PRORODEO Sports News - July 26, 2024

CALGARY, ALBERTA BY TRACY RENCK Askey, Dougherty split bull riding win Bull riding is certainly an unpredictable event and that was

evident on the final day of the Calgary Stampede on July 14. Chase Dougherty and Jeff Askey were the only two cowboys to make the whistle in the 12-man semifinals. Dougherty had an 89-point trip on Calgary Stampede’s Sky Fall and Askey had an 82-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Uncle Buck. They were the only two riders to advance and compete in the Showdown Round, but neither could get a qualified ride, thus the two veterans split the Calgary Stampede victory. “This feels good,” said Askey, 36. “I know Chase and I would have liked to ride our Showdown bulls. My bull (Wayne Vold Rodeo’s Chosen) gave me some trouble in the chute. I probably should have taken a better shot at him, and I let him have the advantage and he beat me out of there. It was downhill from there. He jerked me down and kicked me into the chutes and it just turned into a train wreck, but that’s part of the job.” Dougherty, who was bucked off by Outlaw Buckers Blue Magic in the Final Four, was unable to make the post rodeo interview because he was injured during his last ride. “Splitting a win is better than bucking off in the long road,” Askey said. “At the end of the day, we did our job a few times earlier in the week to get to this point and we will just take that. It is not how we would have scripted it. Chase and I would have both loved to stay on and one of us would have won it outright. But with rodeo, you can never script it. You can put the best guys and the best bulls together and sometimes they knock it out of the park and sometimes it just doesn’t work.” Dougherty, 26, is right in the mix to make his second career trip to the NFR since he made his debut in 2018. Askey is aiming to make his seventh NFR to go along with the ones he qualified for in 2016, 2018 20 and 2022-23.

Calgary Stampede photos by Covy Moore Jeff Askey, above, and Chase Dougherty split the win at the Calgary Stampede after both riders failed to make the whistle in the Showdown Round.

ProRodeo Sports News 7/26/2024

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