Carlee Otero and AM Regina George—the 2025 WPRA Rising Star Award recipient— delivered a powerful rebound on Sunday night at the 2025 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, stopping the clock in 13.54 seconds to win Round 3 and bank $36,667.95.

After hitting barrels in both of the first two rounds, Otero walked into the Thomas & Mack took full accountability for the mistakes and swore to make improvements.

The shift was immediate, and the result was a trip to the winner’s circle.

“My horse was showing up and I looked like I just bought a saddle.”

Otero didn’t dodge responsibility for the early mistakes. Instead, she took them head-on.

“I just was like, this is ridiculous. I watched the video — my horse is showing up and I look like I just bought a saddle and a horse and entered the NFR. So I was like, nobody’s going to be honest enough to tell me that I look bad. So I made myself a post (on social media)… ‘Hey, her horse is showing up. Carlee, if you would ride your horse, you’d probably win a round.’ So here we are. It worked.”

It’s a level of honesty Otero applies to every part of her life.

“I hold myself to a high standard with everything,” Otero said. “With my horses my real estate, my family. My poor kids probably don’t like me because I have really high expectations. I just feel like this world has a lot to offer, so why would you slack at anything?”

That mindset, she said, is what keeps her competitive with the best in the world.

The adjustment that changed everything

Coming into Round 3, Otero knew Regina didn’t need to change her style, she needed her rider to ask for more.

“My best bud Gary told me, stay calm, be one with your horse. The first two rounds I thought she needed to see the pen (before taking off running), and she absolutely did not, because she’s just so good. I let her go in there a little flat-footed, and I just didn’t have the momentum.”

So she changed the plan.

“Tonight I was like, I’m going to keep her on her toes. I’m going to make her run in there as hard as she wants to. And if she gets by it, she always makes up for it. And she did exactly what I thought she was going to do… she got by it, but she came back so fast that I knew it was going to be fast.”

She felt the run working long before the time was announced.

“After she came back from the first, she smoked the second… when the timer didn’t work I got unexcited real fast because that does not always work in our favor. But when they announced it, I was like, ‘Thank you, Jesus.’ Nobody should be on Facebook saying they gave her any favors. I think that’s what she ran.”

Regina George: the mare who rose at the right moment

Regina George wasn’t the horse Otero expected to bring to the Finals months ago. But as the spring unfolded, the mare stepped into the role with growing confidence.

The turning point came in Reno Rodeo.

“At Reno she really showed me, like, ‘Hey, I think I can keep up with these girls.’ Even though we had bad runs, it was up and down… but I knew the way she was clocking, they don’t just do that on accident. I just had to find some consistency.”

A faith reset that grounded the entire week

Otero said Round 3 wasn’t just a riding correction, it was a spiritual check-in.

“I came in confident because Regina is so nice, and I think it humbled me a little bit those first two nights,” Otero said. “I honestly thought, she’s going to go in there and win her place in every single round. And I think God was like, ‘Hey, wait a minute. No — we’re going to make a story out of this.’”

That story, she said, required going back to the foundation.

“I got up this morning, rode her around, treated her… schooled her a little, did the things I would do at home. Side passing, laterals, making sure her hip’s correct. Instead of saying, ‘Oh, we’re at the NFR, we’re just going to go make runs,’ I went back to my game plan — what I do all year — and it paid off.”

Round 3 results