Published: January 04, 2008 08:49 am            

BRETT HOFFMAN: Healthy Lowe hard to beat

When he is healthy and focused on spurring bareback broncs, Will Lowe is hat and shoulders above his peers.

While the three-time world champion from Canyon fell a little short of winning the 2007 world title, Lowe sent a clear reminder of his superiority during the Dec. 6-15 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Lowe entered the Las Vegas championships more than $77,000 behind regular-season champion Bobby Mote. He was ranked 10th in the world-title race and was not expected to win after being sidelined for roughly four months with a broken leg and a nagging shoulder injury.

But Lowe got his spurs rolling in dramatic fashion at the NFR and won the average, earning the highest aggregate score among the 15-man field after making 10 rides. He finished with 846 points, an NFR record.

And he capped the average victory by tying the NFR single ride record with a 91.5 score in the 10th round aboard Magic Wars, owned by the Mosbrucker Rodeo Co.

The points were hard earned from a bronc that took some nasty dips. But Lowe just kept making adjustments and did one remarkable spurring job.

“I just closed my hand and my eyes and hoped to make it through,” Lowe said of the eight-second bout. “The horse was extremely bucky, with lots of changeups and moves, and it’s the kind of horse that if you quit going to them, they’re going to get you down. So, I just kept going to her, and things fell right for me at the end.”

After the final ride, Lowe had $116,213 in NFR earnings and finished second in the world-title race with $190,632. He had reduced the deficit between he and Mote to $16,551.

Mote won the world title, but the Oregon cowboy’s big advantage was earning a $50,000 bonus in March by winning RodeoHouston. Mote even said in an interview in Houston that he really needed a big hit like that in order to run with Lowe.

Had not Mote won the 50K, Lowe likely would be wearing the 2007 gold buckle.

Lowe celebrated his 25th birthday on Christmas Eve and appears to have plenty of time to break the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s record for most bareback world titles. He’s two away from tying the five owned by Joe Alexander and Bruce Ford.

But Lowe all but dodges the question of catching them.

“I really don’t even think about it,” said Lowe, who earned world titles in 2003, 2005 and 2006 and has qualified for the NFR for the past six years. “Those guys are my heroes and true legends of the sport.”

After watching Lowe cash in at the 2007 National Finals, fans can expect him to fill his saddle bags with money in 2008. But Lowe is not counting his checks before they happen.

“You never know how the next season is going to go,” Lowe said. “Anything can happen, which is the tough part about rodeo. But you try to take some momentum off of the National Finals and keep going. But you know it’s a long year and you roll with the punches.”

And nobody knows that better than Lowe. Last year, he was sidelined 11 weeks (in April, May and June) with the broken left leg and a month (January) with shoulder problems.

“If you ride long enough, you’re going to get hurt and it was my time,” Lowe said. “But you just have to come back and keep going to those bucking horses.”

In the money

Athens barrel racer Ashton Elder and a horse named Clever Speed finished 10th in the 1D segment of the open division after turning in time of 15.815 seconds at the Classic Equine Race for Cash IV in Guthrie, Okla. The Dec. 28-30 show was produced by Booger Barter of Athens.

Briefs

• Mike Lee of Decatur, the 2004 Professional Bull Riders world champion, earned $35,212 after winning the title on Dec. 30 in Duluth, Ga., the season opener on the 2008 Built Ford Tough Series. The tour stops in New York’s Madison Square Garden on Jan. 4-6.

• The Sandhills Stock Show Rodeo in Odessa is scheduled for Jan. 4-12. It’s the first stop on the PRCA’s 2008 Wrangler ProRodeo Tour.

• The PRCA Texas Circuit Finals is Jan. 3-5 in Waco. The winners will advance to the March Dodge National Circuit Finals in Pocatello, Idaho.

• Alabama rider Austin Shepard and High Brow CD won the National Cutting Horse Association World Championship Futurity open division title after turning in a final round score of 226 on Dec. 16 in Fort Worth. The victory earned High Brow CD's owner Arthur Noble the coveted $250,000 prize.

Brett Hoffman is a 20-year rodeo columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. He can be reached at brett@myrodeoinsider.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.