Lightning Aguilera and Kaden Profili won their third day money of the 2025 NFR in Round 9, stopping the clock in 3.4-seconds at last out to win $36,667 a man.

Aguilera, 32, of Athens, Texas, and Profili, 23, of Jacksonville, Texas, are 28.70 on six head for sixth in the aggreagte, and they have $245,582 and $244,382 won on the season. They’re sixth and fifth in the PRCA world standings heading into Round 10.

And they did it in Round 9 on a steer that had yet to be turned.

Full NFR Team Roping Results

“I figured I had to go at him before he got bad,” Aguilera said. “He wanted to be low-headed, so I went at him offensively. It worked out. Not our favorite steer, but it worked.”

Profili credited his header’s quick shot for turning the steer’s record around, too.

“The last time around, he wanted to go left, but he got on him so fast,” Profili said. “He did a great job handling him.”

While Aguilera did get two go-round wins on Jess A Moose, his former horse of the year, after a few no-times he swapped to his backup horse and he liked the roll he got in Round 9.

“I feel like I can maybe get a little goes on him,” Aguilera said of the 17-year-old gelding he calls Slick that came from Shay Carroll. “The gray is so solid it’s hard to get off him, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try the sorrel. I’ve been fast on him before. I was 3.5 on him at Albuquerque and Pasadena.”

Profili has done all his winning this week on a horse borrowed from Cole Curry.

“The horse I’ve gotten to ride here has been a game changer for me,” Profili said of Liken It Tuff, the 2014 sorrel gelding by Woody Be Tuff out of Catlike Kit by High Brow Cat. “He’s fast, easy and never really puts you in a bad spot. He always lets you see the feet. That’s really special to me, and I’m grateful they let me ride him.”

Aguilera and Profili are just one of the draw-pot-style NFR partnerships having success in Las Vegas. While they’ve already won $130,846 each in this one-rodeo-pairing without their regular season partners, they also would win $23,065 a man in aggregate money if the rodeo ended after Round 9.

Another other NFR-only pairing in Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres lead the aggregate and world standings race, coming into the Finals at No. 14 and No. 15 in the PRCA world standings, respectively. Their 4.3-second run in Round 9 put them fourth in the day money for a $15,376-a-man check and kept them leading the aggregate with a time of 33.00 on eight head. If the rodeo ended after Round 9, they’d be the world champs with $388,486 and $380,220 a man. As things stand they’re first with $294,451 and $286,185 after Round 9 and before aggregate money is factored in.

Stand by for more on the 2025 PRCA World Standings Race as we run numbers tonight and tomorrow.

NFR 2025 Round 9 Team Roping Results