By the Numbers: How the 2025 NFR Barrel Racing Field Stacked Up

It was a long road to qualifying for this year's NFR and it was a different path for everyone.

Fernando Sam-Sin

The National Finals Rodeo is beckoning closer every single day and the journey for this year's barrel racing qualifiers all look very different. Some contestants won significant checks on multiple horses, like Brittany Pozzi-Tonozzi and Emily Beisel while others primarily made this year's NFR on their main mount, like Kassie Mowry and Hailey Kinsel.

Everyone's path was very different, as some broke through at the very beginning of the year and never looked back, while some made the final push in the last week of the season. The No.1 cowgirl was the only one to amass $200,000 and only had to go to 28 rodeos to do so, while the No.15 lady went to 95.

A Look at the Top-15

Nathan Meyer Photography

There were five horses this year that won over $140,000 this season. For reference, the bottom hole this year was around $131,000, which means that one horse alone for these girls made their 2025 NFR dreams a reality.

• DM Sissy Hayday: $176,570, 94.8% of Kinsel's winnings.
• Seis Corona: $163,213, 93.3% of Megan Mcleod-Sprague's
• Force the Goodbye: $150,483, 74% of Mowry's
• Jettin Ta Heaven: $141,684, 98% of Halyn Lide's
• Adios Pantalones: $140,778, 99.7% of Tricia Aldridge's

Then there are barrel racers who used multiple horses throughout the year who and without every single check each one earned, they wouldn't be going to Vegas in a few weeks.

Pozzi-Tonozzi used plenty of different horses in 2025, but two stood out, Sir Epic and Australian phenomenon Cashin In The Fame. The pair made up for 95% of her year-end total, led by Sir Epic, who was one of nine horses to win over $100,000 this year.

Emily Beisel has been seen time and time again winning on a trailer full of horses. She won more than $30,000 on three horses and more than $13,000 on five. Her team was led by Teasin Dat Guy, who won nearly $80,000. Vanilla Gorilla and Ivory on Fire averaged out nearly $35,000 a piece by the end of the year.

Now some went through slumps worse than others, but nobody won a check every single time they went into the arena. Mowry was by far the most efficient, as she won 72% of the time, with Beisel in a close second at 69%.

*Note* This information was compiled from both the WPRA and barrel racer Casey Byrd. The total number of rodeos that a barrel racer went to was never the total amount of runs that she made this year.

Kassie Mowry, for example, was primarily seen at bracket rodeos with multiple rounds, like RODEOHOUSTON and Calgary. It is also interesting to note that Hailey Kinsel might have gone the longest without winning a check, but she frequently stepped off of Sister to make runs on her younger horses.

	Rodeo Count/ Total Runs Made	Number of Checks Won	Percentage of Checks Won	Largest Amount Won/ Where	Longest # of Runs W/Out a Check
Mowry $203,445	28/53	38	72%	$65,000: Houston	4
Pozzi-Tonozzi $194,716	72/105	56	53%	$20,000: Houston	7
Beisel $189,005	69/103	71	69%	$10,000: NFR Open	3
Kinsel $186,317	55/ 85	42	49%	$30,000: Houston	13
Mcleod-Sprague $174,974	62/ 94	42	45%	$16,000: Sioux Falls	7
Lockhart $169,467	66/96	57	59%	$10,819: Cheyenne	6
Otero $168,493	87/117	53	45%	$18,000: Days of 47	10
Ellis $146,991	44/61	28	46%	$50,000: Calgary	4
Lide $144,614	74/105	48	46%	$32,000: Sioux Falls	5
Moeykens $142,560	87/109	60	55%	$13,743: Hermiston	6
Aldridge $141,182	87/110	47	43%	$24,000: Sioux Falls	8
Gibson-Stillwell $140,032	82/103	62	60%	$6,871: Hermiston	4
Johnson $138,428	75/89	47	53%	$13,942: Ogden	4
Busby $133,098	78/115	49	43%	$20,000: Fort Worth	8
Scott $130,763	95/123	70	57%	$10,027: Mandan	5

Regardless of who, when, or how these ladies got there, they did it and will now be running down the alley of the Thomas and Mack in less than a month.

---