ProRodeo Sports News | 2020 Year-End Edition | Dec.18, 2020

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Roseanna Sales

Bareback rider Kaycee Feild set the tone for his 2020 Wrangler NFR by winning Round 3 with a 91.5-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Xplosive Skies.

PRCA ProRodeo photo by Alaina Stangle

O’Connell was third in the average with 847.5 points to earn $43,154. O’Connell, who owns three world titles, finished in second place with $270,991. “This one is better than the first one, second one, all of them,” Feild said. “I had a heater there for a few years and winning was something easy. “It came so naturally. I had the best coach in the world (his dad Lewis). Before I got on every horse, I would ask, ‘What do I do tonight, Dad?’ He would tell me to have a strong mark out and have fun. That is all that matters. The past few years not having my dad around I had to figure out how to find some drive and stay focused when I get here. I feel like I have it figured it out, tunneled it back in and feel my dad all the time.” Lewis Feild passed away Feb. 16, 2015.

Kaycee placed in eight rounds and won Round 3 with a 91.5-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Xplosive Skies and Round 10 with Junior Bonner. Feild tied the NFR Round 3 record aboard Xplosive Skies, equaling Justin McDaniel (2007) and O’Connell (2017). Feild earned $182,456 at the Wrangler NFR, the fourth most of any contestant. “I have never been on that horse (Junior Bonner),” said Feild, 33. “He’s one of those big horses that in a pressure situation like this one he’s going to come through. He was sweating in the chutes just as much as I was. When he came in the chutes, he was amped up and he got me even more fired up. That horse, when he leaves, there is the real deal. “That was my best-feeling ride all week. I saw every jump clear as day. When I went harder, he went harder.”

ProRodeo Sports News 12/18/2020

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