Bucking Horses Take Center Stage
By Ed Knocke
Monday was the night of the bucking horses at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Some of the biggest names in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association were out in the fifth round, but it was some of the lesser known horses that produced the winning rides.
In bareback riding, only Frontier Rodeo’s Delta Ship, a highly touted horse that had carried world champion Justin McDaniel to the NFR record in 2007, was able to produce a winning score when Bobby Mote recorded an 88.5-point ride on him to share the first-place check with Jared Smith, who was aboard Rafter G Rodeo’s Citation.
However, riders on hot-shot horses such as Grated Coconut, Grass Dancer and Big Tex couldn’t take advantage.
Ryan Gray had drawn Calgary Stampede’s Grated Coconut, the six-time PRCA bareback horse of the year, but could only record an 81-point ride. D. V. Fennell, on Carr Rodeo’s Grass Dancer, finished with an 82 while Heath Ford on Classic Pro Rodeo’s Big Tex had an 85. None of those scores earned a check for the night.
Mote said he had only seen Delta Ship a handful of times, but he knew it was a premier horse because of its history.
“This was really the first time all week that I drew at the top of the pen,” he said. “I’ve had good horses, but there was always half a dozen better ones than what I had. That can get at you if you let it, but I just decided to keep doing my job and sooner or later they’d run a great horse under me, and they did tonight.”
Smith had drawn Citation at the Heartland Series Finals in Waco, Texas, earlier this year, but he wasn’t sure he was enough of a horse to carry him to a check at the NFR.
“But he had an amazing trip tonight,” he said. “He was outstanding, and you can’t knock him at all for it. I don’t know if it was him standing out in the rain or if he’s just better in December, but something clicked and he bucked.”
In saddle bronc riding, the great Miss Congeniality, a two-time PRCA saddle bronc of the year, and Spring Planting, the PRCA’s reigning saddle bronc of the year, were out but only Spring Planting produced a money-earning score.
Cody Wright marked 86.5 points on Spring Planting which earned a share of the second-place money with Wade Sundell.
Muncy got hung up in the chute with Miss Congeniality, and was awarded a reride. He later failed to record a score on his reride horse. Meanwhile, J.J. Elshere walked off with the top prize on Big Bend Rodeo’s Kool Toddy with an 88-point ride.
Elshere said he had a handful with the 20-year-old mare. “I felt like she was trying to buck me off on every jump,” he said. “I was just going with her and trying to keep things going.’’
Check back later for more NFR updates from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke.