RENO, NEV.; June 23, 2014 — There was definitely a fast track in the barrel racing Monday night at the 95th Reno Rodeo.
MESQUITE, TX – The weekend of Feb. 21-23 brought heartbreaks and triumphs as athletes young and old competed to move on to the richest one-day rodeo, THE AMERICAN at AT&T Stadium on March 2. The top-five Semi-final winners from Bareback Riding, Saddle Bronc, Steer Wrestling, Tie-Down Roping and top-five teams in Team Roping along with the top 10 Barrel Racers and one Bull Riding qualifier advanced.
Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame officials Pam Minick, Kit Moncrief, and Elaine Agather presented Women’s Professional Rodeo Association barrel racer and two-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier Jane Melby, Burneyville, Okla., with a $5,000 check for winning the Jerry Ann Taylor Best Dressed Award at the 2014 Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo.
How do you imagine the reigning queen of Women’s Professional Rodeo Association barrel racing spent the days and weeks following her fourth world championship win, which she achieved in record-setting fashion? In true cowgirl fashion, she saddled up young barrel racing proteges but took time to talk with Barrel Horse News about what the title means to her and the range of emotions she experienced through the course of the 2013 Wrangler NFR. Read all about Cervi’s journey to the top in the February issue of BHN. Check out our recap of final standings, total earnings and round placings for a sneak peak at the feature-length coverage which will appear in the next issue.
By Danika Kent – Photos courtesy PRCA
Rodeo fans set a record of their own tonight when they showed up 18,242 strong, an NFR attendance best in the Thomas and Mack Center Arena. In front of the enthusiastic Saturday night crowd, Sherry Cervi and the great mare MP Meter My Hay rewrote a few pages in the barrel racing history books when Cervi was crowned the 2013 WPRA World Champion Barrel Racer, her fourth world title.
By Danika Kent – Photo by
Only three women have graced the go-round winner’s circle at this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, and tonight Lisa Lockhart took her second victory lap of the week inside the Thomas and Mack Center Arena. Rebounding from the devastating 5-second penalty she was fined for last night’s tipped barrel, Lockhart’s 13.65 was fueled by a little extra determination and South Dakota grit in the ninth round of the NFR.
By Danika Kent – Photo by Larry Smith, courtesy PRCA
Tipped barrel troubles shook things up in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo barrel race tonight, but Sherry Cervi remains unshaken. Running first out, MP Meter My Hay’s 13.71 would not be moved by the other 14 contenders.
By Danika Kent – Photo by Ross Hecox
Some call him buckskin, she calls him grulla, but we call him fast. At the conclusion of the seventh go-round of the 2013 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, it seems that Taylor Jacob, Carmine, Texas, simply will not be outrun. First out on the ground, Michele McLeod gave Slick By Design fans what they’ve been waiting for when she took an early lead with a rapid 13.48. Eight runs later, Jacob stole the go-round win from the Whitesboro, Texas, jockey on the black stallion when she and Honor Thy Frenchman clocked a 13.47 in front of 17,416 approving fans in the Thomas & Mack Center Arena on the UNLV campus.
While discussing prospects with Barrel Horse News in the summer of 2011, Cody Bauserman talked about the future super stars of barrel racing. He talked about the importance of pedigree saying, “We’re starting to run the babies out of mares that we ran 15 years ago, and it sure makes it a lot easier to train them. We’ve almost come to where we have our own breeding for barrels.”
By Danika Kent – Photo by Ross Hecox
She may have had a slow start to the week, but the tipped barrels that plagued the first two rounds of Taylor Jacob’s inaugural Wrangler National Finals Rodeo were a distant memory tonight when she left a 13.37 on the clock in the Thomas and Mack Center Arena. Her round six win bested the previous record set by Carlee Pierce on Rare Dillon, a 13.46 in 2011, by nine hundredths of a second.
