Entering 11th NFR, steer wrestler Dakota Eldridge within reach of first world title

Dakota Eldridge can pinpoint the moment everything changed.

On March 17, the three-week marathon that is RodeoHouston concluded, with Eldridge posting a winning run in the finals to cap his performance in steer wrestling. The earnings in Houston have a tendency to change a rodeo athlete’s season.

For Eldridge, the $57,250 payday shifted his entire perspective.

“It gave me a fire that I’ve never really felt before, where I wanted to go in No. 1,” Eldridge said. “I felt like somebody else was always out there so far ahead (in the standings) that I was like, ‘Well, I’ll go make the Finals.’ I didn’t really care what I had, I knew if I made Vegas I had enough confidence and knew that I could win a gold buckle still, because there was enough money down here. This year, once I was [leading] the world [standings] after Houston, it was like, ‘Hey, I want to stay on top.’”

Eldridge is no stranger to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. In the past 12 years, he’s been at pro rodeo’s season-culminating event 11 times, including each of the past six.

The Elko native has two NFR average titles to his credit. He finished runner-up in the PRCA world standings once and ended the year in the top 10 seven times.

This year’s appearance at the Thomas &Mack Center feels different, largely because the path he took to get here was different.

After six rounds, Eldridge has earned $59,444 at the NFR, keeping him in contention for his first world title. He’s currently sitting second in the season-long world standings at $228,845, about $9,000 behind world No. 1 Will Lummus ($237,622).

Eldridge took second in Tuesday’s sixth go-round, pocketing $26,624.

For many years, the journey to the Finals has been a well-scripted routine for Eldridge. Win enough money in the regular season to be in the top 15. Get to Las Vegas. Have a bunch of success and be in position to possibly win the world if things go right.

The win at Houston broke that routine in a positive way.

“This is the best season I’ve ever had, so I feel like this year is the best chance I’ve ever had. I’ve always had good luck down in Vegas, so I’ve got that on my side,” Eldridge said, noting he has often come to the NFR in the lower half of the top 15. “That’s kind of the deciding factor — if you come in $50,000 or $60,000 behind first-place, you’ve got a lot of room to make up. I’ve got a lot less gap to close now than I ever have before.”

With a newfound appreciation for the top spot in the world standings, Eldridge spent all season trying to stay or get back atop the list. Not long after Houston, Dalton Massey passed him, a moment he says, “just made me hungrier.”

Eldridge and Massey jockeyed for clubhouse leader much of the year. While Massey used a big showing at the CINCH Playoff Series Championship in Sioux Falls, S.D., during the last weekend of the regular season to lock up the No. 1 ranking, Eldridge is grateful for the yearlong battle.

Massey — now No. 3 in the world at $209,263 — unknowingly tested Eldridge’s limits, but Eldridge also got a push from his family back home. His wife, Quincy, and two daughters encouraged him to stay the course and keep competing. It’s another shift to the plan he had previously built.

“I always thought if I ever was in that (No. 1) position, I’d go spend more time at home. But honestly, this year I was home less than I ever have been,” Eldridge said. “I always thought if I won a big rodeo, I’d just ease around and go to the big ones. But as much money as there is out there now, you’ve got to keep going. You don’t ever really feel safe.”

Now, the focus centers on finishing what he started back in March.

Eldridge is one of seven competitors at the 2024 NFR with 10 or more qualifications for the year-end event who also have no world title in their trophy case. That’s a statistic he would certainly like to change.

No matter the outcome, Eldridge is grateful for the season he has had, the support of his family and a changed approach to rodeoing. He’s got one final obstacle to clear. And this time, he’s in position to make it happen.

“It’s something that now I know that feeling and I want to go in No. 1, not 10th or something,” Eldridge said with a laugh. “I’m just going to go have fun, let the chips play and put it all in God’s hands, and hopefully walk away with a gold buckle at the end of this.”