LAS VEGAS – Justin McDaniel didn’t know too much about Little Brown Jug, his bareback-riding dance partner Thursday night during the first go-round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center.
It didn’t matter.
The reigning world champion from Porum, Okla., spurred the Diamond G Rodeo bronc to 86 points to split the Round 1 victory with Oregonian Jason Havens. It helped both men collect a check worth $15,343 and moved McDaniel from fourth to third in the all-important world standings with $139,627.
“There’s no better way to start the NFR,” said McDaniel, 23. “I’d heard that he was really fast out of there, so I tried to get a strong markout and let it roll from there.
“That’s a good dude.”
So is McDaniel, now competing in his third straight NFR, earning the spot by finishing among the top 15 bareback riders in the business every year since 2007.
“Really, you just take them every round the same and let it all fly,” McDaniel said. “I just tucked my chin to my head as hard as I could, squeezed my hand as tight as I could and moved my legs as fast as I could. Just go fast and hard.”
McDaniel knows how to make it work. He owns the NFR record with 859 points after 10 go-rounds. He also shares the highest mark ride inside the Thomas & Mack, a 91.5 he scored on J Bar J Rodeo’s Delta Ship in 2007.
But none of that secures his second straight world title. In fact, he remains $96,273 behind the world standings leader, Clint Cannon of Waller, Texas.
“Making go-round money is my way to catch Clint,” McDaniel said. “But this is how I make my living. When you have a chance to win the kind of money that’s here, you lay your head back and go at them.”
McDaniel is already looking ahead to the second go-round, where he’s drawn the bronc Lip Tricks from Growney Brothers Rodeo. He knows a little more about that horse than he did of Little Brown Jug, but that doesn’t make it any better.“I know it’s going to be rank, that’s for sure,” he said. “If I keep my chin tucked and set my feet, I’ll get off to the start I need.”
