ProRodeo Sports News - Nov.20, 2020

'Hungry' Casper sets pace American money contributes to lead rider

BY JOLEE JORDEN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News W yatt Casper was hooked on saddle bronc riding after win- ning his first competitive attempt. It happened the second semester of his senior year in high school, and the then-tie down roper and team roper noticed there was about $850 up in the saddle bronc riding as no competitor had made a qualified ride during the first semester. So, he bought a saddle, went to Goodwell, Okla., to Panhandle State to get on a few practice horses and entered up. 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. With $145,138 won, he led nearly wire-to-wire in the race for the 2020Wrangler 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. I was drawing good and my confidence was through the roof,” Casper said. “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, the last round held before the two-month hiatus because of COVID-19, 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. “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: 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.”

2020 SADDLE BRONC RIDING STANDINGS

1. Wyatt Casper, Pampa, Texas.................. $145,138 2. Ryder Wright, Beaver, Utah...................... 111,336 3. Brody Cress, Hillsdale, Wyo....................... 99,539 4. Shorty Garrett, Eagle Butte, S.D................. 90,005 5. Allen Boore, Axtell, Utah. ........................... 73,269 6. Cole Elshere, Faith, S.D.............................. 54,351 7. Sterling Crawley, Huntsville, Texas............. 51,608 8. Chase Brooks, Deer Lodge, Mont............... 51,400 9. Jacobs Crawley, Stephenville, Texas........... 50,930 10. Zeke Thurston, Big Valley, Alberta............. 50,523 11. Rusty Wright, Milford, Utah...................... 49,946 12. Lefty Holman, Visalia, Calif....................... 49,670 13. Stetson Wright, Milford, Utah................... 47,498 14. Isaac Diaz, Desdemona, Texas.................. 44,832 15. Taos Muncy, Corona, N.M......................... 42,303 QUOTABLE “To have a chance (at a world title) is awesome. I’m just going to look at it like I did every horse I got on this year: just keep my head down, do my job and keep going forward." – Wyatt Casper HEAR IT FROM THE CHAMP Zeke Thurston

2019 PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion “It’s nice to hear (your name called). But you’ve still got a job to do no matter where you are or what your status is. You have to take care of business to win. “Both (world titles) are

Thurston

awesome; it’s what you dream of as a competitor in our sport. They both came from completely opposite angles . . . the first time it was a last- second deal, I snuck in there at the end and no one was expecting me to win it. Then last year, I got to the lead about the third or fourth round (at the Wrangler NFR) and led the whole way through. “They were different but both equally as cool."

DEC. 3-12, 2020

ProRodeo Sports News 11/20/2020

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