By Dianne Finstad
A young cowboy leading the saddle bronc world rookie standings by a huge margin kept up his hot streak at the Ponoka Stampede.
Zachary Dallas made his first trip to Ponoka on June 26 count, spurring out 87.75 points on the Prime Time horse Enigma to take over the number one spot.
He’d studied the horse’s moves ahead of time, on video.
“It was pretty awesome, just like that, so I had high hopes,” says the 22-year-old from New Mexico.
“I think it might have even been better this trip. I had to bare down through my spur out to stay ahead of it. But then I dang sure had to try.”
READ MORE: DAY 2: Tough day for bulldoggers at Ponoka Stampede
Dallas is just wrapping up his college studies at New Mexico State, and he’s fresh off a third-place finish at the recent National College Finals.
He’s traveling with fellow New Mexico cowboys Leon Fountain and Ross Griffin, who both made the CFR last year.
“They like them up here, so I figured they might like me,” grins Dallas.
Another cowboy making a first appearance at Ponoka slid into second place overall in bareback riding during the second performance. Dean Thompson weathered the storm on a hard-to-ride Macza horse OLS Tubs Country Girl, for 86 points, and second place.
“I looked into the horse yesterday and found out she was a real-deal bucker. She’s one you see one guy get by and be 86 points on, and then a bunch of zeros. She’s the one that bucks everybody off,” says Thompson.
“That’s what you’ve got to have. You want the buckers. You’ve gotta have them if you want to win first place.”
The Utah hand knew Ponoka was a rodeo he needed to attend.
“Last year I was trying to make my first NFR, and this is a critical stop. Ponoka is one of the places you really want to be in. I jumped on it to enter, and I didn’t really know how the Canadian pro rodeos worked, so I missed entries,” recalls Thompson.
“Man, I was kicking myself hard. I ended up making my first Finals, but I think this one is going to help me to my second one.”
Thompson is one of many cowboys impressed with the Ponoka Stampede move to increase the purse for each event to $60,000.
“I think this is the biggest rodeo going on over the Fourth (of July run) which is unreal because you’re competing with massive American cities hosting giant rodeos, so this is just the place to be.
"I’ll have to buy my plane ticket now. I bought my plane ticket to get here as soon as I entered. But the guys are so good and the horses buck so hard nowadays, you just don’t know. I mean, you’ve got to ride your tail off. Now I know, so I’ll be set to make it back over here.”
The best bull ride of the day came from a recent high school grad, who’s a second-generation bull rider.
Grady Young of Leader, SK was 83.25 points on Macza’s Bruised Ego, to sit in fourth place.
“I always missed this one for high school Nationals (rodeo), so this is my first time here,” says the 18-year-old, who’s headed to college this fall in Snyder, TX on a rodeo scholarship.
“It’s a good deal, I like it, it’s exciting! You’re about five miles away and you can see the big bleachers, and it just gets you pumped up. There’s nothing else to do but win.”
Young was so excited it didn’t really matter to him what bull they put under him.
“I know what I’m doing. I’ve just got to go back to the basics and keep it simple. The bull felt awesome, just floated underneath me, felt good, just like a day off. It was lots of fun.”
The fastest barrel racer of the day was Karli Cowie of Makota, SK with a 17.57, for fourth place, behind leader Emily Beisel’s 17.38.
Leading the charge in team roping now are Trey Yates and Jake Clay, with 11.4 seconds on their two runs.
Cody Fraser of Sundre remains the bull riding leader at Ponoka with 86.25. Other overall leaders include Orin Larsen in bareback with 86.75, and Layne Delemont in steer wrestling with 12.5 seconds on two runs.
Ponoka News is your source for all things Ponoka Stampede leading up to and during Stampede Week June 25 to July 1. Find more Ponoka Stampede stories here and follow us at twitter.com/PonokaNews.
