Cowboy keen for pocket money

Colin Worsfold is ready to follow his brother’s footsteps in the bull-riding arena at the Great Western Hotel tomorrow night.

Sharyn Oneill

Colin Worsfold will be one of the taller cowboys at tomorrow night’s St Patrick’s Rodeo but the first time the youngster had a go at the bull ride, the Great Western crowd had an excellent chance to assess his length.

Worsfold has a family background in rodeo but the 19-year-old’s Great Western debut ended ignominiously.

The young rider had barely cleared the chute before he was lying flat on his back in the Great Western dirt. Even worse, he can remember little about it as the fall rendered him unconscious.

Not that the incident has put Worsfold off the sport – he loves it.

“I just like the lifestyle,” he said with an easy grin.

Not only does Worsfold risk everything on bulls, he also takes his chance on horses, where he rides bareback.

Not a bad combination for a young man apprenticed to be a refrigeration mechanic with Haden Engineering.

But coming from a farming background at Wandoan, he always has rodeo on his mind and would like, at some stage, to follow the path taken by his brother Dave who is one of the top five bareback riders in Australia and currently on the lucrative rodeo circuit in the United States.

So what do his parents think about this past-time?

“The folks don’t mind, my dad puts me on a bull when I get home,” he grinned.

Worsfold said he is yet to learn which of the Brian Duggan beasts he will have an eight-second bonding with on Saturday but knows what he needs to do to take home some pocket money.

“I think 80 points or better is going to win,” he said.

The young cowboy said the crowd played little part in how he performed.

“You just focus on the bull, and that’s about it,” he said.

There will be quite a few cowboys focusing on their bull in the Open Bull Ride and none more than up-and-coming rider Joe Polkinghorne.

Having come through the junior ranks, Polkinghorne is now winning in senior competitions.

Recently he travelled south and collected the winnings at two rodeos and consequently organiser Brian Duggan reckoned the youngster was in great form.

He will need to be as he has drawn Maneater, the meanest bull of the Duggan herd. Maneater has been resting in recent weeks and Duggan reckons the beast will be ready to buck.

“He is a real monster, it’s like looking at two bulls joined together,” he said.

Another of the 30 Open bull riders in the show is Cody Ford and he too has drawn well in getting Titanic, another Duggan bull that will provide a big score if a cowboy lasts eight seconds.

This weekend’s rodeo is a 4Bs event and begins at 7pm with the Barrel Race in which 28 riders have nominated.

Also on the program are 14 Bronc riders, of which Clint Harms is one who is making a welcome return, and also six bareback riders.