Penalty costly for barrel racer Sears

Lindsay Sears gave the nod to her superstar sorrel horse Martha for Thursday night’s opening round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

But, the trip turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

The reigning world champion from Nanton, Alta, knocked down the second barrel for a costly five-second penalty and finished out of the money with a time of 18.99 seconds.

Had Sears not incurred the penalty, she would have tied for fourth with popular Texan Lee Ann Rust.

Another Texan, Mary Walker, two years younger than Rust, won the round with a time of 13.75.

“Martha felt great; she made a solid run,” said Sears.

“The ground kind of moved a little bit as she pushed off leaving that second barrel and she just brushed it.

“She was a little tight leaving it and I needed to be a little bit farther by the barrel.

“It’s just one of those things; I’m a little rusty and she’s a little rusty.”

Needless to say, Martha remains Sears’ starter.

“I’m going to stay with her until feel like she gets a little sore or she needs a break.

“If she feels good, she goes.”

The steer wrestlers opened the NFR with the fast pen of steers, but all sorts of weird things happened.

Louisiana’s Casey Martin won the round with a time of 3.4 seconds.

Californian Ethan Thouvenell, the world standings leader riding Calgarian Lee Graves’ two-time world champion horse Jesse, was last out and finished third with a 3.6

Oregon’s Trevor Knowles, also riding Jesse, missed the barrier and was out of the money with a 4.2.

But, the most startling incident saw reigning world champion Luke Branquinho take a no time when he broke the barrier and missed his steer.

That could put him out of the gold buckle race on the first night.

There were two Canadian bareback horses on the program.

Good times, from Vern McDonald’s Lac La Biche stable. carried Louisiana’s Winn Ratliff to a second best 85.5 and the Kesler family’s Starburst packed Utah’s Caleb Bennett to an 84, good for fifth money.

Patrick Smith, the standings leader in the team roping heeling rankings, was bucked off during the opening ceremonies, drawing roars from the audience.

He was riding one of the black horses used by the flag girls.

Fortunately, his boot came off as he went down or he could have sustained a serious injury.

Smith, the heeler for rodeo’s poster boy Trevor Brazile, leaped to his feet and threw his hat in the air to a round of applause.

Brazile and Smith went on cash third in the team roping round with a time of 4.8 seconds, a tick out of the lead.

New Mexico’s Taos Muncy, the 2010 Canadian champion, topped the saddle bronc riding with an 87-point score.

And Texan Tuff Cooper ad Louisiana’s Shane Hanchey, the 2010 and 2012 Canadian champions, cashed first and second in the calf roping with times of 7.4 and 7.6 seconds, respectively.

Hanchey, who is without his horse Riata that is recovering from colic, rode one called Jaguar that carried Brazile and Cooper to world titles.

Texan J.W. Harris, looking for his fourth world bull riding title in five years, immediately went to the lead on opening night with a 90.5 score.