ProRodeo Sports News - May 4, 2018

RED BLUFF ROUND-UP

Seeing Red Howlett notches biggest victory of young career

BY NICK CICERE B efore the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up, bareback rider Jamie Howlett sought a matchup with one of the sport’s most recognizable bucking horses. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. And when it comes to C5 Rodeo’s Virgil, the adage feels especially appropriate. Howlett got what he wanted, in more ways than one. “Jamie told us the week before in Oakdale that he was going to draw him in Red Bluff,” said Nate McFadden, a fellow bareback rider and traveling partner of Howlett’s. “And it turned out he did.” After reading the tea leaves the weekend before, Howlett said that he didn’t know at first that he had drawn Virgil. He’d heard it through the grapevine. “I didn’t know straightaway,” he said. “A buddy told me and said that I’d had him, and I was like, ‘Alrighty, that’s good.’ Then the nerves kicked in because that’s the bucking horse of the year, and it’s big. But I sort of had in the back of my mind, (with) drawing him, I could win Red Bluff.” Howlett got his draw and was tasked with covering the reigning Bareback Horse of the Year. As it turned out, Howlett proved that his 2018 season has been no fluke. Combining for 87.5 points with the vaunted Virgil, the Aussie cowboy outscored the rest of the Red Bluff field to earn a hefty, $6,824 check and, in his mind, nab the biggest win of his career. “It’s a huge rodeo,” Howlett said. “Shoot,

With a ride of 87.5 points atop C5 Rodeo’s Virgil at the Red Bluff Round-Up, bareback rider Jamie Howlett outlasted the reigning, defending Bareback Horse of the Year to claim what he calls the biggest win of his rodeo career. Roseanna Sales photo

TOPS AT RED BLUFF — April 20-22

ALL-AROUND COWBOY Rhen Richard $3,479

BAREBACK RIDING 1. Jamie Howlett ......................... 87.5 pts 2. Zack Brown ..................................... 87 3. (tie) Jake Brown .............................. 85 Bill Tutor ......................................... 85

STEER WRESTLING 1. Tyler Pearson ............ 21.0 sec. on four 2. Bridger Chambers ........................ 21.8 3. Ty Erickson ................................... 22.6 4. Aaron Vosler ................................. 23.8

TEAM ROPING 1. C. Snow/W. Thorp .... 29.1 sec. on four 2. (tie) Jos. Torres/Jon. Torres ......... 31.6 K. Driggers/J. Nogueira ............... 31.6 4. L. Simpson/J. Buhler .................... 32.3

Tie-down roping and team roping

ProRodeo Sports News 5/4/18

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