Multiple teams solidified themselves as contenders after a turbulent PBR Rattler Days in Fort Worth that divided the league.

Three games now separate 5th from 6th, and a clear rift between the Championship favorites and hopefuls has emerged.

The top-seeded Gamblers and Cowboys had dominant weekends and proved that they are here to stay.

The home team Texas Rattlers won two of three in front of the home crowd, although it wasn’t pretty.

Furthermore, the Mavericks and Outlaws each had valiant efforts of their own and dug themselves out of the bottom of the standings.

Here’s everything you missed from Rattler Days last weekend:

Austin Gamblers:

The Austin Gamblers continued their rise up the ranks in Fort Worth, finishing a perfect 3-0 for the second event this season.

They covered 8-of-15 over the weekend, divided between five different riders. The Gamblers won all three of their games comfortably, never trailing after the first four rides in any match.

Sage Kimzey was 90+ twice, each time giving the Gamblers a lead that they kept. He put the Cowboys away in Game 1 with a 90.6-point ride on Smooth Whiskey, and never gave the Rattlers a chance in Game 2 with a 90 on Bowser out of the gate.

Kimzey wasn’t the highest-scoring Gambler, though, as MVP leader Jose Vitor Leme delivered 91.1 on Elmo in Game 1. It was Leme’s 93rd career 90-point ride; he’s now one away from tying Chris Shivers for the most 90-point rides in Premier Series history. Leme finished the weekend 2-for-2. He’s 22-for-25 this season and is now 98.95 points ahead of Paulo Eduardo Rossetto in the MVP race.

Kaique Pacheco covered 2-of-3, and Dalton Kasel and Dener Barbosa each scored once. With Barbosa earning his eighth ride of the year, the Gamblers are now one of two teams (Stampede) to have five riders with at least eight rides this season.

The Gamblers are now 8-1 in their last three events. The roster’s collective effort alongside Leme has earned them 2nd place in the league standings. Austin’s now 16-10, tied in record with both the Stampede and Cowboys, but with 62 total rides on the season. They’re now just two wins and one ride behind the 1st-place Thunder.

Carolina Cowboys:

The Carolina Cowboys scored the most points of any team in Fort Worth. They scored 716.35 points on eight rides and finished the weekend 2-1.

Guilherme Valleiras covered all three of his bulls for the first time this season and capped off his weekend with a career-high 89.75-point ride on Smooth Whiskey in Game 3. He’s now 9th in the MVP race and has covered 13-of-21 this season.

Valleiras scored alongside Jess Lockwood in their Game 1 loss against the Gamblers. Lockwood covered both his bulls last weekend. He scored a 2026 Team Series season-high 93.9 points on Lights Out in Game 2. He capped off a 359.50-point night for the Cowboys, which is the new 2026 season-high.

But the most exciting part of the Gamblers’ weekend was Clay Guiton’s resurgence. The 2025 Teams Championship MVP had started his season 1-for-15, but covered 2-for-3 in Fort Worth. Guiton was 89.25 and 88.45 in Games 2 and 3, both wins for the Cowboys.

With Guiton comfortable, the Cowboys get a serious bump in firepower heading into the last three events of the season.

The Cowboys, unfortunately, dropped from 3rd to 4th for the first time since Freedom Days, but sit in a three-way tie with the Stampede and Gamblers at 16-10.

New York Mavericks:

The New York Mavericks won 2-1 in Fort Worth and escaped last place for the first time this season. They jumped into 8th place with a 10-16 record thanks to a season-high eight rides scored.

Hudson Bolton scored three of the team’s eight rides in his return from injury. He’d been 0-for-1 previously this season, but matched three in a row with a high of 88.7 on The HONDO in Game 2.

Bob Mitchell covered 2-of-3, scoring in both of New York’s wins. He’s covered 5-of-8 since returning to the lineup back in Anaheim.

Marco Rizzo, Afonso Quintino, and Mauricio Gulla Moreira got scores of their own to round out the Mavericks’ highest-scoring event of the season. New York is tied with the Gamblers for the best record across the last two events at 5-1.

Rizzo still leads the Mavericks with 13-of-22 rides this season but dropped out of the Top-10, into 11th. He was a 1-for-1 in Fort Worth and was 87.5 on Lap Dancer in a four-ride Game 3 statement win over the Stampede. That win gave the Mavericks their 10th win of the season. Last year, the Mavericks won just nine games. They need one more win to tie their franchise record of 11 regular-season wins.

At 10-16, the Mavericks are in a three-way tie with the Freedom and Outlaws. They’re only a game above Oklahoma in last place, but have a 13-ride safety net over the Wildcatters.

Kansas City Outlaws:

The Kansas City Outlaws earned their second straight 2-1 event finish and jumped from 9th place into 7th.

Hayden Welsh returned to the starting lineup after finishing out his ProRodeo season with an NFR qualification. He was 1-for-3 in Fort Worth, scoring 86.1 on XIT Socks In A Box in the Outlaws’ Game 1 victory over the Mavericks.

Maikon Calixton Rocha also scored in Game 1. He was a career-high 89.45 on UB Smooth in a reride opportunity for his first score of the season.

Sandro Batista scored in both of the Outlaws’ wins. He’s ridden 15-of-26 this season and got back to 5th in the MVP race.

But Eric Henrique Domingos had the most productive weekend for the Outlaws. He was a perfect 2-for-2 and has now covered his last six in a row. Domingos is now 22nd in the MVP race and has covered 9-of-19 this season.

Kansas City is now 10-16 and a game removed from both 10th and 6th place.

Missouri Thunder:

By their own standards, the Missouri Thunder had a subpar weekend. They finished 2-1 and gained a two-win lead over 2nd place, but only covered 6-of-15 in Fort Worth. Furthermore, they scored just one ride in their Game 3 loss, something they hadn’t done since Freedom Days.

But the Thunder aren’t complaining, and they still lead nearly every major statistical category. Most importantly, they lead the league with an 18-8 record and have ridden 63-of-130 for 5556.85 aggregate points.

Paulo Eduardo Rossetto uncharacteristically bucked off his first bull, but covered his next two, bringing his season total to 21-of-26. He’s still a bull behind Leme in the MVP race, though.

Macaulie Leather covered his first two bulls, but bucked off his last, snapping a career-long four-bull ride streak. He scored a clutch 85.85 on Train Robber in Game 2, giving the Thunder the lead and the 1.75-point win over the Nashville Stampede.

Julio Cesar Marques and Felipe Furlan each rode 1-of-3. They both scored in the Thunder’s Game 1 victory over the Ridge Riders.

It wasn’t the cleanest event for the Thunder, but they’re now alone at the top with the largest lead over 2nd place since becoming No. 1.

Texas Rattlers:

The Texas Rattlers had a successful home stand in Fort Worth, finishing 2-1. They scored just five rides, split between Daniel Keeping, Brady Fielder, and Jean Carlos Teodoro.

Keeping saved the day for the Rattlers in Game 1. He was the only Rattler to score and was 90.25 on Fury, outscoring the Wildcatters on his own. It was his fifth 90-point ride of the season.

Fielder was the only Rattler to score in Game 2. He was 87.85 on Let’s Roll, but never led against Gamblers.

Keeping and Fielder were in sync in Game 3, however. Fielder covered Yo Mamma for a season-high 91.75 points, and Keeping backed him up with 87.55 of his own. Teodoro sealed the deal against the Ridge Riders with an 88.1 on Corriente for his third ride of the season.

Both Keeping and Fielder now have the two-best average ride scores in the Top 10. Keeping, in 7th, has averaged 89.16 while Fielder, in 3rd, has averaged 88.96. No other Rattlers are currently ranked in the Top 30 of the MVP race.

The Rattlers improved to 14-12 and remain in 5th place. They’re now three wins above 6th and two wins behind 4th.

Florida Freedom:

The Florida Freedom finished 1-2 and scored only three rides. It’s the third event this season the Freedom have covered three or fewer bulls, and for the second straight week. The Freedom have just five total rides and a 1-5 record across the last two events.

2x League MVP John Crimber was a late scratch, but reconfirmed that he will return by the Teams Championship, at the very latest.

Yan Victor Cunha, Murilo Henrique de Oliveira, and João Lucas Campos were the only riders to score for the Freedom. Cunha was 89.60 on Spellbound and saved the tie against the scoreless Stampede in Game 1. It was only his second ride of the season. De Oliveira got his third ride of the season in Game 2, scoring 86.65, but was less than three points away from the win. Lucas Campos was 89.1 on Dirty South in Game 3, but the Freedom were outscored two-to-one by the Cowboys.

The Freedom exited Fort Worth in 9th place with a 10-16 record. They lead the last-place Wildcatters by a game and three rides only. With 38 rides total, the Freedom have the second-fewest rides in the league by nine rides.

Arizona Ridge Riders:

Like the Freedom, the Arizona Ridge Riders also scored just three rides and suffered a 1-2 record in Fort Worth. They’ve won just four games in their last five events.

Everton Natan da Silva scored two of Arizona’s three scores, including an 89.35 on Glitch in their lone Game 2 win over the Freedom.

Eduardo Aparecido also scored. He was 87.65 in Game 1 and gave the Ridge Riders a short-lived lead over the Thunder.

Aparecido and da Silva have been the only Ridge Riders who’ve scored in the last two events and sit in the Top 25 of the MVP race. Da Silva is the only Ridge Rider inside the Top 10. He’s covered 15-of-22 on the season and sits in 4th place.

The Ridge Riders sit in 6th place with an 11-15 record and are now closer to last place than they are to 5th.

Nashville Stampede:

Disaster struck for the Nashville Stampede in Fort Worth. They finished 0-3 for the first time this season and dropped to 3rd place.

All three of their losses were by a ride or less, and they failed to score at all in Game 1 against the Freedom.

They lost to the Thunder in Game 2 by less than two points, and in Game 3, the Mavericks struck fire, scoring four rides to Nashville’s three.

Regardless, the Stampede are tied 16-10 with Gamblers and Cowboys and are still within reach of the top.

Furthermore, they have a league-leading five riders in the Top 25, each with at least eight rides this season. Nashville has 58 rides total, which is the 3rd-most in the league, and 10 rides more than the next most.

Their best rider, Rogério Venâncio, covered two bulls in Fort Worth and scored a career-high 90.05 on Fury in Game 3. He’s covered 14-of-26 this season and sits 6th in the MVP race.

Nashville had its worst finish yet this season, but remains a powerhouse contender for the rest of the season.

Oklahoma Wildcatters:

The Oklahoma Wildcatters fell to last place in the league standings after producing their second two-ride event of their season.

Kaiden Loud and Eduardo Matos scored in Games 1 and 2, respectively. Loud was 88.6 on King Cobra while Matos was 88.75 on Dirty Honey, although neither score was enough to win either game.

No Wildcatter scored in Game 3.

Out of the team’s 13 buck-offs in Fort Worth, only two riders made it past six seconds in their attempts.

Matos is currently 10th in the MVP race and is the only Wildcatter in the Top 25. As a team, the Wildcatters have scored a league-low 35 rides; Matos is responsible for 13 of them.

With a 9-17 record, the Wildcatters are still two games behind 6th. But at their rate, it will be an uphill battle to reach their franchise record of 11 wins with three events left.