[July 28, 2011] For five days in Ogden, RODEO WAS KING Tweet OGDEN, Jul 26, 2011 (Standard-Examiner - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Bareback riding in Monday's fifth and final performance of the 78th annual Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo featured fourtime and defending world champion Bobby Mote, of Culver, Ore., who is in the No. 8 hole ($41,408), current Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world standings leader Will Lowe ($77,130), of Canyon, Texas, and No. 2 Tilden Hooper ($75,386), of Carthage, Texas. But none of the three altered the top of the leader board, which saw Royce Ford's 89-point marking atop Smith, Harper & Morgan's Jesse's Girl -- a 2010 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo horse -- on Wednesday to win the bareback riding at the $134,307 rodeo. Steven Dent, of Mullen, Neb., drew out Jesse's Girl on Monday, scoring 86 points on the 8-year-old mare before a near-capacity crowd at Ogden Pioneer Stadium. " I t 's f u n to see great bareback riding," said the 28-year-old Lowe. "It makes for a good show with good riding. Seeing one of your buddies win always pumps you up." Ford is a member of the "Wolf Pack," which also includes Lowe, Wes Stevenson and Tom McFarland. Lowe, a three-time world bareback riding champion and a nine-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, had Feather Duster, of Three Hills Rodeo Inc., on Monday. He scored 80 points. "I talked to some of the guys from back there in Iowa (Three Hills is located in Bernard) and they said he was a good horse," Lowe said. From a right-hand delivery, "He turned out and went straight down the arena. He felt really good; it was a fistfight. Overall, I felt pretty good. One jump wasn't as good as it could have been, but it wasn't a big deal. If I keep doing what I did tonight, I'll make money. "I couldn't hear the buzzer and rode him for 14 seconds," he said. "I was more out of breath than usual. He weakened a little bit, but this is a big pen." Lowe was bumped back to Monday's performance at Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo after making Saturday's short round at the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho. "I had some of the other guys drive it, so I didn't have to," said Lowe, who had a rare day off Sunday. "I went to a pool party at Bobby Marriott's (in Woods Cross)," he said. "It doesn't matter when you ride, you go when you're drawn up. It was nice of them to move those horses for us; it gave us a shot at it. "The Fourth of July was good -- I don't know how much money I won -- but there is a lot of year left (the 2011 rodeo season ends Sept. 30) and 10 rounds at the Wrangler NFR. Any kind of a lead is nice, and you always want to win as much as you can going into the finals." If Lowe had his pick of horses that were out Monday, he would have chosen RD Mercer or Memphis King, each of Stace Smith Pro Rodeos. RD Mercer was selected for last year's Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. "I've been on both of them, and Jesse's Girl, who I haven't been on, would have been in my top three," he said. "There was a huge crowd tonight and a lot of energy. Stace does a great job of making it even. The facilities are nice and everything here is just top-notch." Lowe was 82 points at the Days of '47 Rodeo. He didn't enter Spanish Fork Fiesta Days, a Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Silver Rodeo. "Hopefully, I'll keep doing this for a long time and as long as I enjoy it," he said. Lowe hits Burwell, Neb. (Nebraska's Big Rodeo) on Thursday, and Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days -- a Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Gold Rodeo -- Friday and Saturday. To see more of the Standard-Examiner, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.standard.net. Copyright (c) 2011, Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]