LAS VEGAS – Hunter Cure lens heavily on his team.

It paid off Friday night during the second round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, where Cure wrestled his steer to the ground in 4.5 second to finish third and earn $11,118. It was a good way to finally kick-start his second trip to ProRodeo’s grand finale.

“I knew my steer was probably middle of this herd,” said Cure, of Holliday, Texas, referring to the 15 steer that were wrestled Friday night. “I figured if I needed to win a check, I needed to make an outstanding run. My horse worked significantly better than he did last night, which certainly helped.”

Yes, it did. Charlie bolted out the chute, allowing the steer the perfect head start. Cure’s hazer, Riley Duvall, did what he needed to set the steer in the correct position for the Texas bulldogger.

“Take Luke Branquinho last night; without being in position, even a multiple world champion can’t throw one down,” Cure said. “My horse worked as good as anything this evening.

“With Riley Duvall on the other side riding Matt Reeves’ good mare, Beemer, I’ve got more chances than some guys. Riley was a touch behind, but then he got in there and got that steer picked up for me. The start is the most critical thing we have here at this NFR set-up.”

Now that all the cogs are working together, Cure is focusing his attention to the details to continue riding the hot wave. He has pushed his season earnings to $76,124 and is sixth in the world standings.

“I feel like that is where we needed to be tonight, and I want to strive to be in there every night,” he said. “I’m a big believer in setting a routing and having time to prepare yourself ahead of time. If you’ve got all those things done when you back in the box, it should feel like home base.”