HUGHENDEN saddle bronc rider Gavin Fry will be one of the Queensland riders aiming for a place in the Finley Rodeo on January 5.
The Christmas Run of eight rodeos will finish with two rodeos on the January 5-7 weekend.
There will be a Friday rodeo at Finley which has attracted almost 300 entries and the K Ranch Rodeo at Mt Hunter, NSW, on January 6 which has more than 130 nominations.
All eight championship events in the APRA will be contested at the two rodeos which are for championship points.
Fry has two seconds and a third in the second division saddle bronc at the Warwick Rodeo and has also placed at Darwin.
He is in a field at Finley with five of the leaders in APRA standings at the start of December.
Wandoan (Qld) rider Cameron Webster leads the standings and will compete in the Christmas Run in the southern states.
Tim Hammond, Rosewood, NSW, is second in APRA standings and is in the saddle bronc field at Finley.
Third-placed Tom Kerr (NSW) has nominated for Mitchell along with fifth and sixth-placed Queensland riders, Mitchell Lansdowne and Michael Maher.
The 15 riders with the most prizemoney in each APRA event at the end of September next year will qualify for the Warwick Rodeo APRA National Finals in October.
Many Queensland riders have headed south during the Christmas Run to boost their position in the standings early in the new season.
Most of the early season action in the APRA is in the southern states.
The first 2018 rodeo in Queensland will be at Millmerran on March 3.