The world standings top 20
Our projected world standings through Sept. 20, with where each rider stands for Sioux Falls. The top 15 go to the NFR.
Busby is the only rider outside the top 15 with a Sioux Falls seat, so it looks like one rider inside the top 15 could be bumped this week. Of Nos. 12 through 15, Duke is the only rider not in the field.
Only Sioux Falls pays enough to close the gap
Kosel is the closest rider to Duke at $9,797. Of the rodeos left with a 2025 winner’s check in our coverage, the biggest was San Bernardino, Calif., at $3,952. Winning all three California rodeos left, San Bernardino, Poway and Bakersfield, came to $7,334 on 2025 money, $2,463 short of Kosel’s gap before anything Duke adds. Winning all four Texas rodeos that start Sept. 24 or 25, Amarillo, Stephenville, Tyler and New Braunfels, came to $8,643, $1,154 short.
At Sioux Falls, one long-round win pays $12,533 and the championship pays $34,000. Three of the riders directly above Duke are in the field: Katelyn Scott at No. 12, Tricia Aldridge at No. 13 and Makenzie Mayes at No. 14.
The Sioux Falls field is set
Four riders are in off Puyallup: Carlee Otero, Michelle Alley, Lisa Lockhart and Megan McLeod-Sprague. The other eight went to the top eight on the WPRA’s final board who did not qualify at Puyallup. And yes, we’re awaiting the tradeslist to drop anxiously.
All eight entered, so the field is the Puyallup four and the eight points seats above. Kosel was the first rider out, 80.87 points behind Busby. Busby is first out Friday night and Otero is last.
Busby needs $21,917
Busby was 12th at Mandan for $1,278 and took a share of 14th at Albuquerque for $292. She needs $21,917 to pass Duke as the board stands today. If Duke wins Pasadena for what it paid in 2025, $2,215, Busby needs $24,132.
Four main ways get her there even if Duke wins Pasadena at last year’s pay: win the finals, place second in the finals, win both long rounds, or win a long round and place third or better in the finals. A f
Kosel is $9,797 back
Kosel tied for second at Mandan for $9,905 and moved past Austyn Tobey into No. 16 at $106,821. She has said on social media she won’t try to hit every rodeo left.
She is not in the Sioux Falls field. The California and Texas sweeps above both come up short of $9,797 on 2025 money.
Tobey, Ward and Gunderson
Austyn Tobey is No. 17 at $101,941, $14,677 back. Loralee Ward is No. 18 at $99,060, $17,558 back, and has said on social media she isn’t hitting every rodeo left. Heidi Gunderson is No. 20 at $88,814, $27,804 back. None of the three is in the Sioux Falls field.
Duke leads Pasadena
Pasadena is one head and runs through Friday night. Leaders after the slack and three performances: 1. LaTricia Duke, 14.53 seconds; 2. Jimmie Smith, 14.57; 3. Gracen Harman, 14.66; 4. Kenna Kaminski, 14.78; 5. Jordan Driver, 14.80; 6. Makenzie Mayes, 14.82.
Stephanie Fryar won Pasadena in 2025 for $2,215. The barrel race carries $6,500 added in 2026.
What is left this week
Added money is the WPRA’s barrel racing figure. The season closes at Cumberland on Sept. 30, and every check lands on our results and world standings page as it is paid.
What Sioux Falls pays in 2026
The Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup runs Sept. 25-27 on $166,666.66 added, limited to 12 riders, over two long rounds, a semifinal and a final. This is the 2026 official Sioux Falls barrel racing payout, $166,667 per event.
The most one rider can take out of it is $59,067, off both long-round wins and the championship. In 2025 the most one rider took was $55,822.
Moeykens wins Mandan at 17.00
The North Dakota Roughrider Cup paid 12 places out of a $63,901 purse. Places and times per ProRodeo.com’s unofficial results; the dollars are ours, rebuilt on the 12-money ladder in WPRA rule 11.1.2.5 because Mandan’s ground rules set the barrel race at 12 places and ProRodeo posted it across 15.
Hailey Kinsel, Emma Parr and Blake Molle ran 13th through 15th and are outside the money on a 12-place payout. Mandan paid 12 places in 2025 as well. The full sheet is on our Roughrider Cup daysheets and results page.
Duke holds No. 15 by $9,797
Duke ran Mandan and finished outside the 12 places, so she is No. 15 at $116,618, the figure she carried into the week. Kosel is No. 16 at $106,821 and Tobey No. 17 at $101,941. Ward is No. 18 at $99,060 after a share of seventh at Mandan worth $2,876, and Busby is No. 19 at $94,701.
Lisa Lockhart banked the most on the week at $17,134 and is No. 9 at $143,095, on a Pendleton long-round win and a share of second at Mandan. Katelyn Scott is next at $17,043 and holds No. 12 at $127,456. Kathy Grimes moved to No. 10 at $135,273 on $6,274, including $4,676 for winning the New Mexico State Fair and Rodeo.
Mayes is No. 14 at $118,782
Makenzie Mayes held the last NFR spot on Sept. 14 at $108,542, without a check in two weeks. She was second in the Pendleton long round, fourth in the average and fourth in the short round for $10,005 on our corrected ladder, then added $235 at Othello, Wash. She is No. 14 at $118,782, $2,164 up on No. 15 Duke. On the WPRA’s final Playoff Series board she is No. 6 at 1,134.39 and holds a Sioux Falls seat.
Pendleton pays 10 places, not 15
Our Pendleton figures are not the ones on ProRodeo.com. WPRA rule 11.1.2.14 caps a long go-round or an average at 10 places when a rodeo runs a short go, and ProRodeo paid 15 in both. The purse and the 45-10-45 split it posted are correct, and the finals are correct; the number of places is not.
Rebuilt on the 10-money ladder, Scott’s Pendleton week goes from $11,947 to $12,851, Mayes from $8,500 to $10,005, McLeod-Sprague from $8,701 to $9,002 and Caitlyn White from $7,061 to $8,266. Lisa Lockhart won the long round, was ninth in the average and finishes at $7,229 either way. Every rider whose check gets smaller under the corrected ladder is outside our top 70, and the correction does not move the cut.
Mandan’s ground rules set the barrel race at 12 places and ProRodeo posted the payout across 15, so we have rebuilt that one on the 12-money ladder in rule 11.1.2.5. Neither correction moves a rider’s position in our top 70. If the WPRA confirms ProRodeo’s figures on either rodeo, we will put them back and say so.
On Sunday afternoon, before the third performance, Duke held the last NFR spot at $116,618 and Tobey was No. 16 at $101,941, $14,677 back. Moeykens led Mandan at 17.00 through two performances, with Grimes fourth at 17.38, Busby fifth at 17.39 and Duke 12th at 17.53. Kosel’s tie for second then moved her past Tobey into No. 16. Tobey did not place at Mandan.
