MACKAY native Ky Hamilton has registered the biggest win of his professional bull riding career after picking up $67,750 for claiming the prestigious RodeoHouston Bull Riding title in the United States.
The 23-year-old Hamilton – who grew up in the Sugar capital and attended Mercy College – capped an impressive performance with a 90.5-point ride on his bull Bad Memory in a special ride-off with Josh Frost and Creek Young to seal the top prize.
It was a double celebration for Ky with the Houston triumph rocketing him to the number one ranking in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association – a position he last held during his rookie year in 2020.
The teak-tough Hamilton delivered one of the best rides of his career in front of a boisterous crowd of nearly 75,000 in his second attempt at the major Rodeo in Texas.
“It is a huge event and one of the biggest paying rodeos we get to go to, so to win it is very special,” a proud Hamilton told Mackay and Whitsunday Life.
“I think the bigger the stage the more comfortable I feel. I don’t know why that is. Growing up that’s all I ever wanted to do, was ride a big event and win big events and win world titles.”
The Rodeo Houston win follows Ky’s superb victory this year at the La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros in Tucson, Arizona for a second time.
“Bad Memory was kind of steep and kind of moving forward, trying to get me back,” said Ky of his winning ride.
“Out of nowhere, her just started pushing back.”
Hamilton dominated throughout the rodeo by winning the Go-Round in all six performances he was entered in. It started with a clean sweep of his Super Series before he went onto clinch Semi Final 2 as well as both rounds on Championship Sunday.
Ky finished RodeoHouston 6-for7 with an average score of 87.3 points inside NRG Stadium.
The top 15 money earners qualify for the National Finals Rodeo with Hamilton finishing fourth, 8th and fourth in the past three finals held in Las Vegas.
A courageous Ky has certainly come a long way since moving to the United States on a Bull Riding scholarship back in 2018 and turning professional two years later, finishing fourth in the Bull Riding world standings in 2022.
This season Hamilton has amassed $101,842 in prizemoney and leads Josh Frost, who finished runner up in Houston, by about $12,000.
Top ranked professional bull rider Ky Hamilton demonstrates his winning ride on Bad Memory scoring 90.5 at the RodeoHouston
