- Who do you think's gonna win it?
- I have no idea.
- Going into this Run for a Million,
everybody has their dreams and hopes.
- Nobody wants to win more than I do.
- I don't think people can b*at me.
- To win, it does change a lot of lives.
To carry that load on your back is, it's heavy.
- This sport is very expensive.
We need to go for this kind of money.
- [crowd cheering]
- For the Run for a Million, I'm feeling a lot of pressure
to pick one of my dad's horses.
- I think we found the perfect horse for Matt.
- My top horse right now is Money Carlo.
And I'm not gonna show him here 'cause I wanna have him as sharp
as I can for Vegas.
- The MRI came back on Marioo.
And I'm sure he's not gonna be ready.
- You've been talking with Cade about horse options.
- Cade's gonna take whichever horse I don't choose
for the Run for the Million.
- Everybody is trying to get their sh*t together.
So, they can compete in this Super Bowl of the sport.
And now the Super Bowl is here.
- *
- *
- The Run for a Million is the biggest reining event
in the world.
Gives out the most money.
- The champion gets ,. So, half a million.
Everybody else splits the rest.
- There's riders. You have one run.
You have one chance.
And if they make a mistake, they do not get a do over.
- I came up with the idea for the Run for a Million.
I wanted to get the best horses in the world
in the same arena and see what happens.
And now it's the Super Bowl of the sport.
There's an energy.
The horses feed off it.
The riders feed off of it.
- That's the reason I'm here. That's what I like.
That's what I live for.
- It feels great to be back in Los Vegas to defend my title.
- Can't do it much better than that.
- Even though I'm not in the main event,
just being able to be here at the show
and compete, it's a pretty awesome feeling.
- I feel that I'm one of the toughest competitors.
I feel that the other guys are gonna be the ones
that are gonna be worried.
- It's incredible to be able to compete in this class.
I mean, it's everybody's dream, I think,
in the reining industry.
- It's special for me.
I'm probably one of the guys
that wasn't expected to be here.
- You gotta go in there and not make any mistakes.
Your horse has gotta be perfect.
- The big challenge is where's that horse
that's talented enough with enough grit
to take that pressure and thrive.
- *
- We just got to Vegas.
We're unloading the horses and unloading all of our tack.
- This place is amazing, you know?
How nice to be able to pull into
an air-conditioned building and unload.
- Don't hurt your back.
- This is the fun stuff, right?
- So I brought seven horses this time.
I came prepared.
Money Carlo is definitely gonna be the horse
that I'm planning on showing on Saturday.
I just gel with that horse.
We immediately just felt like he understood me
and vice versa.
You know, I think the horse definitely,
if he has his day, you know,
we're gonna be right there at the top.
- Sometimes it's a tough choice
as to what horse you're gonna pick.
My dad obviously wants me to pick his.
- And I said, "Well, it's all on you, don't ask me."
- I kinda had to pick the right horse
for the right situation.
- My son Brian is riding two of my studs
in the Run for a Million here in Vegas.
[laughs]
- What was the question again?
- [laughing]
- I always tell Brian that, you don't win, don't come back.
Just ride the hell on off somewhere
and get away from us.
- [laughing]
- *
- [indistinct chatter]
- *
- The draw is how we pick our order on finals night.
- You know, last is always good.
Otherwise, you wanna be the last horse of the last set.
So first after they drag the arena
so you got fresh surfaces to, to work with.
Everbody wants to go toward the end
that way you know exactly what's out there,
um, what scores are out there
and history shows judges tend to be
a little more generous towards the end of the competition.
- Perfect situation would be the last one to go
with fresh ground.
- I've been first a lot, I've been last a lot.
I prefer last.
Alright, I think it's time to get this party started.
- You're kinda holding your breath and a little bit on pins
and needles.
- Kole Price, you're gonna start
the whole thing off for us, buddy.
- [cheering]
- Fourteen.
Three.
- [cheering]
- There's no better drug than the finals,
you know that. You been here enough.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
- I think that the two guys that won it the first year,
Craig and Cade are gonna be strong.
- Twelve.
- Pretty good.
- Cade is looking like he's showing Modern g*n.
That's a strong horse.
- We had discussed with Cade McCutcheon
the opportunity to use one of ours
but Cade did have another really nice horse came his way.
- I'm still very thankful for the opportunity
that Casey is willing to give me.
But Modern g*n, I don't know him very well
but at least I know him better
than I would have known Superman.
- Four.
- Craig is always in the top two or three
and I don't want to never make so many mistakes.
Shawn is the guy to b*at.
- You were first two years ago.
You were first at the qualifier.
You're running for that number one?
No, you get fifteen.
- [cheering]
- Andrea Fappani.
- Andrea, it's tough to b*at him in any draw.
I mean, he's, he's amazing in whatever draw he's at.
- You're gonna start the show for us.
- [cheering]
- We draw one and Shawn is draw fifteen.
You know, what are the chances of that?
He's my biggest enemy right now and uh,
the guy that I'm sh**ting for
and he's got probably the best draw.
I've got the worst draw. So, for me it's, uh,
it's even more crucial to concentrate and
go get it done.
- Fourteen.
This is my very first time competing
in the Run for the Million.
I tell ya, it's pretty cool because I'm from
a little town in Illinois.
Wyantt, Illinois has a population
of a thousand people and I think people
from the town are coming here.
- There's a lot more added pressure.
He's very, very hungry.
He wants it.
- *
- *
- [whistling]
- Is that your best supermodel walk?
- We didn't stumble on the catwalk.
- The jog out is just something where the vets get a chance
to look, give their blessing that yes, your horses
look like they're good to compete.
The horse's health and well-being
always comes first.
It doesn't matter how big the competition is.
- [laughing]
- Basically, they need to trot in a straight line.
We have to see him turn to the right.
And then we need to see him trot back.
- I look for tendons that might be a little puffy.
I look for quarter cracks in their hooves.
I look for puffy high motion joints.
Not all horses passed today.
- We're good now.
- Dr. John Newcomb, Dr. Russ Peterson,
and myself, all of us have to agree.
- *
- Money Carlo went, they saw a little something there,
thought he looked a little stiff.
They asked to look at him again hours later.
Which that's, that's what they do,
to give the horse a chance to recover.
Absolutely worries the hell out of me.
Um, was not expecting this, but I'm trying to prepare for it.
And, uh, yeah, yeah, we're just very, very worried
because, uh, if, if he's not right tomorrow, he's out.
- *
- *
- The $, sh**t is a way for us riders
to qualify for next year's Run for a Million.
I have one horse here, Josie.
And, uh, we're gonna give it our best sh*t.
- I'm here to try and get a spot in Run for a Million.
- There's two ways that you can qualify
for the Run for a Million.
One is at the event itself in the open sh**t
which takes place the day before.
The top five in that event are automatically qualified
for the next year.
If you don't qualify there, you're gonna have to wait
until March in Scottsdale and try and qualify at the Cactus.
We'll take the top ten there and that's your .
- I don't have any superstitions.
I don't do anything like that to prep.
I just try to trust my work.
And try to listen to what the horse is telling me
and just trust that everything I've done at home
is going to pay off.
- The people that hauled her for me
said that she didn't drink great on the trip here.
I have one horse competing against, you know,
the best horses in the world.
When you walk out in that arena, is that horse
gonna be with you at that moment
and that's really hard to predict.
- *
- We're just gonna run some fluids
just to be extra cautious. And make sure we start off
on a, on a good foot here.
I believe that I'm here at the Run for a Million,
not because I believe % that I can qualify on my horse,
because she's a great, great little mare
but I know the odds are stacked against me pretty high.
I'm here because, oh man.
I'm just, I'm starting to get a little bit emotional about it.
Give me one second.
[clears throat]
Josie's a great little mare.
I believe in her percent, but she's not the caliber
that I'm competing against.
She's, she's not that same caliber.
So, it would take a miracle and I believe in miracles
and I believe that God's plan is gonna happen
but I'm here to show that you don't have to have,
you know, the horsepower or the money
that everybody else has. You just have to
have a passion and a dream and never give up.
- *
*
- You know the crowds gonna be huge here.
It's gonna be amazing, but, you know, you just focus
on what you're doing. You focus on you
and your horse and not what's going
on around you. No matter how big the crowd is,
no matter where you are, that's what you have to do,
is keep your head in the game and just be smart.
- *
- Today, was a little rough getting Josie around
getting her ready, but after talking to the vet,
he said that everything will be okay.
- ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, our judges
are making their way to their chairs to start.
Drawing an identity of
Jlosa owned by Tom and Mandy McCutcheon,
shown by Mandy McCutcheon.
- Mandy is an unbelievable rider.
Daughter of the master Tim McQuay.
- *
- FEMALE ANNOUNCER: Now, how is she gonna slow her down?
Super smooth.
- MALE ANNOUNCER: Beautiful mover.
Okay, come on Mandy.
Uh, that was a long stop.
- FEMALE: And that was the thing she missed in the qualifier.
She had one bobble in the stop on that side of the pen.
- MALE: Beautiful run.
Now it's up to the judges, see what they do.
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Mandy McCutcheon and Jlosa, .
- *
- [crowd cheering]
- One little bobble keeps you from being
where you wanna be. Otherwise, she showed great.
I mean, she's a, she's just a show horse.
She gives me her heart every time.
- Nerves are up.
This morning's just been a lot of pep talking.
You know, I'm trying to get her out of her own head
and get back to, you know, why we're here.
You deserve to be here kind of a thing, you know.
So the pressure's up.
- ANNOUNCER: So let's go to draw .
It's Makendiamonds shown by Abby Lengel.
- FEMALE: Here comes Abby Lengel.
I'm sad Abby's not in the Run for a Million tomorrow.
She's an exceptional trainer.
And it would've been cool to see her go
for the second one, but maybe she's gonna qualify
and come back through it this way.
- [crowd cheering]
- FEMALE: That was two good maneuvers to kick off with.
Let's see if she can go this way too.
- MALE: Wow, big turner.
- FEMALE: Very, very good.
- Come on, Josie.
- Come on. - Yeah, come on Abby.
- MALE: I don't know.
It started great, got a little soft.
I don't know whether that horse, you know,
just hit a little bad spot, maybe.
- [crowd cheering]
- MALE: Good job, Abby.
- FEMALE: And she's a crowd favorite.
Listen to them. It's nice.
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Abby Lengel and Makendiamonds, .
- [crowd cheering]
- She got her shown.
- She ran out of horse a little at the end.
- Yeah, she ran out of horse at the end, but--
- WOMAN: She showed the hell out of it.
- I got here the first day and I looked around
and I thought to myself, why am I here?
And then I realized if I thought that way
I wouldn't go to a horse show ever.
And I am where I am because I just never gave up
and I kept coming, even when I felt like,
you know, it wasn't gonna work I kept showing up,
I kept working, I kept trying, and I'm here.
I'll be back next year and I will always be here.
You just have to keep showing up
and never giving up and never quitting,
and just follow your dream.
- *
*
- So, uh, so this is Turbo Walla Walla Starbuck.
I looked at Money Carlo with my vets and the owners
and, uh, we just made the decision
that it didn't look that he was percent himself,
he wasn't percent healthy and it just wasn't his week.
A big blow, I've been preparing for this with that horse.
I had everything planned out coming here with Money Carlo
and what I was gonna do but, um, I've got Turbo here, so.
I'm trying to get to know him as fast as I possibly can.
The thing is, he doesn't know any of my tendencies,
I obviously don't know all of his,
so I'm trying to talk to him,
I'm hoping that he understands what I'm saying.
- *
- What's your name?
- Do you really need your glasses
to sign your name, Tom? - Oh yeah.
- I'm from Northwest Arkansas. - BOTH: We're from Georgia.
- Texas. - North Carolina.
- California.
- We came from Saint George, Utah.
- Indiana. So, we came a long way.
- These are the best horses in the world
and the top of them are here.
- We didn't go to a football game, basketball game, nothing.
This was it. - My mom's here
for the cowboys. - Yeah, I am.
It's not every day you get to see this many cowboys
in one spot, you know?
- It's truly anyone's game.
- It's been a good journey.
I brought back the same team that we did before.
You know, it was all on me that we didn't win it.
So, I think that I fixed those mistakes
and, uh, you know, we're moving forward.
- I think he likes the camera. He looks pretty relaxed.
I don't think he knows what's coming.
- Do you think it would be bad form
if I tried to Tanya Harding you right now?
- [laughs] - Just give you a little kick?
- This whole thing has been so nerve wracking.
Money Carlo, he was feeling sore
and so Matt just decided to make the change,
and wouldn't you know it, here.
- The pressure's on me not to screw it up.
- My dad's talked about the Run for a Million
all year long and hasn't cared about any other show
other than this.
- Last time, on that particular horse,
I missed my last stop and it cost me $,.
So, I would really like to have another sh*t at it.
- This year has been really, really good for me.
According to the reiner magazine,
I'm the number one rider at this moment.
- Been doing this for a long time
and I always feel like I have a chance.
- The last Run for a Million I was a co-champion.
But my goal is to be a champion all by myself.
- Honestly, I don't try to think too much.
I got a game plan in my head
and I'm just gonna try to stick to it.
- To not screw it up.
- ANNOUNCER: Well, ladies and gentlemen,
are you ready to see the top trainers
and the top horses in the country?
- [crowd cheers]
- Let's do it.
Draw one, here is Platinum Vintage
and Andrea Fappani.
- [crowd cheers]
- MALE: Well, fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen.
The first horse is in the arena.
Here we go.
He's gonna set the pace tonight, ladies and gentlemen.
Holy moly. - Wow!
Wow! - Yes, boom.
- Come on. Come on.
- MALE: Watch this, and here we go.
He is absolutely flying.
Wow!
- [screaming]
- MALE: Okay, this is what it's all about, Taylor, right here.
He's gotta hit these stops. Here we go.
- Hey, look, now here's my question to you,
did we just barely got past that middle marker,
a little hoppy on the front?
- MALE: No, I can't quite mark that as much as I want to.
- TAYLOR: You're gonna half it.
- [crowd cheering]
- And that was huge right there.
- [screaming] - Wow!
The crowd's letting him know how cool that was.
And it was something awesome.
- ANNOUNCER: Score for draw one, Platinum Vintage
and Andrea Fappani, .
- [crowd cheering]
- I was disappointed with the run.
The horse was a little bit distracted
from the crowd when he came in.
It just took me awhile.
I really, I never got him back percent concentrating on me.
It's one of those rounds that I know it's not gonna win it.
I just didn't feel like I had my horse, uh,
where he needed to be. Oh well.
- [crowd cheering]
- FEMALE: Every little girl's dreams
ride on this girl tonight. And here she comes.
- TAYLOR: Here comes Gina.
Oh my god.
- Yeah.
- TAYLOR: Did she hammer that stop?
Easy with the start, but oh my gosh.
- MALE: But then we add a one point penalty.
- TAYLOR: Yeah, she's plus one, penalty one, yep.
But good on her for going after it.
It's go big or go home, here.
Look how hard she's going.
Oh my gosh.
- MALE: Okay, right here, this is critical, right here.
- TAYLOR: Come on, come on, Gina.
Come on, Gina. Oh, that's easy.
- MALE: That was perfect. - TAYLOR: Cannot
do that better.
Yeah!
The rollback wasn't over the tracks, but--
- No, that's good, it's still good.
- Oh, it's still very good.
That was gorgeous. - FEMALE: Yay, Gina.
- TAYLOR: Look at her.
- MALE: She is so jacked up.
- TAYLOR: Look at that.
- MALE: I got a little chill going on.
- TAYLOR: I do too.
- [crowd cheering]
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Gina Schumacher
and Gunnastepya, and one half.
- [crowd booing]
- MALE: Oh.
- TAYLOR: Uh-oh, the boo birds are out.
- I could have done better, but I think was the first time
I couldn't care less, like, how, what I scored.
I just had so much fun.
- [crowd cheering]
- Let's go to draw three.
This is Walla Walla Starbuck shown by Matt Mills.
- [crowd cheering]
- Yeah!
- [cheering]
- MALE: Matt's due for a big win.
- TAYLOR: He is due. He is due.
- MALE: But there hasn't been a trainer on this horses back
in a year and a half.
Nice.
Nice. - [cheering]
- TAYLOR: Alright, buddy, let's go.
Let's go.
And he is going.
He is burning it.
Come on, Matt.
- MALE: Matt's doing it.
- FEMALE: Uh-oh. Out of lead.
- TAYLOR: How long?
- FEMALE: Out of lead one stride on the side I believe.
I'm not a judge.
There's five very well qualified men down there
but I think I saw that.
- TAYLOR: So, that's two one-point penalties,
ladies and gentlemen, for six points total.
- MALE: Oh, Matt Mills.
- Come on. Run him down there.
Run him. Run.
- TAYLOR: Nice stop, Matt.
- MALE: Beautiful.
- FEMALE: That was cracking roll back.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: Let's see what we got.
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Matt Mills and Walla Walla Starbuck,
and one half, and one half.
- *
- Well. - OFFICIAL: You'll be back.
- This is the part I hate.
I feel so bad for Matt. You have no idea.
- f*ck
- I mean, sh*t he's ridden that horse three times.
- I know that I've done all the preparation that I can do
and I have the horse to do it with.
A little bit of a bumpy road getting here but we're here.
- ANNOUNCER: This is draw four, No Smoking Required,
shown by Craig Schmersal.
- TAYLOR: Well, here comes last year's co-champion horse,
and rider, and man did he hammer that.
- [crowd cheering]
- MALE: I think Craig could be one of the best showmen
in the world. I mean, I--
- TAYLOR: He understands exactly what this horse
is capable of doing.
Wow, that was nice. - MALE: Yep.
You gotta let it hang out and hope it all stays together.
- TAYLOR: Yep. You gotta ride the rails.
But that's just correct as a horse can stop.
And he did it again.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: And he did it again. Wow!
- MALE: Really good. Really, really good.
- TAYLOR: And here we go. We got people standing up.
- ANNOUCER: Score for Craig Schmersal
and No Smoking Required owned by Wranglen Partnership, .
- [crowd cheering]
- Good job, babe.
The ground's heavy, huh?
This horse tried his little heart out.
I mean, he turned huge. He had no penalties anywhere.
- The only thing that changed was the crowd was so loud,
I didn't hit my stops like I felt like I coulda but,
sh*t I mean, sh*t you gotta swing.
When you run through that gate, you gotta swing
as hard as you can with this group of guys,
and you know, whatever happens, happens.
- What a rider.
That was awesome. I'm proud of you.
- You trying to get after, after me right here on camera?
- I wanna get after you, yep. - [laughing]
- Yeah, you can't do anything 'til someone beats us.
No cocktails yet.
- *
- We're four riders into the Run for a Million.
Craig Schmersal and Andrea Fappani
are currently tied for first place, .
There's still of the best riders in the world left to go.
So anything can happen.
- I think it'll be a toss up between me and my dad,
as to which one of us would be more excited about winning.
- FEMALE: Here comes Brian Bell.
- [crowd cheering]
- Yeah! Yeah!
Yeah!
That's riding.
One, two, three.
Yeah!
- TAYLOR: A little under turn there.
- There's no little tonight. It is or it isn't, tonight.
- Yes.
- [crowd cheering]
- Go big, baby. Go big.
- Brian!
Go get you some, Brian.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: Ben, I tell you what, I mean, that's a monster stop.
- That was big. Could be the best stops
of anybody so far.
- Look, the question is gonna be,
what do they do with those circles?
- [crowd cheering]
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Brian Bell and [unintelligible], .
- And guess what, just like , any bobble will burn you.
- No room for error tonight.
- Any bobble will burn you. - No room for error.
- Here's to ya. - I was hoping a little better.
- My first stop, he tripped on my first stop.
But, uh, other than that, he was super good.
My, my, three stops on the side, he stopped huge.
I just didn't need a trip on the first one.
It's probably, you know, I'm probably not gonna win it.
But, uh, you know, we'll take it.
- Brian did an awesome job.
He ran in really hard, had a little glitch in his stop,
just a little stop.
It's hard, very, very, hard, to do everything perfectly.
You did a great job.
- WOMAN: Good luck, you guys. - Thanks, y'all too.
- This horse has won over $, so far.
He's a triple crown winner already.
- Yep.
- And he kept him home from the derby this year
to get him ready for this. - TAYLOR: Yes, he sure did.
Let's go to draw six. This is A Vintage Smoke shown
by Jason Vanlandingham.
- [crowd cheering]
- Oh my gosh!
Wow!
- FEMALE: I thought he was coming to join us.
Well, I think Jason's made an impression.
I mean, that, woo!
Okay, that-- - MALE: That was wicked.
- TAYLOR: That is a one and a half.
- MALE: He's not going slow.
- TAYLOR: He's not scared of this deep ground along the rail.
- MALE: No.
- FEMALE: He's just pushing that horse on.
- TAYLOR: Good ground. - FEMALE: Here we go.
Oh, I hope he's not running out of gas.
- TAYLOR: Well, he is running out of gas.
- Believe me, he'll get him ready for the last one.
- Well, he's gonna have to push to the finish now.
Come on, Jason. - MALE: He can rest tomorrow.
- FEMALE: He can rest for the rest of his life if he wins this
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: Wow.
- MALE: That was really pretty right there.
- TAYLOR: Wow.
- Well, if you get b*at by anybody, I'm good with Jason.
- [laughing] Can you see that?
The crowd are throwing their hats into the arena.
- MALE: [unintelligible] look at that.
- TAYLOR: Wow. - MALE: Isn't that great?
- Well, now, now someone's gotta go get 'em.
- MALE: I'd keep 'em.
- FEMALE: I've never seen that before.
- MALE: I'd go get 'em and keep 'em.
- ANNOUNCER: Score for A Vintage Smoke
and Jason Vanlandingham, .
- [screaming]
- There's emotions all over the place and you know,
I don't know if it was enough to win,
um, but he, he gave me everything he had out there.
So, no complaints. Uh, it kinda hit me there that
this could be his last ride. And, uh, ugh, sorry, it's,
uh, it's getting me a little bit.
You know, don't wanna think about it being his last ride
but if it is, it was a great way to go.
- [crowd cheering]
- MAN: Are, are you, are you following the scores right now?
- No. - MAN: Okay.
- Now, Casey has to follow Jason.
That always sucks.
- You know, these are some of my closest friends in the world
and so, I don't want to root against anybody.
But I sure want my hella score to stick.
- Good job, Jason. - Thank you, sir.
Appreciate it, good luck.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: And Casey's starting from downtown.
I don't even see him. - MALE: I don't either.
Casey Dreary. - TAYLOR: Here we go.
- Oh yeah. - TAYLOR: Come on, Casey.
- Kinda popped out of that one, didn't he?
- Yep, yep, yep.
Gonna go running so hard coming in here.
Wow.
I don't even know how he shuts 'em off.
If that's not a one and a half,
then I do not know what a one and a half is.
These judges have been tight. So, he mighta had a little
trouble in that first stop, but he's made it up
so far, you gotta say that. - MALE: Yes, he has.
- TAYLOR: I feel like he kinda managed his speed
on those circles. Whoa.
- So, he came across that center there
and I thought maybe he changed out.
- MALE: Oh, where he hesitated.
This is pressure time for the judges, no buts.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep.
So, I mean, look, he could be sittin' between 'em.
- Yeah. I don't think he b*at Jason's run.
- I don't think he did either.
- *
- I'll tell you what, if you are Kole Price or Shawn Flarida,
or Cade, you're looking at this and knowing
this is still a winnable reining.
- Fasten your seat belt. - Yes.
- I'm nervous all day but once you walk into the chute
and you're next, you just put all that out of your mind.
And then, as soon as I get on my horse
then it's like, game on, let's go.
- ANNOUNCER: This is Spooks Gotta Crush
and Tom McCutcheon.
- MANDY: Come on, babe. Come on.
- TAYLOR: Well, pretty nice.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: Pretty nice way to run in.
- MALE: Tom is a tough competitor.
- He's trying to get it.
He's got a high degree of difficulty here.
That was very nice.
- [whistling]
- So, I think, right now, he's having a nice run.
But it's a solid run.
- But is solid enough?
- TAYLOR: No, here's where you make it or break it, right here.
Come on, Tom.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: Well, he held that crowd.
- MALE: That was a big stop.
- TAYLOR: I don't think that's gonna move to the front.
But I think he's probably up there.
- In the pack.
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Tom McCutcheon
and Spooks Gotta Crush, .
- MANDY: You showed him good. What'd you think?
- He was just checky out there in the stop.
He's an old show horse. - Yeah, yeah.
- I probably coulda done some things different.
I can, I, I can be much better next year.
- Yeah. - If he still wants to
do that, you know.
It's a, it's a game of inches, uh, it's tough reining.
- Now, we're comparing everything to the
of Jason Vanlandingham and I'll tell you what--
- TAYLOR: I'll tell you what, Jason is not scared.
- I'm not gonna jinx it, I'm just saying good job.
- If you wanna win this, you gotta hang it on 'em.
- Well, get ready, ladies and gentlemen.
Next one up, co-champion from last year, Cade McCutcheon.
- TAYLOR: Cade McCutcheon coming in next.
- *
- Things are really getting heated.
Jason Vanlandingham's leading the event itself
and there is five riders left.
Including Cade McCutcheon, who's the co-champion
and Kole Price in his first Run for a Million.
And then the last draw is Shawn Flarida,
who is a really dangerous rider.
They're all serious competitors and this could be anyone's run.
- Well, get ready, ladies and gentlemen.
Next one up is co-champion from last year, Cade McCutcheon.
- Cade McCutcheon coming in next.
- My goal is to be the champion all by myself.
I don't want to do another victory lap
with two people in the arena.
- TAYLOR: Cade McCutheon coming in next.
- He's got, this kid's got ice in his veins.
Well, he held the ground.
- How would you like this to be the first time
you've shown a horse here tonight?
Didn't look like it from that first stop did it?
- TAYLOR: No.
- [crowd cheering]
- TAYLOR: Jen, I tell you what.
So far, it's, it's pretty flawless.
- MALE: He's kinda doing a clinic.
- TAYLOR: This kid's not scared to go.
- MALE: This is what this boy does the best.
- TAYLOR: And this is a big, fast-moving horse,
long-strided horse.
Really reaching around this ground.
- FEMALE: Look how that horse is leaning over.
He's pushing so hard that he's actually gotta lean
a little bit.
- MALE: Okay, this is where it counts.
Wow. - TAYLOR: Wow.
Look at him go, I mean, Cade's treating this
like a timed event.
- Once again, we're in that position
where the stops have gotta be the deal.
If he kills it, he can go to the top. We'll see.
- TAYLOR: Well, he, he did good, very good.
He might have it.
I woulda liked to seen a little more speed.
- He checked off a little at the end.
- Come on, Cade!
- [crowd cheering]
- MALE: Well, the McQuays and McCutcheons
came here to win something, didn't they?
- TAYLOR: They did.
What'll the judges do with that?
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Modern g*n
and Cade McCutcheon, and one half.
- FEMALE: Oh no, so close. - TAYLOR: and a half.
- Well, winning it was a lot better.
You know, all week, it's just been a little different.
You know, not knowing my horse
it kinda was always in the back of my head.
- You did good, buddy. Good job.
- I didn't embarrass myself. - You did good.
- Any one of these three guys could run this thing.
- Yep, [bleep].
- Me and Cade right now are by far the youngest ones
in the Run for the Million.
People know we're chasing 'em.
I mean, we're young.
We're gonna hang it out there.
I showed in the qualifier two years ago
and just wasn't quite good enough
and this year I came prepared, ready to try to win it.
I kinda gotta watch myself 'cause sometimes
I'll get too psyched up.
You know, make sure my timing and my breathing is right,
and I'm really focused on my horse
and trying to get the most out of him
instead of paying attention to what the crowd's yelling at.
I mean, it is for a lot of money
but really, it just comes down to me riding a horse.
So, I don't think I'll be nervous.
I think I'll be ready to rock and roll.
- So, Kole has enough horse.
The question we're all about to find out is,
is the moment too big for him?
- [crowd cheering]
- MALE: I bet his heart's b*ating.
- FEMALE: Yeah, this could be career changing
for this young man.
- [crowd cheering]
- FEMALE: How 'bout that? - TAYLOR: Beautiful, so far.
- MALE: Come on, Kole. Keep the pedal to the metal.
- TAYLOR: Come on, buddy.
Kick, kick, kick. Let's go, let's go.
- This is a fine young man.
He's got a heck of a horse. - He is running.
He is running.
- MALE: He's flying around there.
- FEMALE: Oh, he is going.
- MALE: And the crowd can feel it too.
- TAYLOR: Oh, yeah.
Let's see if he can get through this lead change here.
Yes. - MALE: Very nice.
- It's down to the big money move.
- Yea. - This is it, right here.
- FEMALE: Yep, this is it. It's now or never.
Well, he's going. - MALE: He's flying down
that pen.
- Whoa, he nailed that. - Okay, I'm impressed.
I mean, he didn't loosen up.
He came from the corner like that.
Yes! - TAYLOR: Wow!
- FEMALE: Yes! Yes! - He knows it. He knows it.
If we don't have a new leader,
I don't know how to judge this.
- FEMALE: Here go the hats. - MALE: Look at 'em.
They're throwing the hats in the arena.
- TAYLOR: Oh, my god, don't ya love it?
- I'm pretty excited to hear this score.
- ANNOUNCER: Cole Price,
and one half.
- Ah, he got me.
- MALE: Wow.
- Okay, Shawn Flarida, you know what you gotta do.
- FEMALE: And this is the man that can do it.
- TAYLOR: Yes, this is not the rider you want you behind you
when you go lay down that kinda run.
- I followed Shawn for a long time.
He's probably the best I've ever seen before.
And I'm not scared to fail
but I would never bet against him.
- ANNOUNCER: This is Boots Gotta Spark and Shawn Flarida.
- *
- *
- ANNOUNCER: This is Boots Gotta Spark and Shawn Flarida.
- TAYLOR: On a horse that I've never seen score under .
Whoa-ho-ho-ho.
It ain't over yet.
The Green Machine's gone wild, baby.
- FEMALE: Come on, Shawn.
- [cheering]
- TAYLOR: Wow. - MALE: A one and a half.
- TAYLOR: Wow.
- But he had a penalty on that turn.
- Penalty half. - Well, do you, was he
all the way over? Do you think that
was enough? - He had half.
- FEMALE: Yeah, penalty half. No room for error.
- TAYLOR: A one, one and a half, one, and a half.
Okay, the Green Machine is on tonight, baby.
- [cheering]
- [laughing] - TAYLOR: Look at that.
Look at, whoa. - FEMALE: Oh, wow.
- MEN: Oh, my gosh.
- FEMALE: I can hardly bear watch.
- MALE: Boy, I hope nobody went to get a beer right now.
- TAYLOR: You know you've gotta be thinking
that he is sitting there at with four maneuvers to go.
- MALE: Okay.
- FEMALE: Yep. - MALE: Oh yeah.
- TAYLOR: Here we go.
The entire reining is gonna come down to three stops.
- Three stops. - TAYLOR: And here they are.
- MALE: If this doesn't give you the chills nothing will.
- FEMALE: The money move, come on.
- MALE: Come on, Shawn.
- TAYLOR: Whoa.
Oh my gosh.
Two more stops to determine the champion.
Oh, my gosh.
- FEMALE: One more. One more.
- MALE: Maybe the whole reining's coming down
to one stop. - TAYLOR: It's coming down
to this stop right here.
- FEMALE: Half a million in one maneuver.
- Come on.
- [crowd cheering]
- Wow. - Ay yi yi.
- ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Shawn Flarida.
- FEMALE: Ha-ha, look at the back gate.
- MALE: They're throwing the hats in the arena again.
- TAYLOR: Here come the hats. - MALE: You gotta love it.
- TAYLOR: Here come the hats. - MALE: Have you ever seen
a crowd like this? - TAYLOR: No.
- MALE: I've seen every major horse event,
I've never seen a crowd like this before.
- FEMALE: This is the Olympics of reigning.
- MALE: Yeah, this is it. - I mean, with
more enthusiasm. There goes another hat.
- Here we go. - ANNOUNCER: Well,
Taylor Sheridan, you've done something spectacular.
- TAYLOR: It has been fun.
It has, well, hey, Shawn's gonna throw
the hats back himself.
- FEMALE: He's gonna gather all the hats.
- He's gonna, look at him.
- Well, we saw some great runs tonight.
Some great runs. - FEMALE: I think we saw
the creme de la creme of the reining tonight.
Horse and rider.
- [crowd chanting Shawn]
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Shawn Flarida
and Spooks Gotta Spark--
- FEMALE: Oh no, here we go.
- ANNOUNCER: Not too fast, and one half.
- Yes. - Oh, what?
- Alright.
- How much better could it be? Give me some.
- I gotta go to work. - You gotta go to work.
- Okay, now what just happened?
- They tied. Wow. - and a half.
- The ride off. - They're gonna have to.
- Yeah, no co-champion this year.
- MALE: This is gonna be something.
So, hang on tight.
- ANNOUNCER: I would suggest that you don't go anywhere.
- MALE: Don't go away. There will be a run off.
- MALE: This is gonna be something.
So, hang on tight.
- ANNOUNCER: I would suggest that you don't go anywhere.
- They cannot have a tie this year.
- Yep, there will be a run off. - That's gonna be hard.
Those two were the last horses to go
and they have to go back.
- So, we'll give you both thirty minutes.
minutes to get [unintelligible] and warmed up.
Well, let the vet check 'em. Okay?
The way it works is, the vet says this one can't go.
- KOLE: He wins. - That's the winner.
There is no co-champion. Let's go see.
- Taylor, I never want to be second.
- Buddy, this is how it's suppose to be.
- Yep. - The big show.
- I've never seen people throw hats in the stands.
- I've never seen that in my life.
- [crowd cheering]
- Ever since he's been little he's, he's dreamed
of this day forever.
- This is a life-changing event.
- It's his time. - This is it, right here.
- Just take your time as far as getting your horse ready.
If you need to pull wraps and kinda rinse him off
and just get him cooled off as best you can.
- I love you. - I love you.
- It was fun. - I know it's fun.
You are so sweet. - I like that little horse.
- Ever since he's been-- - Eight years old.
- Eight years old, he's rode.
And he works very, very hard.
He's very, very humble.
He wins the same way as he loses.
- We've always said all along, anyone can win this game.
- I think we got time. You need to get aired
up for sure. 'Cause you can't help
him if you're out of air.
- Kole knows what he's doing and Kole's good under pressure
but he's young. Shawn's a little out of horse
but Shawn's the greatest ever to do this.
So, you cannot count him out.
- I talked to my grandpa this morning and I told him,
I said, I need to be clean and he said, the hell with that,
just go win the son of a bitch. And well, we're trying.
- ANNOUNCER: Let's get underway.
We'll kick the run off with Gunna Stop and Kole Price.
- [crowd cheering]
- MALE: Here we go.
Wow, huge first stop.
Now, the big difference here is there's , to the winner
and , for second.
So, these guys are going for it.
Two, three, four.
- Oh, yes. - Definitely, money.
- This is a very difficult run to judge.
The horse has been run once.
It's very difficult because he's extremely hot.
- Wow.
- Well, look, the big question now is
how much gas is in the t*nk?
- We have Kole that has a horse that has more gas.
But we have Shawn that's got all the experience.
- TAYLOR: Buddy, make no mistake that his time is coming.
Is it now?
Oh, yeah.
Kole is riding to win.
- You got it, babe.
- TAYLOR: He's gotta, he's gotta nail this.
- MALE: Easy on it, easy.
- TAYLOR: Oh my gosh.
- MALE: That was that big finish.
- That had no reason to work in that world.
- Look, how this crowd is standing up.
- Big finish right there. - MALE: This crowd
is standing up.
- *
- ANNOUNCER: [unintelligible] .
- He is the future, right. - Oh yeah.
- This the next generation. - He is absolutely the
future of reining. - Make no mistake
that this guy is gonna be a million dollar rider.
This guy is gonna be the force and his time is coming.
- MALE: But we have Shawn that's got all the experience.
- ANNOUNCER: This is Spooks Gotta Spark
and Shawn Flarida.
- Look at all these people.
Oh my gosh.
- MALE: Two, three, whoa.
That's why he is who he is.
- TAYLOR: Here he goes. - MALE: Here we go.
- TAYLOR: Now, he's gonna try to manage,
no, well, no I'm wrong, he's not gonna try to manage anything.
He's gonna run as fast as he can.
- MALE: Oh, yeah. - TAYLOR: Wow.
- [crowd cheering]
- MALE: Beautiful.
Beautiful.
- And look, Kole came in, he put in a good run, he's at .
That is a big window to leave open for this man.
- Yes, it is.
- TAYLOR: Oh, he scotched a little bit.
He scotched a little bit.
- MALE: He left the door open.
- We've seen history once again.
Two horses are marked and a half,
the last two horses to go tonight
and they get to go again and thrill the crowd again.
It's gonna be interesting.
And we're waiting for the scores.
The judges have left their stands.
Well, we'll see.
- ANNOUNCER: Score for Shawn Flarida,
and one half.
- Kole Price is the Run for a Million Champion.
- Kole Price just won the Run for a Million.
- Now we're talking about life changers.
- Yes. - That is life changing.
- He just doubled his lifetime earnings.
- We did it.
- They didn't let the crowd down, didn't they?
- You're buying dinner tonight.
- It doesn't even feel real, yet.
You lay awake dreaming to be in a run off
with Shawn Flarida, you know?
It's scary as hell. 'Cause that's the last person
you want to be in a run off with.
- It's my great pleasure to introduce you
to your Run for a Million champion,
Kole Price and Gunna Stop.
- [crowd cheering]
- I feel like this horse show was kinda my break-out show.
I'm a thr*at now, you know?
I feel like people thought I was before,
but I feel like I finally got the monkey off my back.
- You're not gonna win every time
and you can't expect to win every time.
But the fact that I got closer to Shawn's winning
more and more I tell you that's gonna keep me
pushing really hard until I get there.
- This is the biggest thing I've ever done.
I never thought I was going to be good enough to compete.
So, it was really a kinda amazing feeling.
- I gotta sigh of relief.
Glad it worked pretty good and glad it's over.
Time to get ready for next year.
- Everybody that showed here tonight
has helped me somewhere along the way.
That's pretty special.
I don't even feel like it's kicked in yet.
It's gonna here in a little bit
when the partying starts going on.
- [crowd cheering]
- *
- *
**
- MAN: * MTV *