— Kassie Mowry wins $15,000 Cowtown Christmas Championship Rodeo Barrel Racing title; RC Landingham earns $1 million as first Triple Crown of Rodeo victor —
DECEMBER 18, 2022 — FORT WORTH, TEXAS — The World Champions Rodeo Alliance Cowtown Christmas Championship Rodeo rolled into the Fort Worth Stockyards from December 14–17 with over $360,000 in payout up for grabs. As the final stop in the WCRA’s Triple Crown of Rodeo — an annual bonus that will pay $1 million to any one athlete or collection of athletes who win first place in any three consecutive WCRA Major Rodeos — it also offered bareback rider RC Landingham the opportunity to capitalize as the first $1 million TCR victor.
Kassie Mowry Rides CP He Will Be Epic to Victory in Cowtown Christmas Championship Rodeo Barrel Racing
A hotly contested race in the barrel racing continued Saturday night in the Triple Crown of Rodeo final round of three. Fresh off her third trip to Vegas for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, renowned futurity trainer Kassie Mowry of Dublin, Texas, EquiStat’s all-time highest-earning barrel racer with more than $5.2 million in lifetime earnings, navigated the course with ease on her 2015 gelding CP He Will Be Epic (Epic Leader x Percilla x Dash Ta Fame) and ran the fastest time of the week in 13.226 on the new, smaller Cowtown barrel pattern to earn the $15,000 barrel racing championship.
The victory pushed Mowry’s 2022 EquiStat earnings to more than $1 million.
“Will” was trained and futuritied by Mowry and has more than $300,000 in lifetime earnings. The gelding she describes as a gentle giant ran in nine of 10 NFR rounds this year at his first NFR appearance with Mowry, adding $57,567.7 in NFR earnings to his resume.
Fellow futurity trainer Andrea Cline of Springtown, Texas, was hot on Mowry’s heels with a 13.331 for the reserve championship and $6,500 aboard 2016 mare Peachy And Juicy (Blazin Jetolena x SX Frenchmans Peach x Frenchmans Guy), owned by Alvin Boenker.
In third place for $2,500, Laura Mote of Llano, Texas, finished the Triple Crown of Rodeo round in 13.339 on her 2013 gelding Reb Hot Redbull (Reb Hot Fame x Little Rock Misty x Spires Rock).
RC Landingham Becomes First $1 Million Triple Crown of Rodeo Victor
Article courtesy WCRA Rodeo
RC Landingham of Hat Creek, California, walked out of the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, $1 million richer December 17, taking home the WCRA Triple Crown of Rodeo, presented by the Lazy E Ranch and Arena. The 32-year-old bareback rider’s career was beaten, bruised, bloody, and filled with tragedy leading up to this $1 million moment.
Landingham went into the event with two wins under his belt, only needing to win one more WCRA Major to earn the bonus. Landingham rode supreme and punched his ticket to $1 million WCRA Triple Crown of Rodeo cash bonus. Landingham is the third athlete to be in contention for the Triple Crown of Rodeo but the first victor of the $1 million bonus.
The Triple Crown of Rodeo is an annual bonus that will pay $1 million to any one athlete or collection of athletes who win first place in any three consecutive WCRA Major Rodeos.
“It has taken me more than a decade to earn a near $1 million,” Landingham said. “Thanks to this organization, it only took me three rodeos. This award has done nothing but raise the rodeo bar, and I hope it opens the eyes of others, because they are truly making million-dollar opportunities over here.”
Landingham’s grit and determination was evident before the Californian even stepped into the Cowtown Christmas Championship Rodeo for the second annual event in Fort Worth, Texas.
He drafted Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Untapped, a six-time NFR bucking horse, in the Showdown Round. The soon-to-be millionaire notched the top score in the round with an 84.5. Later in the Triple Crown of Rodeo Round, Landingham conquered his pick, Freckled Frog (Pickett Pro Rodeo), for a monstrous 89.5 points.
Landingham’s road to this historic moment met tragedy at every corner, beginning in 2010 when disaster struck in Houston while riding bulls. Landingham suffered broken ribs, fractured his back and shoulder on top of a lacerated liver and a collapsed lung.
After recovering from his injuries sustained in Houston, Landingham was dealt another sucker punch when he was involved in a gruesome car wreck in May 2011. The car was crushed, and Landingham shattered his left leg and broke two bones in his riding hand. The shattered glass from the accident also wreaked havoc on his musculature, requiring a large portion of his triceps muscle to be removed after they were shredded. Landingham wouldn’t awaken for two days after being transported to a Portland, Oregon, hospital.
Landingham rehabbed his broken body for 18 months. But the worst was yet to come. In 2013, his mother, Wendy, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly after the same dreaded disease took her mother, Landingham’s grandmother, way too soon. After a courageous four-year fight, with RC by her side, Wendy died in February 2017.
Shortly after the death of his mother, another curveball happened with a wreck in the arena when a horse fell over and dislocated his left shoulder. Much of Landingham’s rodeo career was delayed until 2021 due to a series of three shoulder surgeries after a screw and a chunk of bone broke off inside the joint.
Landingham returned to riding again in February of 2021 and hit new heights in this comeback, which has included back-to-back return NFR trips in 2021–22 and five WCRA Triple Crown of Rodeo events.
Earning $1 million or more in a single night has only happened three prior times in the sport of rodeo. The $1 million check Landingham earned December 17 equaled his 14-year career earnings combined. This milestone in Landingham’s comeback career and landmark event in the rodeo world will forever be remembered in the sport of rodeo.
WCRA is a professional sport and entertainment entity, created to develop and advance the sport of rodeo by aligning all levels of competition. In association with the Professional Bull Riders, WCRA produces major rodeo events, developing additional opportunities for rodeo-industry competitors, stakeholders and fans. To learn more, visit wcrarodeo.com. For athletes interested in learning more about the WCRA Virtual Rodeo Qualifier VRQ system, visit app.wcrarodeo.com.
