The American Rodeo Sets Stage for Exciting Final 4 Round and $1 Million Payout

ARLINGTON, Texas — It's a million dollar kind of day in Arlington, Texas with The American Rodeo in town. The contestants have given it their best shot and the final four have been named in each of the events. These cowboys and cowgirls have the chance either at $100,000 or $1,000,000 depending on how they arrived into the round.

The Contenders who came through the qualifying rounds are eligible for a chance at the $1 million bonus. Those who were in the top five of the PRCA or WPRA world standings can take home $100,000 for the win.

Without further hesitation, here are your top four qualifiers in each event.

Bareback Riding

Jess Pope put on a show in the round of 10 to take the win and move on. Pope was able to crawl down on Disco Party from Calgary Stampede yet again in his career and he capitalized by scoring 87.5-points to take the early lead and stayed right there. Given that Pope was in the top five of the world, he will be eligible for the $100,000.

With fans either loving or well, let's just say having their own sometimes warranted sometimes not warranted opinion, Rocker Steiner isn't phased. He just nods his head and takes center stage. The cowboy clad in red as usual rode another Calgary horse by the name of Forgetfully nelly for 86.25 and advances.

The number 11 ranked cowboy in the world as of today, Waylon Bourgeois comes into The American as a contender as is eligible for the million dollar bonus. He qualified by riding Frontier Rodeo's Painted Smoke for 85.75 points.

Cajun Queen from Championship Rodeo and Utah's Dean Thompson teamed up to be the final one to move on. With 85.5 points, Thompson secured his spot.

Breakaway Roping

Only one cowgirl moving on to the final four is million dollar eligible. That lucky lady is Kaydence Tindall. She has brought her A-game to Globe Life Field as she won the round of 15 on Friday night to deposit $15,000 to her bank account, let alone being able to win the million.

Tindall was 2.2 seconds in the round of 10 to earn her way to move on.

The fastest girl in town thus far is none other than the talented Josie Conner. With the only run under two seconds, the mighty cowgirl turned in a 1.99 to take the win.

"My plan is to hit the barrier and take the quickest shot I can every time. I plan to capitalize in the round of four today. I didn't do it last year, but today's the day," Conner said.

NFR cowgirls Martha Angelone and former World Champion Shelby Meged will join in on the final four round to see who will claim the championship.

Team Roping

The story continues for the million dollar eligible team of Chad Masters and Cory Petska. They put an exclamation point on their quest in the round of 10 with their smoking time of 4.0 to take the win.

NFR cowboys Clint Summers and Jake Long came in second place in the long round with a 4.38 seconds.

From that point on it became a game of business. Tyler Wade and Jake Long had the luxury of being last out and with a one leg catch still making it back in the top four, they just made a good practice run and stopped the clock at 6.4.

In a interesting turn of events, disappointment went to opportunity. When Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira finished their run, they left the arena certain they were done for the day. With a plus five penalty for one leg, the time of 8.92 didn't seem to be good enough, but when the round ended they still held down the number four position and get another shot at greatness.

Saddle Bronc Riding

Keeping right along with the same theme, just one cowboy advanced who is eliglbe for the big bucks. Three Wright cowboys nodded their heads in the round of 10 and incredibly not a single one moves on to the round of four. All three rode their horses but came up just shy on the points needed to advance.

Damian Brennan said, "This is really huge. You don't get to ride for this kind of money every day, it's incredible."

He couldn't have said it better and he took full advantage of the opportunity by winning the round of 10 to move on.

The only man eligible for the bonus is Melstone, Montana cowboy Sage Newman. Riding Flying Carma from the Calgary Stampede yielded 88-points and advancement.

Wyatt Casper and Zeke Thurston round out the top 4 who have earned their way into the finals.

Steer Wrestling

The story remains true through the steer wrestling. One man moved on who is eligible for the bonus money.

The big man, Will Lummus took the win in the round of 10. He said, "Honestly, being able to make the final four in a set of guys like this is really amazing, let alone getting the win. I'm just glad to be here."

Lummus threw the fastest steer thus far in the competition with his 3.5 second run. Right behind him was 11-time NFR cowboy Dakota Eldridge when he stopped the clock at 3.7 seconds.

The million dollar eligible man Jesse Brown came in third in the round with his 4.01 run. Brown is currently sitting number four in the PRCA World Standings, so make no mistake this man has a huge chance. He was followed by J.D. Struxness who finished at 4.16 seconds.

Tie-Down Roping

It is a script worth noting - one contender moves on to be in contention for the million dollars. In an outstanding round of 10, it took a just a tiny bit over eight seconds to make the cut line of top four.

The Mount Pleasant, Texas man is on a mission though. After winning the round of 15 contenders on Friday night, Kincade Henry did it again in the round of 10. He is staying solid in the seven seconds. He tied his calf last night in a smoking 7.32 seconds and came back today to be 7.58 earning the win.

Henry will be joined by some incredibly tough company. Starting with the man who actually tied with him today, former World Champion Shane Hanchey. The La. man had to sweat out a judge review which ultimately turned out to be in his favor.

The final two moving foward are none other than World Champions Haven Meged and Riley Webb. The company is tough and the final four will be a scorcher, no dout.

Barrel Racing

Palominos have always been popular but they certainly took center stage in the round of 10. Match up a four-time World Champion against an 11-year-old phenom and you have a story brewing.

In the first set of five ladies, there were two World Champions and three millionaires. The two that raised the roof on Globe Life ran back-to-back. Hailey Kinsel and her incredible mount, Sister, went right to the top of the leaderboard when they stopped the electric eye at 15.184 which was the fastest time of the weekend so far. Until a little bundle of dynamite by the name of Dusky Lynn Hall ran at the bottom of the ground and took command. Her time of 15.133 smoked the competition and took leaderboard by storm.

Unlike any other event, the barrel racers changed the game. There are two contenders moving on with a chance to take their piece of the pie and a million dollars. Of course, Hall is one of them and joining her will be Taycie Matthews and PopRocks, the 2023 AQHA Horse of the Year. The pair of cowgirls earned the top two spots in the round of 10.

Hailey Kinsel along with the reigning World Champion Kassie Mowry and the impressive Jarvis will compete in the top four round.

This event will be a knife fight to the end with the best cowgirls and their incredible equine mounts. Stay tuned!

Bull Riding

There will only be two men competing in the final round as they are the only ones to cover their bulls in the round of 10. Neither of these cowboys was eligible for the bonus. So the winner of the bull riding will take home $100,000 providing one of them covers their bull.

Interestingly enough, it was the first two guys out of the chute to cover their animals for the full eight seconds. Tristan Hutchings started things off on a good foot riding Championship Rodeo's Electric Avenue for 83.75 points and a guaranteed position in the finals.

NFR qualifier T.J. Gray from Oregon said, stand back boys. He also got on a Championship Rodeo bull by the name of Firetime and took over the top spot with his 85.5 points. Firetime showed the crowd his attitude by struting around the arena for a bit as if to say, "You didn't see enough of me." He might not have thought so but he certainly bucked hard enough to earn Gray the win and impress the fans.

Now to see who will be the champions. Stay tuned.