For Amanda Butler-Hammer, winning the 2026 Boot Barn Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo in Heber City, Utah, November 6-7 was a culmination of a whole bunch of “it was meant to be” moments.

“I didn’t know what to expect going into it,” Butler-Hammer said. “Kissy had two abscesses break, one right after the other, right before we went up there so I wasn’t sure I would get to run her all three rounds.”

Any doubt for the Payson, Utah cowgirl was quickly dispelled when Kissy—aka TS Kissem Goodbye—won the first go round in impressive fashion, running a 14.98 that would prove to be the rodeo’s fastest time.

“I had brought my sister’s mare as a backup but when Kissy won the first go, it was like, ‘well, I guess she’s good to go for the second round, too!’”

Butler-Hammer and her outstanding nine-year-old mare, who is by The Goodbye Lane and out of proven producer Shez Sucha Snap by Sir Cashanova, were flawless again in round two, taking a second victory lap for a run of 15.04 seconds.

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“She loves that arena, we actually set an arena record there at a barrel race,” Butler-Hammer shared.

Competing in her third circuit finals rodeo, but for the first time getting to run the horse she qualified on for all three rounds, Butler-Hammer did not allow the pressure of being the leader in the average, drawing bottom of the ground, nor the quick turnaround from a matinee to an evening performance faze her.

“I just tried to treat it like any other run,” the 2018 National High School Finals Rodeo champion said. “It’s the same three barrels out there no matter who’s watching or where you are.”

“I knew with all the big horses out before us that the ground could suck us down a little so I tried to just push her past the barrels, go for a clean run and not try to win first.”

Her “safe” pass was still nearly good enough to forty percent ‘em, missing a third-round win by just three one-hundredths of a second. Her 15.14-second effort settled for second behind Makenna Shook.

All told, Butler-Hammer’s time of 45.16 on three runs was nearly a half second better than a super tough field of competitors, launching her to her first circuit finals championship and better than $10,000 in earnings.

Not a bad haul for a cowgirl who did not grow up in a horse family, riding a horse that she tried to sell, following a season where a circuit finals rodeo qualification wasn’t even on the radar.

“I had no intentions to try to make the circuit finals,” Butler-Hammer said. “I don’t like to drive . . . if it’s further than three hours, I don’t want to go. I like to sleep in my own bed.”

But Butler-Hammer entered up with her big sister, Lauren Porter, and did well early on, prompting her to scramble to get her required rodeo count to compete at the finals by utilizing the walk-up replace rule at a number of rodeos, including the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days.

“It was lucky that I got in there because then I won it!” Butler-Hammer laughed. That $13,683 payday was hard-earned as Spanish Fork is annually one of the wickedest rodeos in the country, and it helped her to a third-place regular-season finish with more than $32,000 won.

Unlike many of her peers, Butler-Hammer did not grow up in a family involved with horses or rodeo.

“As a little girl, I wanted to be a horse and I cried when my mother told me that was not going to happen,” she joked. She and her sister were persistent, however, and their parents soon had them mounted, going to lessons and doing 4-H events, and a business associate of her father’s inspired the girls to get into rodeo.

It wasn’t long before Butler-Hammer found the bloodlines that would lead to her most prestigious wins. The Butlers have owned three foals out of Shez Sucha Snap including a half-sister that Porter still has and half-brother, TS Cinch Ta Fame, who took Butler-Hammer to the high school title and her first Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo before she lost him in 2024.

“Kissy is the last baby out of that mare,” Butler-Hammer said. “We bought her when she got back from the colt starter.”

“They all have their own styles but they are all arrogant in a way,” she said of the familial commonalities.

After missing a fair piece of her futurity season to injury, the Butlers had decided to sell the mare at one point.

“She was always nice but we honestly didn’t think she would be the level that she is,” Butler-Hammer admitted. “We had her for sale for a while and no one would look at her.”

“Then, finally someone wanted to come try her and I felt sick. I just had a pit in my stomach and I told my dad, ‘we can’t sell her.’”

Fate was tapping on Butler-Hammer’s shoulder.

“We walked out there the next day and she had kicked the fence and her leg was all swollen!”

Now with several years of success behind them, Kissy and her jockey enjoyed a bittersweet victory in Heber City.

“I actually just sold her,” Butler-Hammer said. “I tried to just soak it all in as I knew those would probably be my last runs on her.”

While Kissy will go on, possibly making a trip to the NFR with Lisa Lockhart, Butler-Hammer will stay content, home in Payson riding both Kissy and Porter’s mare’s progeny, and sleeping in her own bed each night.

“I’ve just got young ones so I will focus on getting them ready,” Butler-Hammer noted. Her circuit finals win earned her a spot at the NFR Open in Colorado Springs next July but she’ll have to see how her horses progress. “Everything’s up in the air for me for next year.”

The other Wilderness Circuit NFR Open slot is not up in the air—it will be filled by NFR-bound Carlee Otero, who rode an incredible season to the Wilderness Circuit year-end title after earning $50,247, further proof that the circuit’s nickname, The Snake Pit, is well earned.

“There are so many big rodeos and it’s tough but I think we make each other better,” Butler-Hammer said.

2026 Wilderness Circuit Finals Results

For results from every 2026 WPRA circuit finals, see Rolling Updates: 2026 WPRA Circuit Finals Barrel Racing Results.

Wasatch County Events Center · Nov. 6-7 · three rounds and the average, four places paid

Average

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Total Finals money

Year-end standings

Top 15, figured from the WPRA’s Oct. 2 circuit board plus finals money