BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN @PRORODEOBRETT
The final weekend before 100 Rodeos in 100 Days did not disappoint. It brought Canadian records, a red-hot Rocker Steiner, and a pair of World No. 1s backing up their place atop the standings.
- Breakaway roper Shaya Biever set a CPRA record with a 1.6-second run at the Daines Ranch Rodeo (Alberta). The 2023 CPRA Breakaway Champion added to her trophy case with the fastest run in Canadian rodeo history over the weekend. Her 1.6 is the fastest of her career as well and she needed to be quick to win the rodeo - 1.9 took second and there were 11 times of 2.2 seconds or faster.
- Jake Clay leads All-Around World Standings with $46,404. Last year, Stetson Wright lead with $192,302 at this time. Wright has won every All-Around World Title since 2019 and the World Standings look much different without him there. As 100 Rodeos in 100 Days gets going, it will be interesting to see if Clay and others have enough of a headstart to hold off the eight-time World Champion. Wright is tentatively expected to return in Reno.
- Top-ranked bareback rider Keenan Hayes has won a check on 10 consecutive rides dating back to May 31. Hayes took over the No. 1 spot last week and did not slow down a bit. Over the weekend, he was 90 points at the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo (Utah) along with 84.5 at the Buffalo Bill Rodeo (Nebraska) to finish first and second respectively there and take home more than $6,000 combined. The reigning World Champion is the first bareback rider to clear the $100,000 mark this season.
- All nine of Dustin Egusquiza/Levi Lord’s times since May 27 have been either no times or 4.5 seconds or faster. This pair has been doing the team roping version of 90 or nothing lately. Every time they have caught in their last nine rodeos, they have won at least $1,600. However, they have only caught 5-of-9. No matter how you slice it, though, it’s over $11,000 in three weeks and both men are ranked No. 1 in the World.
- Bareback rider Rocker Steiner has won four rodeos since June 5, including two over the weekend. On the first day of the Woodward Elks Rodeo (Oklahoma), Rocker Steiner posted on Instagram that he was coming for it all and accepting nothing short of it. He won that rodeo with 89 points and since then, he has won three more rodeos, giving him wins in four of the last five rodeos he has entered. Steiner is averaging more than 86 points per ride in that stretch and is up is No. 4 in the World. He has seven wins in the 15 rodeos he has been to this year.
- Logan Hay rode for 92.5 points at the Wildwood Bronc Match (Alberta) to win the event his father, Rod, started. Hay’s big score on Calgary’s Exotic Warrior was impressive, but what made it more impressive was the fact that there were already five rides of 89 or more in the Short Round before Hay even nodded his head. After the win, Hay is now No. 8 in the World Standings as he looks to return to his second NFR.
- Breakaway roper Josie Conner has gone from No. 22 to No. 5 in the WPRA World Standings over the last month. In June, Conner has won six checks and four of them have been worth $2,000 or more. The biggest was for a 1.9-second run to win the Home of the Navajo Rodeo (Arizona). She has nine runs of 2.5 seconds or faster this season and six of them have come on her last 12 runs. Conner has made the National Finals Breakaway Roping in each of her first two years in ProRodeo.
- Saddle bronc rider Leon Fountain’s 91.5-point ride to win the Jordan Xtreme Broncs (Montana) was his highest marked ride since March of 2022. After sneaking into the Short Round, Fountain paid it off in a big way on J Bar J Rodeo’s Gronk to win more than $4,000. The last time he rode for more than 91 points was when he was 92 on Killer Bee to win Rodeo Austin in 2022. After zero 90+ Point Rides from 2016-2021, he now has one in each of the last three seasons.
- World No. 1 barrel racer Leslie Smalygo extended her lead in the WPRA World Standings with a 17.05-second run to win the Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo. After ascending to the top spot in the World Standings for the first time in her career, Smalygo did not want to give it up. She won the rodeo by one one-hundredth of a second to win almost $5,000. It was her third check worth more than $2,000 since May 24.
