. “We were trading hits for sure. She hit me a couple good ones, and I think I hit her a couple good ones.” That’s what happens in the “eliminator pen” of bucking horses, who can deal a heavy blow. Bareback riders wear thick neck braces to help protect them from the beatings they take; they wear specially designed gloves with binds on the edges of the hands to lock themselves onto their riggings, which are strapped tightly to the animal’s back. Every jump the horse makes can land on the rider’s arms, shoulders and necks. When they ride the toughest horses in the world, the impact is greater, but Franks battled through it. He’s placed in all three rounds at this year’s NFR and has a cumulative score of 257 points, the best of the 15 men in the field. He’s also pushed his season earnings to more than $202,000 and is sixth on the money list. “I was a little sore today before we got on, but I’m definitely going to be more sore tomorrow,” said Franks, 23, of Clarendon, Texas. “I’m more sore than I probably should be, and I got a (neck) stinger tonight. She hit me pretty hard. “I’ll go in and get some dry needling, some ice, whatever they’ll let me get. I’ll let them torture me for a little bit. It’s what I signed up for, so I can’t complain about it.”  Despite the pain. Franks loves riding bucking horses. It’s how he won both the bareback riding and all-around intercollegiate championships in 2021 while competing for his hometown college and why he was later named the Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year in ProRodeo. It’s why he’s playing for the biggest pay in the game for the third time in four years. “You don’t really feel the pain until once everything floods over,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun when you get off and you know you just slayed a dragon.”

LAS VEGAS – Slowly but surely, steer wrestler J.D. Struxness is making his way through the rigors of the National Finals Rodeo. After a no-time in the opening round, Struxness has found his way to the pay window in the next two nights, finishing in a tie for third Friday and placing fourth during Saturday’s third go-round. Just like when he was in high school in Minnesota, the two-time reserve state champion wrestler worked his way up the bracket in a tough pen animals. “We knew coming in this was going to be our stronger herd of steers,” said Struxness, who stopped the clock in 4.5 seconds to earn $14,127. “They ran a little more and were pretty consistent on the ground, and it showed. These steers ran more and tried hard.” The steer wrestlers will see this pen two more times in Rounds 6 and 9, and that’s OK for Struxness. “I feel like the stronger steers suit my style and size a little bit better,” said Struxness, from Milan, Minnesota, but now living in Perrin, Texas. “I’m riding the Horse of the Year, Crush. If they’re going to run, he gives us a chance to make up some ground. I like this pen of steers for our guys just because I think we would have an advantage with our horses.” Crush is owned by fellow NFR bulldogger Ty Erickson and is also being ridden by Rowdy Parrot. All three have enlisted the services of veteran Matt Reeves as their hazer, and he’s riding Kirk, a hazing horse owned by his wife, Savannah. That team has earned just shy of $100,000 in just three days of competition. Struxness accounts for $28,435, but each combatant earns a $10,000 qualification bonus that counts toward their NFR earnings. With that, the trio of steer wrestlers has cashed in for nearly $130,000 of Las Vegas money. For his part, Struxness has reeled in $185,701 this season. “The money out here has gone up, and it’s awesome,” he said. “Our goal now is to try to get up as close to the top as we can with what we’ve got drawn and take advantage they give us one night at a time and go from there.” While this is a business trip for Struxness, it’s also a chance to spend some quality time with his family. His two daughters – Everlee, 5, and Lilly, 3 – have been enjoying their time in the City of Entertainment with Dad, Mom, Jayden, grandparents and other family and friends. “They’re loving it and to have them here … you have your support group,” Struxness said. “This is such a big event, so having your support system – your family, friends and crew – is a huge deal.”

LAS VEGAS – Jess Pope takes his job as a rodeo cowboy seriously. Late every night, the cowboys receive a text message that provides them with the next night’s horses they have had drawn for them. When he and his wife, Sydney, get back to their room, they start doing research on what he might expect when it’s time for him to nod his head. “Where I am in my career, I like to compare things that I’ve been on,” said Pope, who matched moves with Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Night Faded for 89.5 points to win Saturday’s third round at the National Finals Rodeo. “I feel like I’ve been on every kind of horse there is, and like with this one, I go back through all my videos and all my notes, and I find horses that look similar to him. “I just imagine in my mind what it’s going to be like, what it’s going to look like, how I’m going to do it. That way, by the time I’m on him, there’s no doubt in my mind that I’m not going to spur the tar out of him.”  It was the second straight payday for Pope and was worth $33,687. After failing to place on opening night, he’s earned $53,105 in Las Vegas and has ridden three horses for a cumulative score of 242.5 points. He has improved his 2024 earnings to $221,260 and is third on the money list. Most importantly, he has five days to worry about drawing out of the “eliminator pen” again. “It’s just part of the rank-horse pen, whether they’re a stud or not,” he said of the stallion, a son of one of the greatest bucking sires in ProRodeo history, Night Jacket. “When they’re in the eliminator pen, that means they’re the baddest cats there are. It’s a lot cooler when it’s a stud, though, because that means we’re going to see a lot of his offspring coming up. “He’s a different eliminator than a lot of them were. You dang sure got to be on your cue, but he takes such big, long jumps and has so much power to him. He sends your feet, so your main goal every time is to get your feet down, tuck your chin and keep your shoulder rolled down, and you just have to have a hold of him when he hits.” Pope is referring to his spurs in the right place on the horse when the animal’s front feet hit the ground. That sets up the ride and helps create the rhythm needed to perform the spur stroke with the horse’s bucking motion. That’s how the scores are added, half for the horse’s performance, half for how well the cowboy spurs through the ride.   “He gives you the time to feel everything, so when he hits, it’s not near as hard,” said Pope, a three-time NFR average champion who won the 2022 world championship. He has seven nights remaining on this season, and he understands what sits before him. “I had a great end to my season, and a great fall and I rode good on my first two horses,” he said. “I rode great tonight. I just had to have the right horse, and it worked out.”