Gus Gaillard Shakes Off NFR Miss to Secure Monster Win Towards 2027 Season

Events of the past seven days could have left Gus Galliard unfocused.

The Morse, Texas, saddle bronc rider came into the final week of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s 2026 regular season aiming to close the gap in the world standings.

Galliard was on the wrong side of the cutline. Despite his best efforts, he remained there after the 2026 schedule ended. In the unofficial final standings, Galliard ended up about $2,200 behind No. 15 Ben Anderson, leaving him one spot away from making his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

It was a near miss, one Galliard was eager to put behind him. Consider that done.

“You’ve kind of got to block out everything that’s happened throughout the last year and focus on the new year and having a fresh start and a good attitude. That’s kind of what I tried to do,” Gaillard said of his approach to the Brad Gjermundson Extreme Broncs event on Oct. 2-3.

“I kind of tried to act like it didn’t happen and just put it out of my mind. I know that I belong in the top 15 with those guys and a new season started right then. So I was trying to prove a point.”

Galliard placed in all three rounds, including a tie for first in the finals to accumulate more than $27,800 that will count towards the 2027 PRCA World Standings.

The New Town, N.D., showdown has served as one of the first competitions of the new season, bringing together some of the best saddle bronc riders in the PRCA.

Last year’s winner, Wyatt Casper, used the victory as a starting point to earn more than $200,500 in regular-season earnings, a personal best, on his way to a sixth NFR qualification this December.

Like Galliard, Casper was on the wrong side of the cutline in 2025. He parlayed the victory into a bounce-back season. That's an outcome Galliard is hoping to replicate in 2027.

After tying with four other riders for fifth in the first round, Galliard shared a three-way split for runner-up in the second go. That earned him a spot in the short round as some of the PRCA’s best, including Rusty Wright, Brody Cress, Ryder Wright and Zeke Thurston, all prepared to compete.

Galliard’s last horse, Summit Pro Rodeo’s Cat Walk, was a familiar foe as the two met at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days during his permit season. This time around, Galliard went for 91.5 points, tying with Thurston for the round’s high score. His total payout, $27,801, put him about $2,800 ahead of Thurston for the most in total prize money.

“Once we figured out what we had in the short round, I was super happy with my draw. That horse is an amazing horse and feels super good,” Galliard said. “I have been on it before and made a good ride. I knew I had a pretty good chance of winning that deal once I saw what I had, so I was pretty excited.”

The goal moving forward is to keep that momentum during the final months of 2026 and into the winter schedule of 2027. Galliard is slated to take part in the Texas Circuit Finals in Waco next week before heading to Australia for the Australian Invitational Bronc Match at the end of October.

Galliard came close to ProRodeo’s biggest showcase in 2026. And with a head start on 2027, he’s looking forward to the opportunity to finish the job when the calendar flips.

“You’ve got to trust in yourself and believe in yourself and say you’re there for a purpose and you’re there to beat (the other riders) and you know you’re capable of beating them. That’s what I tried to tell myself, I do belong with those guys. I can ride right there with them and beat them when I need to,” Galliard said.

“It felt super good to kind of build my confidence up a little bit right there, especially after they tried to take it all away. Being in 16th can put you in a pretty low spot and try to take all your confidence away. But it felt really good to respond back in a positive way.”

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