The final five qualifying athletes to The American Rodeo locked in their positions through the Las Vegas Western Regional Contender Finals and are set to run for up to $2.1 million in earnings at Globe Life Field on May 22-23.
They’ve got to advance out of the tough field of 15 as one of 5 if they want to square up with the World Standings invitees on Saturday.
- First Five: Meet the Contenders From Lexington With a Shot at $2 Million
- Next 5: Meet The American Rodeo Contender Central Finalists
Hailey Krahenbuhl
Qualifying Horse: Saaul Good
- Hailey Krahenbuhl Talks Saaul Good, American Qualification on The Money Barrel
- Hailey Krahenbuhl Leads American Western Contender Field to Arlington: Full Results
Hailey Krahenbuhl, 20, of Henderson, Nevada, won the West Regional finals at South Point on May 3 aboard Saaul Good, a 15.041 run worth $10,000 and the No. 1 spot in the Western field headed to Arlington.
She got there through the back door. Krahenbuhl missed the top-five cut on the average and had to fight through the Redemption Round (15.260, $2,200) just to earn a slot in the final. Then she ran the fastest time of the night.
Her horse came together through Dale Long. Krahenbuhl was in Texas trying horses listed for sale when “Sully” came into the mix.
“When I knew he could be available, we had to have him,” she said.
Krahenbuhl punched her ticket to the regionals at the South Jordan, Utah, qualifier, not on her best run but at the right time. “I didn’t have the run I wanted, but I ended up being the top four, so it all worked out,” she said.
Sully will go to Arlington as her No. 1. Foxy (Namgis D 56), a former Emily Beisel mount Krahenbuhl picked up a while back, came along as the backup. The 20-year-old has five head in her barn and three in active training (two of them horses she bred herself), and rides every day, ground work or dry work, with a feeding program built around each horse.
“My horses love to have a job. It makes them happy,” she said. “I’m not only a jockey. I’m a horsewoman as well. I will always put my horses first.”
Ask her what she hopes someone takes from her ride at Arlington, and her answer is for someone else.
“I’m a first generation cowgirl. It’s been hard, as I know many people get to grow up in a family that knows how rodeo actually works,” Krahenbuhl said. “This is proof to someone out there that has struggled with something like this, you can make it, even when it seems impossible.”
Taylor Armenta
Qualifying Horse: Hes Got Cat Style, “Thor”
Taylor Armenta of Bloomfield, New Mexico, ran the second-fastest time of the West Regional final on May 3 aboard Thor (15.137, $5,500). Only Hailey Krahenbuhl was faster. Armenta is 14.
She got to Arlington twice over. Armenta won the open qualifier in Cedar City, Utah, and locked up the barrel racing title at the National Junior High Finals Rodeo, either of which would have punched her ticket.
“I just finished my freshman year of high school,” Armenta said. She homeschools through JM Learning, a school for rodeo and ranch kids, and starts most mornings on a horse. “Depending on the weather, I start my day riding. After that my schedule consists of roping the calf dummy a lot or pulling my calf sled or roping a couple pens of calves.”
She was born into it. Her dad, a former pro steer wrestler, won the event at the first rodeo she ever attended. She was five days old. Her mom is a lifelong barrel racer. Armenta got her first pony, Betsy, at a year and a half, after spending too much time climbing the arena fence to yell at her parents until they put her on a horse.
“I liked to go slow,” Armenta said. “My parents still tease me and say they wondered if I would ever go fast. I eventually figured out I like to go fast and pick up those white envelopes full of cash. I’ve been going fast ever since.”
Thor came home in 2022 from Patti Carlisle, on a tip from Cory Mars. “It was an instant fit,” Armenta said. “I was his person.”
He’s a personality. Lips always moving. Knickers when she calls his name. He doesn’t get along with other horses; their first night in Texas, he kicked through a fence next to another gelding and had to be rushed to the vet.
“My mom says he enjoys taking years off of her life,” Armenta said.
She’s bringing Legs (A Smooth Knight) as the backup, but Thor gets the call.
“I have the most confidence in him,” Armenta said. “Legs still finds things to look at, so the American would be a lot for him to take in.”
The closer is for the searchers.
“I hope they see that you don’t have to have all the money in the world to compete at this level,” Armenta said. “I’ve worked hard. I’ve seen my parents sacrifice a lot, and I’ve had a lot of support from family and friends… When I leave Arlington as The American champion, I’d say I want them to know the underdog won.”
Tayla Moeykens
Qualifying Horse: KN Fames Best Yet, “Yeti”
Tayla Moeykens of Three Forks, Montana, finished third at the West Regional final on May 3 aboard KN Fames Best Yet (“Yeti”), the eight-year-old gelding she and her mom have brought along on purpose. The 15.211 run was worth $2,500 and her first ticket all the way to Arlington.
The American isn’t new to her. The path to Arlington is.
“This is my first time making it all the way to Arlington,” Moeykens said. “In the old format, I made it to the top 30 two years. One year I tipped a barrel in the top 30, and then the next year I was like 11th.”
Moeykens made her first NFR in December and finished her rookie season ranked No. 10 in the WPRA world standings. She still came through the open qualifying system to make it to the Western Regional.
Don’t expect a big swing in Arlington. That’s not how she or her mom built this.
“It’s just another rodeo for us, and we’re just going to go do the best we can,” Moeykens said.
The even keel comes from one place.
“That comes from my mom,” she said. “It’s never been about winning or speed or anything. It’s been about the horse and it’s been about riding correctly, and the results will come behind that.”
Deena Moeykens, Tayla’s mom, puts a finer point on it.
“It’s not about coming in with a bang. It’s about longevity for us. It’s about staying power,” Deena said. “The horsemanship part of it, the horses — that’s what I would like Tayla to be known for. Not to come in with a bang.”
Moeykens models the quiet build after Sherry Cervi and Kassie Mowry. “They go out and they do their job,” she said. “We’ve had a few people walk up to us this summer already and just say, ‘Hey, I really like how you ride and how your horses run.’ That’s what we’re really shooting for.”
Yeti is a different story off the pattern. “He’s a goober,” Moeykens said. “We call him our big kid because he acts like he’s two.” He pulls fly boots off, licks step stools, jerks rakes off the trailer. On the pattern, though, he’s growing up: “He’s firing harder, being more aggressive, starting to come into his own.”
Coming out of Montana wasn’t easy. “You’re not down in the thick of things,” Deena said. The family climbed the ladder rung by rung. Moeykens isn’t planning on taking it any faster now.
“What we do works for us,” she said. “We’re just going to stick with that and not overcomplicate it.”
Autumn Snyder
Qualifying Horse: Frenchmen Returns
Autumn Snyder of Elk Ridge, Utah, claimed the fifth and final ticket out of the West Regional on May 3 aboard Frenchmen Returns (“Duke”). Her 15.299 was worth $500 and a trip to Arlington — her first.
It’s also her first time entering an American qualifier.
“This was my first year entering a qualifier, and we won our qualifier,” Snyder said of the Evanston, Wyoming, stop that got her to South Point. “We had to battle our way through the West Regional Redemption Round in order for our shot to be top five.”
Then they got it. Snyder ran 15.303 in the Redemption Round (good for second, $1,320) to earn a spot in the final night, then turned in the run that put her on the plane to Arlington.
Duke came to her through Joy Wargo. Snyder was at Wargo’s to try another mare for a sibling when Duke was mentioned, and his quirks couldn’t hide what was underneath.
“His personality is big and quirky off the pattern, but when I turned him towards a barrel, he was all business,” Snyder said. “That mentality and feel made me want to take him home.”
Off the pattern, he’s a project. He’s claustrophobic and runs in a Jim Warner steel nose hack instead of a bit.
“That dude can stress me out to the max with his multiple personalities,” Snyder said. “But as his person and jockey, I am so thankful to get to hang out with him every day.”
Snyder doesn’t only run barrels. She’s a handy breakaway roper with a Pink Buckle breakaway championship to her name. She trains and sells horses out of her Utah operation, building her string a rung at a time.
Sibling Aubrey was her biggest cheerleader at the West Regional. Her older sister Amberley will be in the stands at Globe Life, too, along with the rest of her family.
“It’s been a journey,” Snyder said. “And one I am very thankful to have been on to get here.”
Ask Snyder what she hopes someone Googling her after Arlington will find, and the answer is short.
“That I am The American barrel racing champion for 2026.”
Blake Molle
Qualifying Horse: Wildchildsgotcashuno
Blake Molle of Chauvin, Alberta, won the average at the West Regional Finals at South Point on May 1-2 aboard Wildchildsgotcashuno (“JJ”) with a 30.628 on two ($4,175.50), then placed fourth in the finals on May 3 (15.223, $1,500) to lock up a spot in the Western field headed to Arlington.
The Canadian climbed.
Molle started her 2025 Canadian Pro Rodeo season ranked 20th and ended it ranked fifth at the Canadian Finals Rodeo, winning five of her final six rodeos to get there. JJ carried the run.
“It felt like a dream that I was waiting to be woken up from,” Molle told Lipstick & Cowboy Boots in September. “He’s truly a Unicorn.”
JJ has been a long time coming. Kelly Allen had success on him from aged events to the rodeo trail. The same horse carried Kassie Mowry on Championship Sunday at the 2023 Calgary Stampede, after Mowry’s main mount Famous Ladies Man “Emmitt” was sidelined and Allen loaned the horse for the run.
“When I got the opportunity to get another rodeo horse, my first thought was where’s JJ?”
She tried him at the end of July 2025. She knew almost immediately he was her horse.
“He tries his heart out every single run. He is the toughest horse I’ve ever been around.”
The 2025 CFR run also qualified Molle for the NFR Open. Her swing through U.S. rodeos helped set up the run at Arlington.
The dad’s-rulebook line travels with her.
“Be Kind, Work Hard and Success will follow.”