LAS VEGAS – The National Finals Rodeo is a roller coaster of emotions. There are peaks and valleys, and the climb is sometimes the best part.
Bareback rider Richmond Champion is still hoping for a ride to the top. He rode Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Risky Business for 86 points to finish in a three-way tie for third place during Friday’s ninth round, but it was just his second payday of the NFR so far.
“I don’t place a whole lot in the ‘hopper rounds,’ ” Champion, a nine-time NFR qualifier from Stevensville, Montana, said of the Round 9 pen of broncs. “I feel really good about that, because it’s another check and am still solid in the average. Life is good.”
He has pocketed just $28,435 in go-round checks, but he’s ridden nine horses for a cumulative score of 750 points to sit eighth in the average. Should he remain there when the 10th round concludes Saturday night, he’ll pad his earnings to the tune of $8,150. If he moves up a spot to seventh, it’s worth $14,670.
He will enter the final night of the 2024 campaign 13th in the world standings with $167,400.
“Eighth in the average is money, and I don’t want to leave anything on the table that I have an opportunity for,” he said. “I feel like I haven’t had a lot of opportunities this week. I’ve played the cards I’ve been dealt, and here we are with one more opportunity.
“Technically, it’s two big opportunities with the average, so I’m pumped. This is the best I’ve ever felt coming into Round 9.”
That’s saying something, because bareback riding is brutal. Cowboys wear specially designed gloves with binds in them, then wedge their riding hands into a rigging that is strapped tightly around the horse. They are locked onto a 1,200-pound bucking machine.
The men are also only half the score. The animal, and the way it bucks, is a big part of the equation. The cowboy is marked by how well he spurs the horse from in front of its shoulders back to the rigging in rhythm with the bucking motion. If the horse isn’t having a great day, it affects the overall score.
“Drawing well is part of it,” Champion said. “I don’t actually know how you train for that, but I’ll figure it out before next year.”
Champion has a plan of attack, and he hopes to finish strong at this year’s finale and carry that momentum into the 2025 campaign.