The Round 9 NFR barrel racing kept fans on the edge of their seats throughout the entirety of the competition, but ultimately Hailey Kinsel and DM Sissy Hayday locked up their fourth NFR 2024 round win in 13.48 seconds and took charge of the World Standings race.
Kinsel came from the No. 15 position on the ground to unseat Leslie Smalygo and Carlee Otero from their tied position at the top of the round with 13.56-second runs and add $33,687 to her World Standings efforts.
But as it stands, Kassie Mowry’s not out of the race. Going into Round 9, Kinsel’s two downed barrels from Round 7 opened up the door for Mowry to move ahead of her in the projected world standings due to only having one penalty barrel in Round 1.
Aggregate watch
When Mowry downed her second barrel, she dropped herself from the No. 3 aggregate position she entered the round from on eight.
Now on nine runs, she’s 130.53 and seated No. 5 in the race, while Kinsel’s 131.73 seats her No. 6., separating the duo by .8 going into the final night of NFR competition 2024. The $21,190 and $29,340 projected checks would land Kinsel at $422,202 and Mowry at $419,774 if the race ended on Dec. 13.
But as the crowd and fans at home watched in Round 9, anything could be possible come 6 p.m. PST on Dec. 14.
Round 9 Impact
Andrea Busby maintained her position atop the aggregate and clocked a 13.58, which added $14,126 to her efforts for the fourth-place finish in the round. She’s in line for the $86,391 at the end of the competition if she keeps the barrels standing on night 10, due to the fact that LaTricia Duke, the only other rider clean on eight tipped a barrel on Vanilla Wafer and her clear lead of 122.57 on nine.
In the middle of the aggregate lineup, Tiany Schuster and Ashley Castleberry have both only tipped one barrel.
The one-header won’t only come down to Kinsel’s DM Sissy Hayday and Mowry’s Force The Goodbye’s efforts, as every cowgirl ahead of the two in the aggregate could help or hurt to see how the world standings could shuffle behind.
So far across the competition, Kinsel has pocketed four round wins, while Mowry has earned five total, with her Round 8 title showing a split with Shelley Morgan.
See full results, aggregate and World Standings here.
Stay tuned for the full Equinety scoop, plus an interview with Mowry dropping tomorrow on The Money Barrel podcast.
