ProRodeo Sports News - September 17, 2021

Richardson nearly breaks record with $38,000 win Big Score BY TRACY RENCK W ith the PRCA regular season winding down, Braden Richardson needed a financial jolt if he was going to make his debut at the 2021Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He received one in a big way at the PRCA Division 1 Xtreme Bulls event in Ellensburg, Wash., Sept. 4. The Texas cowboy never had much luck at the Ellensburg Rodeo Xtreme Bulls, but that became a distant memory after his latest appearance. Richardson, the last rider out in the short round, had an 84-point ride on Outlawbuckers Rodeo’s Wild Child to win the two-head average with 173 points, earning more than $38,000. “This feels amazing,” said Richardson, 26. “It is hard to believe because I always wanted to win it, and now it’s here.” The victory could not have come at a better time for Richardson. He up there in the standings. It’s starting to sink in, and I can’t believe it. If I could make it to the NFR, that would mean I would achieve the dream I have had since I was 12 years old, when I started riding bucking bulls.” The closest Richardson has come to qualifying for the Wrangler NFR was in 2020 when he finished 25th. Richardson and six-time world champion Sage Kimzey were the only two riders to stay on two bulls. Kimzey, who leads the world standings, won the short round with an 88-point ride on Corey & Lange Rodeo’s Billy Hell and finished second in the average with 171 points. “I had never been onWild Child before,” Richardson said. “It was a lot of hanging on, and the bull didn’t really have a set pattern. He didn’t do his normal trip. Man, I was just hanging on. I don’t really know how else to explain it.” Richardson won the long round with an 89-point ride on Dakota Rodeo’s Not Today, which earned him $10,364.

“I started things off right with a good ride in the first round,” Richardson said. “Then, in the short round, I just tried to keep the same mindset as I had in the first round, and that was just do my job. I had no nerves. Honestly, I didn’t even hear the whistle because the crowd was so loud, it was crazy.” With his win, Richardson joins Clayton Sellars (San Angelo, Texas, and Reno, Nev.), Fletcher Jowers (Austin, Texas), Dustin Boquet (San Antonio), T.J. Gray (Del Rio, Texas), J.B. Mauney and Sage Kimzey (tied at Spanish Fork, Utah), and Creek Young (Lovington, N.M.) as winners on the 2021 Division 1 Xtreme Bulls Tour.

was sitting 20th in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings with $55,743, and it appeared any chance at the NFR might vanish with the regular season ending Sept. 30. The win put the NFR well within reach after it vaulted him to ninth as he earned $38,273. Richardson just missed breaking the record for most money earned at an Xtreme Bulls event. Jordan Spears set that mark at $39,386 when he won the Xtreme Bulls Tour Finale in Ellensburg in 2017. “That’s the most money I have ever won at a PRCA rodeo, by far,” Richardson said. “I was on the bubble by about $10,000, and it bumped me

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Bull rider Braden Richardson smiles and acknow- ledges the crowd after earning the biggest payday of his PRCA career at the Ellensburg Xtreme Bulls. Molly Morrow photo

ProRodeo Sports News 9/17/2021

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