Bovines buck the cowboys goodbye | Rockhampton Sport | Local Sports in Rockhampton

Harry Prow does his best to last the eight seconds in the Open Bull Ride at the Great Western on Saturday.

CHRIS ISON

THE statistics tell the story in the bull riding section of Saturday night’s 4Bs Rodeo at the Great Western Indoor Arena and it was bulls 31-cowboys 0.

Some of the best cowboys around were at the Great Western, one of the biggest shows at the arena, but none could match bucking bovines on the night.

Stock contractor Brian Duggan reckons the greenery in the bulls’ paddocks gives the beasts an extra bounce and he could be right as each cowboy returned home with just Great Western dust to show for their efforts.

For Steve Coyne and Kemp Donaldson it was even worse.

Coyne was bucked by a Brian King bull called Kiss Me Goodbye, which liked the young cowboy so much it gave him a few extra bruises as a departing present.

Fortunately that was all Coyne received apart from a dent to his pride, while Donaldson has a scar to show after collecting eight stitches from the bull Hazard.

Duggan said there were a few riders who came close to breaking the eight-second marker.

Capella cowboy Damien Herden was on board a King bull for 6.9 seconds and Harry Prow kept company with Western Star for close to five seconds before they went their separate ways.

Joe Polkinghorne went into the rodeo as the in-form cowboy, but unfortunately for the young rider he was no match for Duggan’s highly rated beast Maneater.

“He was off first jump,” Duggan recalled.

Clint Wheeler was the only successful rider in the Rookie section while Jesse Vannek cleaned up in the Junior Bull Ride.

The bull riders might have had a night to forget, but fortunately there were other events on the card and they did a lot better.

In the Bronc Ride Chris Williams was given a tough outing by a horse named Fence Jumper, but the cowboy rode him to the limit to earn a handy 82 points, which earned him the victory with Dale Bougoure second.

Warwick Kime also enjoyed a solid ride in the Bareback section to collect the win on a horse named Wizard and leaving the competitive Brett Cross to pick up the runner-up cheque.

The Ladies Barrel race used to be run for the benefit of Alton Downs’s Alleisha Priddle, but not anymore, with the Great Western favourite forced into second place by PJ Symes.