BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
Wyatt Casper enters the Wrangler NFR more than $30,000 ahead of second-place Ryder Wright and more than $40,000 ahead of third-place Brody Cress in the saddle bronc riding.
The Pampa, Texas native will be wearing Back No. 2, in Arlington, pretty impressive for a cowboy that had never made the National Finals before.
Capser rightfully drew headlines for winning $600,000 ($50,000 counting in PRCA money) at RFD-TV’s The American in March, but he was also riding well before that, he entered the prestigious rodeo at the home of the Dallas Cowboys No. 1 in the world. And he stayed there until the end, it was essentially a wire-to-wire performance for Casper in 2020.
Casper won more than $1,600 on each of his first three rides of the year, which came in Odessa, Des Moines and Denver. He also finished second in Fort Worth, and won almost $15,000 along the way.
Right after Fort Worth ended, the Texas cowboy won more than $5,200 by winning the Rapid City Xtreme Broncs before arriving in San Antonio, where he would go onto bank another $14,000 by placing on four of his six rides.
WYATT CASPER’S WINNING RIDE AT RAPID CITY X BRONCS
Entering the The American, Casper had already won $66,000 in the 2020 season and was 33-for-33 with 32 rides of more than 80 points. For context, Casper could have packed it up for the season right there and still finished No. 6 in the world.
Instead, he rode Onion Ring for 91.25 points in Short Go and won the whole rodeo.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had more than $20,000 in my account at one time, $600,000 is going to be life-changing,” Casper said afterward. “I don’t have the slightest clue what to do with it....I’ve always kind of scraped from the bottom of the pan, it’s just gonna be nice to be comfortable for awhile.”
WYATT CASPER’S WINNING RIDE AT RFD-TV’S THE AMERICAN
Casper still had the hot hand coming out of the COVID-19 break. In June, he won close to $3,000 for his fourth-place finish at the Jordan Xtreme Broncs event before winning the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott in early July, earning $6,796.
From there, Casper placed in the Top 3 in five consecutive rodeos from July 1 to July 11, pocketing more than $1,000 at each.
In total, Casper amassed more than $145,000 in 2020 and improved his average score to 81.7, up almost three points from 2019 when he averaged 78.88.
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After winning $600,000 at RFD-TV’s The American, Wyatt Casper’s time is finally here
