Unstoppable: Kassie Mowry and Force The Goodbye Win Round Seven of Wrangler NFR

LAS VEGAS — DECEMBER 11, 2024 — There’s no stopping Kassie Mowry and Force The Goodbye. The Dublin, Texas, duo turned in a 13.19 to win Round Seven of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, presented by Teton Ridge. This makes four round wins in a row for Mowry and Jarvis. They’ve collected $197,996 so far and currently sit No. 2 in the world.

“It felt incredible,” Mowry said of her Round Seven run. “It’s what you train every day for, a lot of work goes into a run like that.”

Mowry is known for her work ethic along with her talent as a trainer. As the all-time leading rider of barrel horses she’s ridden horses to championships in nearly every facet of the industry, from futurities, to derbies to professional rodeo. She’s claimed the Barrel Futurities of America Futurity World Championship twice — in fact in 2022 she did so with Jarvis. She’s earned the BFA World Championships Juvenile title twice, and the BFA SuperStakes slot race twice. She’s earned the Old Fort Days Derby championship once, and qualified for The American Rodeo multiple times and the NFR five times. These are just a few of a laundry list of championships she’s won in her career. She is a multiple open, futurity, derby, slot race, pro rodeo winner and has multiple arena records.

The 6-year-old gelding by The Goodbye Lane and out of VF Forcit First, who’s by Burrs First Down has steadily gotten faster with each round at this year’s NFR. Now Mowry is owner to three of the top five fastest times inside the Thomas and Mack Center. The $7.5 million rider knows what it takes for a horse to be a winner, and Jarvis continues to prove just how great of a winner he is inside the Thomas and Mack Center arena.

“When I’m training my 3 year olds, I do get a lot of people that ask me, ‘How do you know which one’s going to be great?’ You don’t know until they hear their name called,” Mowry said. “I always say that I don’t know. I’ve had some I trained that just didn’t live up to what I thought they would do when the pressure came on and the announcer and everything, and then I had some that just surprised the heck out of me. So I really don’t know when they have that ‘it’ factor. I know if they’ve got the talent, but it’s that heart that’s in him and that try that you only find out when you ask him for it.”

So far at this NFR Jarvis has led Mowry to $197,996 and he’s added that number to his earnings tally as well. Prior to the 2024 NFR Jarvis had $115,991 in total NFR earnings to his name and after Round Seven he’s brought that total to $313,987. That puts him unofficially in the top 15 of all-time leading NFR horses. It also increases his overall EquiStat career earnings to more than $1.3 million. It’s pushed Mowry, to more than $7.5 million in lifetime EquiStat earnings and more than $1 million in career WPRA earnings.

Mowry was reminded this week that she knew early on in Jarvis’ career he’d be an NFR-caliber horse.

“Mariah [Mannering] reminded us of this last year. She said one day when I was out riding in the end of his 3-year-old year, I told Mike, ‘This is my next NFR horse,'” Mowry said. “When she said that I remembered, I did say that. I had thought a lot of this horse from the beginning. His trainability is unmatched. He never says, ‘No,’ he’s a sponge. He wasn’t the most athletic horse I’ve ever got on, but there’s nothing that tried harder than him to figure it out.”

Top Five Fastest NFR Barrel Racing Runs (inside Thomas and Mack Center)

2017, Round Three: Hailey Kinsel/DM Sissy Hayday/13.11 (arena record)
2017, Round 10: Hailey Kinsel/DM Sissy Hayday/13.17
2024, Round Seven: Kassie Mowry/Force The Goodbye/13.19
2024, Round Six: Kassie Mowry/Force The Goodbye/13.25
2023, Round Eight: Kassie Mowry/Force The Goodbye/13.30

Dona Kay Rule and High Valor turn the barrel at the NFR — Dona Kay Rule and High Valor picked up her first check of the 2024 Wrangler NFR in Round Seven with a fifth place finish from a time of 13.61, worth $8,693.47. Photo by Kenneth Springer

Standings Update

The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association world standings has been come a tight race between No. 1 cowgirl Hailey Kinsel — who’s ridden world champion barrel horse DM Sissy Hayday in all seven rounds — and Mowry. Kinsel and “Sister” have taken home three rounds wins of their own and placed in three others. Tonight, fans of barrel racings watched as the race between two of the best names in barrel racing got event tighter as an unexpected upset from Kinsel put her out of the money. Kinsel and Sister tipped two barrels in Round Seven and went from leading the aggregate race to sitting seventh. Mowry now follows Kinsel in world standings earnings by only $7,045.84. However, three rounds of competition remain and anything could happen. Mowry sits in the fourth place position in the aggregate after having hit a barrel in Round One.

Andrea Busby is making a strong showing aboard her homebred WPRA world champion barrel horse Jets Top Gun. The world watched in 2023 as “Benny” and Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi claimed the world title and crushed records along the way. This year, Busby and Benny are showing fans that first-time qualifiers aren’t to be counted out. They’ve placed in six of the seven rounds and are leading the aggregate race with a time of 95.40. They’ve earned $101,553 in NFR earnings and moved from No. 12 in the world to No. 4.

2024 WPRA Top 15 Stats

2024 NFR Barrel Racing Horsepower

Top 10 EquiStat NFR All-Time Leaders