Rodeo: Arnold takes lead in broncs

RENO ‹ Justin Arnold got the honor of riding Floodwaters Saturday night. .

The 20-year-old mare, who is being retired by stock contractor Cotton

Rosser, showed it had some spunk left, but Arnold still managed a

respectable 78 en route to a two-ride total of 166 and the lead in saddle

bronc riding at the 90th annual Reno Rodeo on Saturday night at the Reno

Livestock Events Center.

Arnold has a two-point lead over Bradley Harter, who followed up his

first-day 81 with an 83, which was the high ride in the group.

Billy Etbauer, five-time world champion, had some bad luck. He was dumped

off Last Call when his stirrup broke right off the saddle. A re-ride isn¹t

an option when a rider has equipment failure.

³It feels good (to be leading),² Arnold said. ³That should make it back, but

I don¹t now where.

³Hopefully they bring (Floodwaters) back to the finals for a chance to win.

It¹s nice to see Cotton retire her while she is on top. Mares (that age)

have hearts that wouldn¹t fit in a 5-gallon bucket. They try their hardest

to buck.²

The championship round will be held Saturday.

Fittingly, Arnold gave the halter to Rosser during a break in the action.

In bareback riding, Dustin Mulrony scored an 82 aboard Bruce Almighty to

take the early lead with a two-ride total of 155. The 82 was good enough to

surpass 19-year-old Ethan Spencer McNeill, who had a disappointing 69 aboard

Waspy and is at 151.

Mulrony originally was supposed to ride Pocket Rocket, but the horse was

acting up in the chutes and at one point its hooves were stuck in the gate.

³It (Bruce Almighty) was a good horse,² Mulrony said. ³My traveling partner

(Tyson Thompson) knew him. (Pocket Rocket) was supposed to be a good horse.²

Mulrony isn¹t sure whether his score will be enough to bring him back for

the championship.

³It¹s a pretty low score,² he said. ³I had a 73 yesterday. I would think it

would take something in the high 150s or 160 to make it back.²

McNeill was disconsolate as he left the arena.

³It¹s rough,² he said. ³The first couple of jumps were good and then

nothing.²

The bareback scores were on the low side, five of the eight successful rides

were below 70 points. Only Mulrony, Thompson (73) and Jessy Davis (79) broke

70.

J.W. Harris¹ 91-point bull ride Friday held up as Bobby Roberts posted a 77

for the high score of the night. Ted Bert remains in second with a 78.

Fallon¹s Jade Corkill and his partner, Chad Masters, lead the team roping

with an impressive 10.7 (runs of 5.1 and 5.6) Saturday. Travis Tryan and

Michael Jones are second at 11.8. Tryan and Jones posted a 4.9-run earlier

in the week.

Corkill hasn¹t made it past the opening round since 2006, his rookie season.

Hunter Herrin was the first cowboy to put a sub-8-second run on the board in

the second round of his event. He was done in a quick 7.8 seconds to move to

the lead in the round and sixth in the average. Earlier Saturday, fellow

Texan Landon McClaugherty tied his first-round calf in 7.8 to move to the

lead in that round and to third in the average.

Lindsay Sears still leads barrel racers with a 34.03 on two, while PJ

Burger, who placed second in the first round behind Sears, is second at

34.45.