Tough Draw Tuesday: The Road to Vegas

Each year, professional rodeo athletes spend countless hours traveling, training, and competing at rodeos across the country with one goal in mind: to qualify for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Hundreds chase NFR dreams, but only 15 from each event earn the chance to go for the gold in the Thomas and Mack. 

When the regular season concludes on September 30 and the standings are finalized, every NFR qualifier carries with them a season’s worth of miles, pressure, wins, setbacks, and moments that could have changed the outcome.

For Tough Draw Sports, five athletes across five events will make the trek to Las Vegas this year. Each one got there a different way. Each one has a different story. And each one earned the right to compete on rodeo’s biggest stage.

Jacob Lees qualified in bareback riding, finishing the regular season No. 2 in the world standings with $240,657.05. Carlee Otero qualified in barrel racing, heading to the finals in the No. 3 spot with $202,388.99. TJ Gray qualified in bull riding, sitting No. 5 with $258,647.79. Dustin Egusquiza qualified as a team roping header, with $123,013.18 that put him 12th in the world. Damian Brennan qualified in saddle bronc riding, coming in off the bubble for the No. 14 slot with $158,072.73.

“We’re proud of every athlete on our roster and the work they put in this season,” Brad Hughes said. “To have five Tough Draw Sports athletes qualify for the NFR across five different events is a big deal. Each one has worked hard and faced their own battles to get there, and we are proud to back them as they head to Las Vegas.”

Jacob Lees

For Jacob Lees, getting back to Las Vegas was one of three goals he set for himself in 2026. He wanted to qualify for the Canadian National Finals Rodeo, make his circuit finals, and get a chance to compete on rodeo’s biggest stage. By the end of the regular season, he had accomplished all three.

Lees finished the regular season sitting No. 2 in the bareback riding world standings with $240,657.05, putting himself in position not only to compete in Las Vegas, but to enter the NFR with a real chance to impact the world title race.

The road to get there required more than chasing the biggest-paying rodeos. To qualify for both the Canadian Finals and his circuit finals, Lees had to meet rodeo-count requirements for each, adding another layer of strategy to an already demanding season.

“That was the biggest challenge for me,” Lees revealed. “You have to go to 15 in Canada and 15 in the circuit you designate. Those might not all be the biggest-paying rodeos, but you still have to go to them to get that count. It’s pretty hard to do both in the same season.”

For Lees, qualifying for the NFR again carries weight because he knows how hard it is to get there and how quickly a season can remind an athlete that nothing is guaranteed.

“It means everything,” Lees said. “If you grow up watching rodeo or wanting to be a rodeo cowboy, it’s like the Super Bowl. It means a lot.”

Missing the Finals last year also changed the way he approached the 2026 season.

“I learned that nothing comes easy,” Lees said. “Even though I’m high up in the standings, I still had to work my butt off to get here. I took last year a little lax, and I think that’s the reason I didn’t make it. I figured once you make it once, you’ll just make it as many times as you want to, and that’s not the truth. I really had to put the work in to get back here.”

As he looks toward Las Vegas, Lees is keeping his focus on taking it one night at a time.

“I’m just going to go out there and ride every horse like I know how to,” Lees said. “If I have a bad ride or a bad horse, I can’t let that affect me. I just have to go on to the next one. Whether it’s the first one or the ninth one, there will always be another one.”

Carlee Otero

When Tough Draw Tuesday shared Carlee Otero’s story earlier this year, the theme was simple: improving by one percent.

Otero’s career has never been built on one moment or an overnight success. It has been built through daily work, horsepower, family, faith, and a commitment to getting better in small ways that eventually add up to something much bigger.

This season became another example of that.

Otero finished the regular season No. 3 in the WPRA world standings, entering Las

Vegas in one of the strongest regular-season positions of her career. It was a season shaped by consistency, horsepower, and the kind of experience that shows up when the standings race gets tight and the pressure keeps building.

Her road back to the NFR also reflects the people and horses behind the scenes. For Otero, the work at home has always mattered just as much as the runs people see in the arena.

“It means a lot to go back to Vegas in this position,” Otero said. “I feel like everything we’ve done this year goes back to the work put in at home. I’ve always tried to get a little better every day, whether that’s with myself, my horses, or the way we handle everything as a family. This season has been really special, and I’m just grateful for the horses and the people who helped get me here.”

Now, she heads to Las Vegas with the same mindset that has carried her career: trust the work, trust the horses, and keep building one percent at a time.

TJ Gray

TJ Gray enters this year’s NFR with plenty of success to build on.

Last year, Gray left Las Vegas as the NFR bull riding average champion, Top Gun winner, and reserve world champion bull rider. This year, he returns to the Thomas & Mack ranked No. 5 in the world standings and still chasing the gold buckle.

“It means a lot,” Gray said of his third NFR qualification. “You’d think it gets easier to make the NFR, but it’s still a lot of work no matter how many times you go.”

Gray started the year coming off ankle surgery, but by the end of the season, he said he did not feel like it held him back as much as it could have.

“Having surgery started me off a little behind,” Gray said. “But I still went to way more rodeos this year than I did last year, so I don’t think it affected me too much by the end of the year.”

Despite his success, the season still had its challenges.

“There were weeks I didn’t ride very good,” Gray admitted. “You put in a lot of work throughout the year, and no matter how many times you make the Finals, it’s still a blessing. I’m very thankful to be going back.”

For Gray, part of what made this year stand out was the level of competition in bull riding. Across the season, he felt the field pushing one another, raising the standard, and creating a race that demanded more from everyone.

“So many bull riders were riding good all year,” Gray said. “Everybody was feeding off each other. Usually, you can go to a rodeo and maybe be the only guy to stay on, but it wasn’t really like that this year. Everywhere you went, guys were riding a bunch. I thought that was pretty cool to be part of.”

That competition is part of what has him looking forward to December.

“I think we’re probably going to see the best bull riding we’ve seen at the NFR in a long time,” Gray said.

Even when the pressure’s on, his approach remains simple.

“One bull at a time,” Gray said. “All you can do is what you can do. I don’t worry about the outcomes and results. You just have to enjoy the week, ride your bulls, and keep nodding your head and having fun with it.”

Dustin Egusquiza

Dustin Egusquiza has built one of the most recognizable careers in team roping through speed, consistency, and the ability to stay in the mix year after year.

Earlier this season, Tough Draw Tuesday highlighted the legacy he has built in his heading career thus far. At that point, the goal was clear: make it back to Las Vegas and keep chasing a world title.

Now, Egusquiza has done exactly that.

This year marks his ninth trip to the NFR, a milestone that still has not lost its meaning.

“Nine trips to Vegas seems crazy to say,” Egusquiza shared. “I still feel like the young guy going for my first time, and I have the same excitement I did the first time. It’s the best 10 days of the year.”

This qualification was not easy. Egusquiza and heeler J.C. Flake had to work through the kind of season that tests a team’s timing, trust, and patience.

“We definitely had some tough times this year,” Egusquiza said. “It was a grind. The first month of the summer run, J.C. was roping great, but I wasn’t turning very many steers for him. Then it flip-flopped. I was doing better, and he had some trouble. But that’s part of team roping. It came together for us the last month, and we both started catching them.”

That late-season push was enough to send both ropers to Las Vegas, where Egusquiza brings a veteran’s perspective and Flake gets to experience the NFR for the first time.

“I’m looking forward to roping with J.C. in Vegas because I know how much he wants it and how exciting it is your first time going,” Egusquiza said. “We are going to be as prepared as possible. We have quite a big deficit to get to first, so we are going to let loose, have fun for 10 days, and see what happens.”

For Egusquiza, the excitement is still as strong as his first trip to the big show, and he’s not taking this ninth opportunity for granted.

Damian Brennan

Damian Brennan’s qualification may have been one of the most dramatic of the roster.

Brennan built a strong start to the year, giving himself enough room to return home to Australia and spend time with his wife and their newborn. When he came back to finish the regular season, the margin was tight and every ride mattered.

His NFR qualification came down to the final days of the regular season, when every dollar counts and every opportunity becomes even more important.

For anyone who has followed Brennan’s story, that finish fits the way he has built his career.

Tough Draw Tuesday previously shared the path that brought him from Injune, Queensland, to professional rodeo in the United States, and the mentality that has shaped him along the way: hard work beats talent every day.

That mindset mattered late in the season.

“It means the world [to qualify for the NFR],” Brennan said. “You work so hard all year long to get there, and I had a pretty wild season this year. I couldn’t get to Canada, separated some ribs, cracked an ankle, hurt my knee, and then went home to have a child. To still be able to go to the NFR is pretty incredible, and I’m very grateful for it.”

When the pressure was on, Brennan leaned on the people and faith that have grounded him through the year.

“My wife and I left it all up to faith and up to God," Brennan said of the end of the season.

"I  just let it all hang out and knew that whatever's meant to happen is going to happen.”

After everything it took to get back to Las Vegas, Brennan is not going in quietly.

“Don't underestimate me,” Brennan said. “I’m gonna go in there, win the average, and hopefully win the world.”

For Brennan, this NFR qualification is not just another line on his already impressive résumé. It is a reflection of the belief, discipline, toughness, and fight it takes to stay in the conversation until the very end.

More to Come

Five athletes. Five events. Five different roads to Las Vegas.

Lees built a season around three major goals and accomplished all of them. Otero returns in one of the strongest positions of her career. Gray heads back as the defending average champion with another gold buckle still in reach. Egusquiza brings nine trips of NFR experience into the box with a first-time Finals partner. Brennan fought his way in during the final days of a season that tested him in more ways than one.

Together, they represent the depth, range, and standard of the Tough Draw Sports roster.

The NFR is where the season ends, but it is also where another part of the story begins.

Over 10 nights in Las Vegas, every round can change the standings, shape a career, and add another chapter to what each athlete has already built.

For Tough Draw Sports, it is an honor to stand in the corner of athletes who have earned the chance to compete on rodeo’s biggest stage.

Congratulations to Jacob Lees, Carlee Otero, TJ Gray, Dustin Egusquiza, and Damian Brennan. The road leads to Vegas, and Tough Draw Sports will be following along every step of the way.