Muncy regains saddle bronc money lead

Taos Muncy started the National Finals Rodeo as the saddle bronc riding money leader and regained a strong hold on first place again Wednesday after losing it for a day to reigning world champion Cody Wright.

Muncy (Corona, N.M.) won the seventh go-round at the Thomas & Mack Center by being scored for 86.5 points on Korkow Rodeos' Blew Apart to win $17,884 and extend his lead to about $18,000 over Wright, who tied for fifth before 17,180.

Muncy also has an edge over Wright in the NFR event standings with seven completed rides while Wright has been bucked off three of his seven outings.

"I was just hoping to stay on," Muncy said. "That was a real nice horse that I hadn't really seen much before. He had bucked off some pretty good guys, so I was excited to draw him."

The eighth of 10 go-rounds starts at 6:45 tonight.

■ BAREBACK -- Kaycee Feild (Payson, Utah) won for the fourth time in seven rounds when he capitalized on a re-ride option to score 85.5 points on Big Stone Rodeo's Gold Dust.

The first-place check increased his NFR earnings to $96,346 and season total to $237,005. He has a $65,334 lead over Will Lowe (Canyon, Texas).

Feild's ride was worth 74 points, but officials determined the horse stumbled, so he got the second chance.

"I never had a re-ride at the Finals before, but I knew in my mind that if it came to that, I would take it," Feild said. "With the money that's up for the average, it would be devastating to take second because I didn't take the re-ride. I'd look like kind of a wimp then, wouldn't I?"

■ STEER WRESTLING -- NFR rookie steer wrestler Olin Hannum (Malad, Idaho) won his first check of the week with a 3.8-second run.

■ TEAM ROPING -- Veteran Kory Koontz (Sudan, Texas) teamed with Navajo Nation heeler Erich Rogers (Round Rock, Ariz.) to win the round with a time of 3.7 seconds to give NFR rookie Rogers his first Finals win. It is the 18th NFR appearance for Koontz.

■ TIE-DOWN ROPING -- The first three-way tie this year resulted from Clint Cooper, Tyson Durfey and Ryan Jarrett each posting runs of 7.6 seconds to win $14,231 each. It was Jarrett's second consecutive win.

"Two in a row is rare for me," Jarrett said, "but I knew I had a pretty good calf. I got to watch him a couple of times from Rounds 1 and 4. I knew his pattern, and I just went at him and it worked on him."

■ BARREL RACING -- Canadian Lindsay Sears won the round by completing the three-barrel course in 13.56 seconds to take a bite out of Brittany Pozzi's lead in the world standings after Pozzi placed third.

■ BULL RIDING -- Clayton Savage won the round with an 85-point ride on D&H Cattle's Early Bird and was one of only two riders to complete eight-second rides in the 15-man field.

The other was world standings leader Shane Proctor with a 77.

Jeff Wolf is a freelance reporter. He can be reached at (702) 406-8165 or nitrorodeo@gmail.com.