Walker goes three for three at Wrangler NFR
By Ted Harbin

The smile on Mary Walker's face says so much. She's having the time of her life.

Who wouldn't? Walker and her great horse, Perculatin, posted their fastest run of the week in winning the third straight go-round at the 2012 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, rounding the cloverleaf pattern in 13.69 seconds to collect another $18,257 paycheck.

In all, she has earned $54,772, and there are seven nights remaining in the championship.

"I haven't found a hard part about being here yet," Walker said. "It's been exciting. It's been a little hectic, but I'm enjoying every bit of it."

She should. In an extremely fast go-round, the slowest money-earning run was a 13.82, and there were three cowgirls who shared that time: Sherry Cervi, Lisa Lockhart and Benette Barrington-Little. Reigning world champ Lindsay Sears was third with a 13.76, while Kelli Tolbert placed second with a .73.

"As I was listening to the times, I thought, 'That ground is really good tonight, and it seems like it's really fast," Walker said. "I moved up two more tonight (in the order of runs), and I was really excited.

"I went in there, and Latte just did it."

With her earnings, Walker has an $11,000 lead over NFR rookie Jake Wright in the Ram Top Gun standings, which will go to the contestant who has earned the most money at the NFR this year.

"It's just been wild," she said. "Latte's on fire. He's feeling great. He was fired up tonight. I knew he was, so I just had to work him a little different warming up. He responded well, and he did what I asked him to.

"Some people tell me he looks like he's loping. Underneath him, he feels like a locomotive."