In the card game Blackjack, you don’t want to have your cards total more than 21 or else you go bust.
So you may choose to stay with a total you have, rather than hitting for another card and risk going over.
In rodeo, when you’re riding a horse named Black Jack, you always want to stay. As in stay aboard for the mandatory eight seconds, which is a lot easier said than done.
There was no bust for Armstrong’s Jaret Cooper Wednesday, Nov. 2.
Cooper, 19, rode C5 Rodeo Company bucking horse Black Jack to a score of 70, good for second place out of three riders, in the opening round of the novice saddle bronc at the 48th Canadian Finals Rodeo in Red Deer.
The result was worth $680 for Cooper, who won the novice saddle bronc earlier this year at the legendary Calgary Stampede.
Novice saddle bronc is governed by the same rules as saddle bronc. The difference is the age of the riders, since contestants must be 21-years-old or younger. Judges score both the rider and the horse for a combined total of a possible 100 points.
Tyrel Roberts of Charlie Lake, near Fort St. John, won the go-round, collecting $1,020 for his 78.25 aboard Macza Pro Rodeo’s War Horse.
Roberts qualified second overall for the CFR with $13,969.10 in winnings during the 2022 Canadian Pro Rodeo Assocation season. Cooper qualified third with $10,133.95.
The top qualifier, Colten Powell of Innisfail, Alta., who won $22,364.25 during the year, was bucked off in Round 1 by Duane Kesler Rodeo’s horse Mushroom Cloud.
Cooper and Roberts will reverse rides for the second go-round Thursday, Nov. 3, with Cooper getting a crack at War Horse and Roberts trying his hand on Black Jack. Powell has drawn Duffy Rodeo’s Domestic Shadows.
CFR 48 runs through Nov. 6 at the Peavey Mart Centrium in Westerner Park.
READ MORE: Armstrong cowboy in hunt for Canadian title
READ MORE: WATCH: Armstrong cowboy wins event at Calgary Stampede
roger@vernonmorningstar.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.