Montana bareback rider third in standings
Caleb Bennett has high expectations for himself.
The bareback rider from Corvallis, Mont., lived up to those on Thursday.
Bennett had the ride of the day aboard Super 8 and he was awarded 91.5 points for his efforts and a cheque for $5,500.
“I didn't know much about him,” said Bennett, while noting that contractor Wayne Vold sent him a link to a video of Super 8 in action. “Shoot, that horse actually come and played a little more than what he did in the video and it worked out.”
Prior to his ride, Bennett found out that he also won $3,500 for finishing third the day before after Mike Fred failed to capitalize on a re-ride atop Mayhem.
Thanks to his earnings, Bennett moved up to third in the aggregate standings with $9,750 overall. He's trailing Jesse Pope ($15,500), of Waverly, Kan., and Orin Larsen ($11,500), of Inglis, Man.
Bennett has taken notice of Pope, who won the first two go-rounds in Pool B before finishing second with a 89.5-point performance atop Barcelona City on Thursday.
And Bennett, who won the bareback title in Calgary in 2013, would like nothing more than to win again on Friday to guarantee that he'll advance straight through to Showdown Sunday.
“I see Jesse has won two rounds and now I want equal money, so I'm going to go try to win two rounds,” said the confident cowboy. “I plan on being back there riding Sunday in the 10-man (round) and I plan on being in that top four.”
HUGE PAYDAY
Allen Boore had a huge payday of his own on Day 7 of the rodeo.
Following a trio of delayed re-rides from the previous day, Boore found out that his score of 88 points atop Burban stood up to win him a cool $5,500
What did he do for an encore? He promptly went out and had a stellar 87.5-point performance aboard Dandy Delight for another first-place showing.
“It's kind of almost like you're getting it twice because you got it (from) yesterday,” said Boore, who hails from Axtell, Utah. “It's a bonus.”
His $11,000 windfall put him in top spot in the Pool B aggregate standings with one day of competition left.
Brody Cress, of Hillsdale, Wyo., and Shorty Garrett, of Eagle Butte, S.D., tied for second spot on Thursday with identical scores of 86.5 points on Sergeant Whitney and Acrylic Dancer respectively.
Garrett currently sits second in the overall standings with $8,500 in earnings, followed by Wyatt Casper ($8,500) and Cress ($7,500).
AROUND THE CHUTES
Daylon Swearingen, of Dekalb, Texas, scored 85.5 points atop Rockin Out in Thursday's bull-riding competition to win the top day-money prize of $5,500. He's sitting third in the aggregate standings with $7,000 to his name. Josh Frost, of Randlett, Utah, leads the pack with $13,500 in winnings, while Jared Parsonage, of Maple Creek, Sask., sits second with $9,500 ... By virtue of stopping the clock in 4.1 seconds, Taz Olson, of Prairie City, S.D., just barely beat out a pair of his fellow steer wrestlers for top spot. Tyler Pearson, of Independence, La., and Stockton Graves, of Alva, Okla., both finished with identical times of 4.2 seconds to split second place. Graves leads the aggregate standings with $11,000 earned, which is just $1,000 more than Olson has collected. Jesse Brown, of Baker City, Ore., is in third spot, just $500 ahead of Eli Lord, of Dickinson, N.D . ... As the first tie-down roping competitor out of the gate, Shad Mayfield, of Clovis, N.M., set the time to beat of 6.8 seconds. After none of his fellow ropers were able to improve upon his time, Clovis earned $5,500 to boost his overall totals through three days of competition to $10,000. That puts him in a tie for top spot overall with Erik Dublanko, of Thorsby, Alta . ... Day 8 of the Stampede rodeo goes Friday at 1:30 p.m. (Sportsnet One).