2020 Wrangler NFR Round 6 Event Program

SADDLE BRONC RIDING SEASON LEADER

Casper heads to his first NFR in the top spot Dustin Olson photo The Texas cowboy finished first in the regular-season standings after hitting rodeos early in 2020 and finishing with $145,138 by Sept. 30.

Wyatt Casper was hooked on saddle bronc riding after winning his first competitive attempt. It happened the second semester of his senior year in high school. The then tie-down roper and team roper noticed there was about $850 up for grabs in saddle bronc riding, as no contestant had made a qualified ride during the first semester. So, he bought a saddle and went to Goodwell, Okla. – to Panhan- dle State University – to get on a few practice horses and then entered in the roughstock competition. He won, something he’s still doing today, but on a stage a little bigger than the Elk City (Okla.) High School Rodeo. Casper heads into the 2020Wrangler National Finals Rodeo atop the 2020 PRCA | RAMWorld Standings, about $34,000 ahead of 2017World Champion Ryder Wright. “It’s a dream come true to be going to my first NFR, ranked first in the world and in Texas,” said Casper, who resides in Pampa, Texas. With $145,138 won, he led nearly wire-to-wire in the race for the 2020 Wrangler NFR to be held Dec. 3-12 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. “I was hungry,” Casper said of the difference this season. “I didn’t have a good year last year.” After finishing 2018 ranked 20th in the world standings, Casper was just 33rd in 2019. To erase the ills of the 2019 season, he decided to hit the road early in 2020, going as far as California in the opening month of the season

in October 2019. Then, he finished second in Fort Worth, Texas, and fourth at San Antonio, riding a big high into Arlington in March for RFD-TV’s The American. After a monstrous 91.25-point ride in the Shoot Out Round aboard 2019 PendletonWhiskey Let ‘er Buck Horse of the Year Get Smart, Casper stuffed $603,000 in his Wranglers and the PRCA credited $53,000 to his season total, doubling his earnings and essentially putting him in the Wrangler NFR. “Everything was just clicking,” he said. “I was drawing good and my confi- dence was through the roof. It’s been a different kind of rodeo for me for sure.” Not even a compression fracture of his T1 vertebrae, suffered in his second round at RodeoHouston, could cool him down. The injury forced a two-month rest, time that didn’t hurt him as every rodeo in the country shut down amid the coronavirus outbreak. “No one else was out rodeoing while I was out, so I didn’t miss anything,” he said. “When the rodeos started back up, I never missed a beat.” Casper heads back to Arlington, hoping for a little more of the city’s magic in his corner as he tries to cap his dream season with a PRCA gold buckle. “To have a chance (at a world title) is awesome,” Casper said. “I’m just going to look at it like I did every horse I got on this year, to just keep my head down, do my job and keep going forward. “It’s been an awesome year, I just really can’t put words to it.” – Jolee Jordan

WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO 15