NFR PREVIEW Briggs Back to Defend World and Average Title
By Ann Bleiker T he Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is the pinnacle event in the sport of rodeo featuring the Top 15 WPRA jockeys and horses battling it out 10 straight nights inside the confines of the Thomas and Mack arena. “The NFR is never easy,” noted reigning world champion Jordon Briggs. “I feel like in Vegas it is whoever deserves it the most, and whoever’s week it is gets it out there. I know I am going in with a $50,000 cushion but that doesn’t really mean anything with what Vegas pays. That can go away in a hurry … like two rounds.” Briggs made history last year aboard Famous Lil Jet “Rollo” when she won the world title and joined her mother, four-time world champion and ProRodeo Hall of Fame member Kristie Peterson, on the list of champions. In doing so, they became the first ever mother- daughter duo to win a WPRA world barrel racing title. “First it was a lot of pressure to hear world champion with my name because I felt it came with the expectation to follow-up this year with the same results after such a great Finals (last year),” said the 34-year-old. “After I won, I said it wasn’t going to sink in until I heard someone announce it. You don’t get time to soak it in as you start back the year at Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston. You just have to be perfect all over again to defend it.” She has definitely put herself in the driver’s seat to defend that title after amassing $177,779 at just 31 rodeos, leading a very talented field of horse and rider combinations. “My main goal was to get into the big rodeos and to do well at them,
so I didn’t have to run my horse very much this summer,” said Briggs, when describing her season. “He (Rollo) must have had the same goal, as we had a great winter. Houston was definitely a huge deal. That was probably one of my favorite wins. To win RodeoHouston allowed me the ability to be more relaxed the rest of the year.” Almost a little too relaxed, as she hadn’t realized the WPRA has a rule that you must compete in a minimum of 25 ProRodeos to be eligible for the NFR. “The craziest thing that happened as I was done entering for the summer and was on my way to getting 25 rodeos. I had no idea there was a minimum number of rodeos I had to compete in to be eligible for the NFR. I was going to rodeo 23, 24, 25, when I learned that. The week of Dodge City got me my count. It worked out even though I didn’t know the rule. Thankfully I learned that from Wenda (Johnson) before it was too late. I knew she always goes to very few rodeos so figured she was a reliable source on the rule.” Several other ladies join Briggs and Johnson in having qualified for the 2022 NFR with very few rodeos attended. Dona Kay Rule comes in ranked No. 2 with $127,442 earned at just 37 rodeos and Kassie Mowry, ranked 10th, comes in with $92,553 won at just 26 rodeos, with her two biggest paychecks coming from the Calgary Stampede and RodeoHouston. Briggs will be making her third NFR trip, Rule her 4th at the young age of 64 (Mary Burger still holds the record of competing in the 2016 NFR at the age of 68) and Mowry will be Jordon Briggs and Rollo returns to the 2022 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in the driver’s seat to defend her world and average titles. Briggs enters with a $50,000 cushion but know that can be erased in two rounds at the NFR. WPRA photo by Kenneth Springer
One of the highest ranked newcomers to the NFR will be Texas Circuit champion Sissy Winn, who finished the year ranked seventh with $101,848. She will be looking for go-round wins and votes for the Jerry Ann Taylor Best Dressed Award, an award she won at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, shown here. Photo by James Phifer
12 WPRA NEWS DECEMBER 2021 12 WPRA NEWS NOVEMBER 2022
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