Jordan Williams is the 2026 National Reined Cow Horse Association’s World’s Greatest Horseman, winning $150,000 riding the Bonds Ranch stallion Jaymes Bond and assembling a 885.5 composite under the bright lights of the newly renovated Will Rogers Coliseum.
The win on Feb. 28 was the culmination of several factors aligning. It was Williams’ first-ever entry in the World’s Greatest Horseman, riding a horse that was the Bonds Ranch’s first-ever foray into the reined cow horse world.
Together, Williams and “Jaymes” were 221.5 out of the herd, 225 in the steer stopping, 220 in the reining, and 219 down the fence. Their consistency across the board allowed them to edge out peer and mentor Chris Dawson, who rode Melissa Fischer’s Zak 34 to a reserve champion finish with an 881 composite, worth $75,000.
The win more than doubles Jaymes Bond’s lifetime earnings, landing him at $268,288, according to QData.
“It still hasn’t sunk in,” Williams said. “I was just focused on doing my job and staying out of Jaymes’ way. That horse gives me so much confidence because he’s just such a great horse. He’s so solid, always with me. There’s been some spots that I’ve put him in a bad place, but he generally bails me out. So I just try to be smart, put him in good places and let him do his thing.”
The Red Roan “Guinea Pig”
Williams has had Jaymes Bond since he was 3 years old. Now 8, the stallion has grown up alongside him.
“He was my first great horse that I had,” Williams said. “I trained a lot of 3-year-olds early in my career, showed them and sold them. He was the first one I showed at the Snaffle Bit Futurity and then got to go on to the derbies with. That was a learning experience.”
That evolution, Williams admitted, was as much about his own development as the horse’s.
“Learning how to bring a horse along in the limited age events as they get smarter and learn the game—that’s been the biggest challenge,” Williams explained. “Not because he’s been the challenge, but because I had to control my emotions and think through things.”
According to Williams, Jaymes has been his “guinea pig.”
“There’s nothing that horse hasn’t had done to him,” Williams said. “I’ve experimented a million things. And he’s so forgiving and so kind-natured that he just keeps getting better. He’s allowed me to grow.”
Saturday’s title felt overdue—not for the rider, but for the horse.
“To finally get a big win on him, it’s huge,” Williams said. “That horse deserves it. He’s been there so many times, so close, and just hadn’t been able to pull it together. A lot of times it’s been me that’s kept us from doing it.”
When asked what drove him to enter the World’s Greatest in 2026, Williams sheepishly admitted that he likely could have entered last year.
“But I told April [Bonds], ‘I just don’t think he’s quite ready,'” Williams said. “I don’t know that he wasn’t ready—but I knew I wasn’t quite ready. So we put a full year in the bridle, showed all the majors and all the spectaculars, and he was very successful. That gave me a lot of confidence.”
That confidence showed in the finals. While some horses appeared to run out of gas across the four events in one day, Jaymes Bond never wavered.
“He just has no quit,” Williams said. “He loves being in the arena. As soon as you think he’s tired, he perks up like, ‘Here we go.’”
The steer stopping—where they marked a 225—was the exclamation point.
“When you catch one, go to the horn and feel him drop the anchor—there’s just no greater feeling,” Williams said. “That was so much fun.”
As for nerves?
“A couple years ago, I would have been freaking out,” Williams said. “But honestly, as the events went on, I got calmer. Anything I was worried might happen never happened. Jaymes felt so pure. I was more nervous in the prelims. You’ve got to make the finals to even have a shot.”
When it came down to the final fence runs, Williams admitted he had already braced himself for finishing No. 2, knowing the caliber of competition lurking behind him.
“You leave the door open down the fence, somebody’s liable to knock it wide open,” Williams said. “That’s how good this field is. So I think I’d kind of accepted being second. When it worked out, it was just… relief.”
A New Chapter for Bonds Ranch
For Bonds Ranch, the win represents its first venture into reined cow horse at this level.
“This is our first foray into NRCHA, his first World’s Greatest, and everything just intersected,” said ranch manager April Bonds.
The partnership between Bonds and Williams began through mutual connections, but quickly deepened.
“There is nobody who cares more about my horses—except for me—than Jordan,” Bonds said. “He loves horses so much. It doesn’t matter who is riding them. He just wants to be around good horses.”
From the stands Saturday night, there was little she could control.
“I can’t control what the horse does. I can’t control what Jordan does. I can’t control the cow,” Bonds said. “All I can do is have faith and make sure he knows he has my support unconditionally. He doesn’t have to win for us to be winners.”
To make the moment even more special, Bonds Ranch employees from several of the ranch’s divisions were able to watch the win from the stands.
For a stallion just beginning to make his mark in the breeding barn, the timing of the win is significant—but neither rider nor owner seem eager to rush the next step.
“We accomplished a dream tonight,” Williams said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and make some new ones.”
Bonds echoed the sentiment.
“He doesn’t really have anything else to prove,” Bonds said. “We’ll let him tell us what he wants to do next.”
For now, though, the red roan who grew up alongside his rider—and the ranch that stepped boldly into a new arena—own the title many spend a lifetime chasing.