The draw for Round 1 takes place in Las Vegas and the journey to crowning the world champion officially begins.
BAREBACK RIDING
Reigning world champion Keenan Hayes’ first horse will be Brookman Rodeo’s Lunatic Heaven. The last two regular season finishes on his horse were 88.5 and 88 points, the 88 point ride courtesy of Cole Reiner, who probably knows this horse better than the rest and is the only cowboy with multiple matchups according to the PRCA Stock statistics.
| Richmond champion | MLW’s Irish eyes |
| Taylor Broussard | Land of fantasy |
| Garrett Shadbolt | Great soaker |
| Cole Reiner | Café Risque |
| Bradley Miller | Renovo shady nights |
| Jacob Lees | Exactly midnight |
| Cooper Cooke | Crime scene dead |
| Cole Franks | Yipee kibitz |
| Weston Timberman | Drunk bunny |
| Jess Pope | Sunny sky |
| RC Landingham | Mustard |
| Dean Thompson | good girl |
| Leighton Berry | Redlicious Meats Unleashed |
| Keenan Hayes | Crazy sky |
| Rocker Steiner | bishop |
CONTROL RINGS
Dalton Massey came to Las Vegas in 2023 as an NFR rookie and world No. 1 player. In Round 1, he stopped the clock faster than the competition to set the pace, and in 2024 he moves back into the Thomas and Mack World No. 1 ranking.
| Scott Guenthner |
| Tyler Waguespack |
| Tucker Allen |
| Tyler Pearson |
| Ty Erickson |
| Don Payne |
| Cash Robb |
| Jutin Shaffer |
| Rowdy Parrott |
| Jesse Brown |
| Will Lummus |
| JD Struxness |
| Stetson Jorgensen |
| Dakota Eldridge |
| Dalton Massey |
TEAM ROPING
Derrick Begay and Jonathan Torres are the new team on the block after roping with their respective partners during the regular season. They are both veterans of the sport and multiple NFR qualifiers and will certainly not miss a beat when they head back to the box on night #1.
| Eric Rogers | Paul Eaves |
| Cody Snow | Hunter Cook |
| Luke Brown | Travis Graves |
| Derrick Begay | Jonathan Torres |
| Clay Smith | Coleby Payne |
| Cyle Denison | Tanner Braden |
| JC Yes | Buddy Hawkins |
| Brent Hall | Kaden Profili |
| Jake Smith | Douglas Rich |
| Andrew Ward | Kollin VonAhn |
| Clint Summers | Jake Long |
| Coleman Proctor | Logan Medlin |
| Caleb Driggers | Junior Nogueira |
| Tyler Wade | Wesley Thorp |
| Dustin Egusquiza | Levi Mr |
SADDLE BRONC RIDING
Damian Brennan’s partner is a Big Stone rodeo horse named Rubels. This is the first time the No. 1 saddle bronc rider has ridden the bronc, Ryder Wright scoring 87.5 points during the regular season at the Owyhee County Rodeo (Idaho).
| Logan Hay | Angel cat |
| Ben Andersen | Smoke truck |
| Zac Dallas | Risky mistress |
| Brody Wells | Flirtatious |
| Kolby Wanchuk | Joker Poker |
| Dawson Hay | Ragin Lunatic |
| Statler Wright | Devil’s advocate |
| Wise Newman | OLS Tubs Little Muffin |
| Lefty Holman | Squash Blossom Steely Dan |
| Zeke Thurston | Frontier Rodeo Coffee Yellowstone |
| Brody Cress | Vein reflections from American Hat |
| Wyatt Casper | North Star |
| Kade Bruno | Ginger snap |
| Ryder Wright | Bobby shows |
| Damian Brennan | ruble |
ROPE BACK
Shad Mayfield battled injuries and pain all season to have the best year of his career and set a new regular season record. Veterans Haven Meged and Ty Harris are hot on his heels, while NFR newcomers Joel Harris, Cole Clemons and Quade Hiatt can’t be ruled out.
| Quade Hiatt |
| Cole Clemons |
| Joel Harris |
| Hunter mistress |
| Tuff Cooper |
| Zack Jongbloed |
| Dylan Hancock |
| Kincade Henry |
| John Douch |
| Marty Yates |
| Shane Hanchey |
| Riley Webb |
| Ty Harris |
| Port of Meged |
| Shad Mayfield |
BARREL RACING
While there are many new faces in barrel racing, all eyes are on Hailey Kinsel and her legendary mare Sister. The four-time world champion will be at night no. 1 to be first to the ground and it’s no secret that Sister loves Thomas and Mack, as the duo set an NFR arena record of 13.11 seconds in 2017.
| Hailey Kinsel |
| Leslie Smalygo |
| Ashley Castleberry |
| Cassie Mowry |
| Emily Beisel |
| Lisa Lockhart |
| Tiany Schuster |
| LaTricia Duke |
| Halyn Lide |
| Dona Kay rule |
| Wenda Johnson |
| Andrea Busby |
| Abby Phillips |
| Carlee Otero |
| Shelley Morgan |
BULL RIDING
Oregon’s TJ Gray is an NFR rookie and ranked No. 1 in the world. His first-ever ride in the Thomas and Mack will be on Flying U Rodeo’s Bad Habits, a bull he will keep an eye on since his brother Levi raced Bad Habits in California earlier this year.
| Dustin Boquet | Tatonka |
| Tyler Bingham | Theadore Vitalix |
| Trey Kimzey | Cookies and cream |
| Jordan Spears | Yellawolf |
| Tristen Hutchings | Chandler’s dream |
| CooperJames | Trump train |
| Trevor Traveled | Resistol’s midnight special |
| Chase Dougherty | Ford’s Gangster Walk |
| Wacey Schalla | Cherry bomb |
| Jeter Lawrence | Bill Fick surprised |
| Clayton Sellars | Hot rocks |
| Josh Frost | Angel landing |
| Jace Trosclair | Silver bullet |
| Hayes weight | Vitaliz Anthrax |
| TJ Gray | Bad habits |
