LAS VEGAS – Justin Rumford was twice as happy as the rest of the winners at the PRCA’s annual awards banquet after winning the 2018 Coors Man in the Can award and the Clown of the Year award at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa’s Grand Ballroom in Las Vegas, Dec. 5.
Tag: WNFR
LAS VEGAS – Entering the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Polaris RANGER, Trey Benton III was feeling healthy.
After Round 1 of the WNFR, Benton was feeling fantastic.
The bull rider from Rock Island, Texas, scored 90 points on Big Stone Rodeo Inc’s Mortimer to win the first round on Thursday, Dec. 7, at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Photograph by Tom Donoghue
LAS VEGAS – Ryder Wright doesn’t intend to leave the winner’s circle – perhaps for the duration of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Polaris RANGER. Wright entered some rarified air in Round 4. Wright’s 85.5-point trip on Flying 5 Rodeo’s Sundance earned the 18-year-old his fourth consecutive WNFR round win, which is something only two other men in roughstock events have ever accomplished – saddle bronc riding brothers Billy and Robert Etbauer.
LAS VEGAS – Team ropers split the world championship. The outcome simply wasn’t the one that appeared most likely. The possibility of a header from one team winning the world championship with a heeler from another partnership became more and more real as the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo wore on, but in a final-round stunner, heeler Jade Corkill came from behind to capture his first gold buckle along with Chad Masters, who won a world championship for the second time.
LAS VEGAS – So much for rookie jitters.
The 29 first-timers at this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo have pulled their weight through the first eight rounds.
LAS VEGAS – Jesse Wright may not leave here with multiple Wrangler National Finals Rodeo records like he did a year ago.
But the saddle bronc rider may take something much shinier home to Milford, Utah.
Whitfield, Cooper, Brazile among those chasing history at WNFR
Fred Whitfield’s autobiography – Gold Buckles Don’t Lie – is due to be published next spring and will end with his labors at this 20thWrangler National Finals Rodeo appearance. Whitfield says he’s “not worried” about how this plays out, but he also has a good enough sense of dramatic possibilities that he knows what a great last act could mean for book sales and his legacy in the sport.