ProRodeo Sports News - November 16, 2018

WRANGLER NATIONAL FINALS RODEO

BAREBACK RIDING

O’Connell on top after slow start

Three of a Kind

BY SCOTT KANIEWSKI T he month of March was not kind to two-time PRCAWorld Champion Bareback Rider TimO’Connell. He had been thrown off at RODEOHOUSTON. Soon after, he had a ride at Rodeo Austin that failed to break the 80-point barrier. Meanwhile, O’Connell watched as his competition opened a lead of more than $30,000 as winter became spring and the month of April opened. “I had hit rock bottom, it felt like,” said O’Connell, 27. “I had been at RODEOHOUSTON and they threwme off, and I hadn’t been thrown off in a while. I went to Rodeo Austin the next day and got rag-dolled. It was as bad a performance as I’ve been to.” Knowing the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo was around the corner, O’Connell went home and immediately started prepping, knowing the Kissimmee, Fla., rodeo was a place he could make some serious money. “I went home for two weeks straight, practiced the fundamentals for 14 days in a row,” he said. “I got in with a trainer. So when I got to Kissimmee I was mad, hungry, ready to roll. To get a good one drawn and start Kissimmee like that it was killer. It was reinforcing that what I was doing was paying off.” He and his family, including his child, Hazen, all made the trip to Florida. There, everything turned around. In addition to notching his first big win of the season during the April 5-8 rodeo, he also won $26,723, propelling him from 13th in the world standings to third. That win was a turning point. “I talked to him right after it was over,” said Logan Corbett, one

of O’Connell’s traveling partners. “I called to congratulate him, and you could just tell it was like the world was becoming right again, the stars are back to aligning. You could sense it was a huge relief, like the war wasn’t over but that a big battle was won.” O’Connell has been riding that momentum ever since. He heads into theWrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas yet again atop the PRCA | RAMBareback RidingWorld Standings. While last year’s lead heading to the NFR was an event best $65,259, this year’s lead is less than $15,000. O’Connell is fine with that. “Yeah, this target is going to be a little bit closer, but I don’t like it to be close, and it gives me a little anxiety,” he said. “That’s when I start to pedal down and be more aggressive on the backs of horses.” Knowing the pack of bareback riders will be hot on his tail as the competition opens Dec. 6, he might alter his riding plans. “Normally, every night I have a game plan for every horse I get on,” he said. “Sometimes I might take a bigger chance. At the end of the day, Vegas decides the world champion. Everyone will come in there in the best shape of their life and the mentality to win first. I’m going to go in there and do what I’ve done the last two years and let the chips fall where they do.” If history is any indication, those chips likely will land right in front of O’Connell. “The second one put a stamp on it that I mean business when I come here now,” he said. “I can show up any day, any time and I have that world champion’s mentality. I think everybody has got that mentality. But that really solidified that what I do to prepare myself for the Finals – how I rodeo throughout the year, who I travel with, who I have my support systemwith – it all solidified my trust in the process.”

ProRodeo Sports News 11/16/2018

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