Las Vegas Weekly

December 7, 2008 · 3:22 PM

Photo Gallery: Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert join action at Day 3 of NFR

By Robin Leach

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Country music stars Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert joined a sell-out crowd of 17,353 fans at the third night of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center last night. Reba sang the national anthem, and Miranda was in the front row cheering on the competitors in the barrel racing contest.

The bubbly blonde country singer 'fessed up that it’s a sport she’s recently taken up and “is absolutely hooked on it.” This year cheering and maybe next year competing?

It was a night of thrilling rodeo action with five-time world champion saddle bronc rider Billy Etbauer (No. 5) having a great ride on Blue Too. As if that didn’t dazzle the crowd, along came 2007 world champion all-around cowboy Trevor Brazile atop Chance Smart (No. 48) of Philadelphia, Miss., who had a spectacular bull riding victory to close out the night.

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue was ringside for all the great photo coverage of the day’s jam-packed schedule, which included the coronation of California’s Maegan Ridley, who was named Miss Rodeo America 2009. Click HERE for our coverage yesterday of that daytime celebration.

We’ll be back, as promised, with Night 4’s action in a special posting tomorrow morning -- and keep checking that ever-expanding souvenir album on our Photo File pages for the complete compilation of every show of the NFR.

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