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Georgia cowboy matches world calf-roping record

Everybody was shaking Ryan Jarrett’s hand and giving him high fives when he won the $100,000 bonus in the calf roping at the Calgary Stampede last year.

Everybody, that is, but his travelling partner Clint Robinson.

He gave Jarrett hell. Robinson insisted Jarrett should buy the calf and take her home — like a trophy.

“He said he would have if he’d won the $100,000,” Jarrett recalled.

But he shrugged off the scorn, never giving it a second thought.

“A great calf? Heck, me and my dad pre-condition a lot of cattle so it was just another calf to me,” he said. “I ain’t never looked at a calf as being special.”

Jarrett might have to now.

The Georgia cowboy, who makes his home in Oklahoma, tied the world record Saturday with a time of 6.3 seconds. He swung his rope only twice before catching the red calf, which fellow Oklahoman Mike Johnson was 7.5 seconds on in Friday’s opening round.

Jarrett, the 2005 world all-around champion, also won the first round with a time of 6.6 seconds, a tick off the arena record.

“I might slip out there and buy this calf,” Jarrett chuckled. “Maybe she is special.”

Raymond Havens, an Airdrie area rancher, owns the herd, so if Jarrett and Havens are spotted having a conversation in the next couple of days, you know what they’re talking about.

It wouldn’t be the first time a cowboy has purchased a farm animal after setting a record. Texas calf roper Ricky Canton established the world record at Strathmore in 2005.

He did it during the slack with about 30 spectators in the stands and 40 or so ropers down around the chutes, compared with the 13,000 who watched Jarrett.

Manard Bird, a Claresholm rancher, owned the calves and Canton bought the one he roped and took her home. She’s still on his place, but she’s a big old cow now.

Robinson was there to see Jarrett tie the record. He was the first roper out Saturday and wrapped up his calf in 6.9 seconds, fast, but only good enough for second. Once Jarrett threw his hands in the air, he knew he was a mistake-free six again, but didn’t think he was anything like 6.3.

“The calves here are so wonderful and you can get a great start. It’s pretty easy for me riding Batman, that old black horse of mine. He makes my job a lot less stressful and I can go about things at my own pace.”

Jarrett described holding a share of the world record as “an amazing accomplishment.” He also holds the arena record of 7.3 seconds at the Wrangler Tour rodeo at Ellensburg, Wash., set in 2007.

“All of their arena records are on a big wall where everybody can see them and they’re also visible when you’re on horseback and warming up,” he noted. “I look at it every time I’m there.”

The favourite going into the second day here had to be seven-time world all-around champion Trevor Brazile. But the Texan’s rope meekly hit the ground.

“I just screwed up,” Brazile said.

With $11,000, Jarrett is the top money winner at this year’s rodeo.
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