Saddle Bronc Rider Chase Brooks Is Inching Into Wright Territory At No. 3

Since his last trip to the NFR in 2023, Chase Brooks has put in the work to make it back to the top. Now, he's heading into the summer at No. 3 in the world standings.

Chase Brooks | Fernando Sam-Sin

The race for the saddle bronc world title is not an easy one. Typically Stetson Wright dominates the event, but things have shaken up this season as his brother Rusty sits at No. 1 in the world and now Chase Brooks (No. 3) is closing the gap between him at that No. 2 spot.

Back At The Top

Despite being in ProRodeo since 2013, Brooks has yet to take home a world title, although he has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo six times (2018-23). Brooks is looking to make it back to the Thomas and Mack Arena for the first time in three years, and he’s got a great start this year.

The Deer Lodge, Montana man is inching his way to the $100,000 mark with $92,339 banked so far, although he’s $70,000 behind Stetson, (who himself is $5,000 behind Rusty) he has a solid set of summer rodeos ahead of him that could lead to closing that gap. 

He won seven rodeos last year, all of which came towards the end of the regular season. Although the wins weren’t enough to push him into the top 15 (finishing at No.18), he has primed himself at this point in the season to not only land in the top 15 but the top three.

Early Season Checks

Most recently, the cowboy has cashed checks the World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale Matched Xtreme Bronc Ride (second place), Rodeo Corpus Christi (where he won the first round and finished second in the average) and most notable, his performance at the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo, where he secured the average win. 

Kicking off the summer at the Reno Rodeo in Nevada, (June 19th through the 27th), Brooks will have to keep this momentum up if he wants to lock down the No. 3 spot as he’s only $4,000 ahead of Kade Bruno in No. 4. Since early in his career, Brooks has been one to watch in the saddle bronc arena. He qualified for the NFR six times in a row and he is now one step closer to doing so again.

Although the cowboy has faced some hardships in the last few years that have forced him to take a step back from rodeo, and therefore out of the Thomas & Mack spotlight, he is back to prove this season he has what it takes to nail down a seventh NFR qualification.