Carlee Otero and AM Regina George kept their momentum alive inside the Thomas & Mack Center on Tuesday night, clocking a blistering 13.43 to win Round 5 of the 2025 National Finals Rodeo.
The victory marks Otero’s second round win of the week and pushes her season earnings to $251,829, holding her solidly in the No. 4 position, and now within roughly $40,000 of world leader Kassie Mowry.
Drawn 14th on the ground, Otero knew she had no choice but to come in swinging.
“I came in hot tonight,” Otero said. “The ground looked really good for the first girls, so I felt comfortable. The times were fast and I knew if I wanted to even get a check, I was going to have to really go in there and let her work.”
It worked — and then some.
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‘She feels like a rocket’
Round after round, Regina’s trademark has been the way she accelerates off a barrel.
“She feels like a rocket—I can’t even describe it,” Otero said. “If you’ve ever been on a jet boat when it starts taking off, that’s what she feels like leaving a barrel. She’ll set me back in the saddle. Her motor is just gigantic.”
That power, Otero admits, is exactly why precision matters. If she gets ahead or behind the mare by even a touch, she risks overturning a barrel. But when they’re in sync — as they were in Round 5 — they’re hard to beat.
Otero continues to run Regina in the same L&W lifter bit she uses on her entire string — a twisted wire with a dogbone mouthpiece on a seven-inch shank — but notes that Regina also goes in a very loose curb strap to keep her from stopping too hard.
“If I put anything on her chin, she’s just going to stop,” she laughed. “I think she’d make a great calf horse.”
The tools may be simple, but the evolution of Otero’s horsemanship, she said, is not. She’s come a long way from the cowgirl who won her first NFR go-round on Tough Enough to Wear Pink night in 2011 aboard Rare Dillion.
“I’m smarter now. I prepare better. I take care of my horses better. All of the things that make you a winner — you learn to do them as you get older.”
Staying on the grounds, staying calm
This is Otero’s first year stalling horses on the NFR grounds thanks to EHV-1 regulations, and despite initial hesitation, she’s impressed.
“I was worried about the 10×10 stalls, but it’s been fantastic here,” she said. “The horses are happy and healthy. It’s actually easier than hauling in and out.”
The only thing not easy? Blocking out the chaos of the tunnel before she runs. But that’s a challenge every year in Vegas.
“I get really nervous when I feel like I have to do good,” she said. “If I get nervous, Regina’s heart starts thumping — literally bouncing my legs. I have to stay calm so she can stay calm.”
Tonight’s win also carried meaning beyond the arena dirt. Otero shared that close friend and fellow competitor Jordan Jo Hollabaugh texted her a prayer just before she ransomething Otero meditated on multiple times.
“I think tonight was meant to be,” she said. “It felt like God saying, ‘OK, we’ll give you this win. Sometimes everything just lines up.
With Round 5 in the books and the standings tightening at the top, Otero and Regina George are long shots in the aggregate and will be coming in looking for a win every night.
Round 5 NFR results
| 1 | Carlee Otero | 13.43 | $36,667.95 |
| 2 | Halyn Lide | 13.55 | $25,431.00 |
| 2 | Lisa Lockhart | 13.55 | $25,431.00 |
| 4 | Hailey Kinsel | 13.56 | $15,376.88 |
| 5 | Tricia Aldridge | 13.61 | $9,462.70 |
| 6 | Katelyn Scott | 13.63 | $5,914.19 |