Las Vegas Weekly

December 10, 2008 · 6:39 AM

Morning Call: At NFR Day 6, excitement builds as Trevor Brazile hits $3 million mark and wins sixth career world title

By Robin Leach

New six-time National Finals Rodeo world champion Trevor Brazile.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

For three consecutive seasons now, Trevor Brazile has topped the $300,000 haul, and last night on Day 6 of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, he also won his sixth all-around world title! With just four days of competition remaining, the tension at the Thomas & Mack Center has begun building toward Saturday’s $5.5 million prize purse awards.

Last night, our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue was arena side for this newest collection of NFR photos. Jason Meadows sang the national anthem, and country legend Red Steagall captivated the crowd of 16,652 with the story of “Freckles Brown & the Bull Named Tornado.”

All eyes, however, were on the cowboys and cowgirls when they took center stage. Trevor won his prestigious sixth gold buckle when Patrick Smith and he tied in team roping with a time of 4.5 seconds, but then doubled the win when he won first place in the solo tie-down roping in 7.7 seconds. So as of this morning Trevor, from Decatur, Texas, has netted $325,758 this year and is some $143,000 ahead of Nebraska’s Steven Dent, who is in second place.

He’s certainly in the money, and the cash register is ringing “ca-ching”!

“It’s an awesome deal,” he admitted. “Winning the most money and making the least amount of mistakes is what gets you here.” Trevor kicked out Joe Beaver from the No. 1 career earnings record of $2,933,428 and has now become the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s first $3 million man!

The other interesting story being followed is the neck-and-neck barrel racing battle between Brittany Pharr, a 24-year-old rider from Victoria, Texas, and world-standings leader Lindsay Sears from Alberta, Canada. They are in a seesaw race, switching between first and second place all week long, in fractions of a split second at 13.68 and 13.81! Brittany’s five-round total win this week here reached $47,866!

As the NFR heads into a weekend of country superstar shows throughout town, the Las Vegas Hilton kicks off two nights of shows this evening with John Rich and his special guests Cowboy Troy and Sebastian Bach. Over at The Mirage, Susie Dobbs will perform in concert for two consecutive nights. At Thomas & Mack for Night 7 performances, there should be a sea of pink for the “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” night to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation.

Once again, our lord of the lens Tom Donoghue will be back in the arena to capture all of the action, which we’ll have for you tomorrow morning -- but, in the meantime, for all of the previous performances, please check out our ever-expanding souvenir albums in our Photo File.

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