NFR Day 8: Allen jumps to steer wrestling lead, Wright returns — PHOTOS
Steer wrestler Tucker Allen entered the 2025 National Finals Rodeo with $150,867 in earnings and was fifth in the world standings.
He has almost matched that total with his earnings through eight rounds of NFR. And he has taken the lead in the standings.
Allen won his third go-round at NFR with a time of 3.9 seconds and won Thursday night’s steer wrestling go-round at the on the eighth night of the event at the Thomas & Mack Center, picking up $36,667 in earnings.
With the win, Allen has jumped Will Lummus for the lead in the standings. Allen has $298,963 in earnings and leads Lummus by more than $8,000 with two rounds remaining.
Allen, from Ventura, California, has $148,096 in earnings during the NFR.
“I don’t even know how much I’ve won yet, but hopefully we’ll try to get more,” Allen said. “That’s what you’re here for.
“Just one night at a time, that’s all the matters. There’s no where else where you can go for $36 grand at night, so might as well go for it each night.”
The 26-year-old is also first in the aggregate, which is an average of all the competitors’ times throughout NFR. Allen’s aggregate time is 36.60 seconds on eight runs and second-place Rowdy Parrott is at 46.40 seconds.
If Allen holds the first-place spot, he would add another $94,035 to his earnings.
“It’s cool (to be No. 1 in the standings). I really don’t care about the average or the world,” Allen said. “It’s one night at a time. … I just tried to axe that steer out.
“Luckily, it worked out and he cooperated, so we’ll take it. … One of my favorite runs of the week.”
The biggest development of Thursday night was Stetson Wright returning to make his runs in saddle bronc riding and bull riding after he suffered a left hip and right leg contusion after reride during the bull riding event Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Wright posted a score of 82.75 seconds in his saddle bronc ride and did not receive any earnings. Wright was gingerly walking off and was seen grimacing. Wright then finished fourth in his bull-riding go-round with a score of 88 points and picked up $15,377 in earnings.
Wright holds a more than $129,678 lead over Wacey Schalla for the all-round title and leads Ky Hamilton by more than $90,000 in the bull riding standings.
‘Prepare to do this good’
Allen wasn’t out of it entering NFR, as he was fewer than $45,000 behind Lummus for the lead. Allen jumped to second in the standings after winning the go-round on the second night of NFR on Friday.
He then shared the go-round win on Sunday with Lummus. Allen was the only rider to hit under 4-seconds with his winning run Thursday and Lummus did not post a time after missing his steer.
“In a way, yeah,” Allen said when asked if he expected to perform this well at NFR. “You never want to be cocky and say ‘I was expecting this.’ Everyone daydreams about finals like this, but you prepare to do this good.
“I’m just blessed to have been able to do this good.”
Allen credited his horse, Banker, for being solid throughout NFR to have a great run and be in a position to contend for the world title.
“He’s a blessing. He’s truly one of a kind,” Allen said. Hopefully, he goes down as one of the greatest. He deserves all the credit. He’s unreal. He’s the reason that all of this has happened. Couldn’t do it without him.”
‘Be willing to fail’
It’s the second NFR for Allen. He finished 11th in last year’s standings and placed in two rounds and was fourth in the average.
Allen said his preparation has been the same as this year’s NFR, but the change has been his mindset to be more aggressive.
“I learned not to back off,” Allen said. “I played it same on one or two stars and ended up fourth in the average and fourth kind of sucks. I mean it doesn’t suck, money’s great, but we don’t compete to finish fourth. I told myself be willing to fail big to win big.”
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
Pope goes back-to-back in bareback riding
The battle for the bareback riding world title is far from over. Jess Pope, the 2022 world champion, is cutting into Rocker Steiner's large lead.
Pope won his second straight go-round at this year's National Finals Rodeo, posting a score of 88.25 in his bareback riding go-round on the eighth night of NFR Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
"(I feel) very confident," Pope said. "It took me a while to get heated up here, but I finally drew good and we'll see where the cards lay at the end of the week. I feel pretty confident."
Pope, 27 from Waverly, Kansas is third in the standings with $340,192 in earnings. He is more than $80,000 behind leader Steiner ($421,185) and more than $8,000 behind second-place Sam Petersen ($348,805).
The wildcard is the aggregate, an average of all the competitors' scores through NFR. Pope leads the aggregate with 648.50 points on eight runs and would gain $94,035 in earnings if he holds onto the top spot.
Petersen is second in the aggregate with 681.75 points on eight runs. Factoring in the aggregate, Pope wild be the world champion if NFR ended after eight runs.
On Thursday, Steiner did not receive any earnings with an 80.25 score and Petersen was second (87.25 points) and picked up $28,979 in earnings.
"I was really excited coming into it," Pope said. "I knew it was going to be a big battle the whole time. I'm very grateful to be here. … I had a really good feeling coming into it. I knew it wasn't going to be easy."
Pope won his go-round on Wednesday with a score of 88 points. Pope said as Wednesday's go-round winners celebrated at a ceremony at the South Point, he found out he had drawn Deep Springs has his horse for Thursday and said he liked his chances.
"I knew it was a really good chance to win a go-round," Pope said. "I was really excited to have him."
Other go-round winners:
Kolton Schmidt, Barrhead, Alberta, Canada, and Jonathan Torres, Ocala, Florida, in team roping (3.8 seconds).
Weston Patterson, Wavery, Kansas, in saddle bronc riding (89 points).
Kincade Henry, Mount Pleasant, Texas, in tie-down roping (7.0 seconds).
Tricia Aldridge, Sanger, Texas, in barrel racing (13.64 seconds).
T.J. Gray, Dairy, Oregon, in bull riding (90.75 points).
— Alex Wright Review-Journal
