ProRodeo Sports News - August 5, 2022

POLLOCKVILLE, ALBERTA

HARDGRASS BRONC MATCH

World Record

Logan Hay’s 95.5-point ride sets saddle bronc mark BY BRADY RENCK, Special to ProRodeo Sports News T his is the type of ride that makes rodeo special. With a raucous crowd ready to erupt, with the best possible draw, Logan Hay threw down the sawdust and went bareknuckle in saddle bronc riding, July 30. “It was a fist fight,” Hay said. And when his ride ended on Calgary Stampede’s X-9 record had been set for 30 years and my brother only had it for a year and I got him,” said Logan, who on the long go and netted $14,923 for the rodeo. “That’s pretty cool.” Dawson was there to see it. And hear it, calling the moment, “unbelievable, and even more meaningful because Logan kept it in the family.” Dawson owns a front-row seat for Logan’s ascension in the

sport. A year ago, Logan finished 17th in the world standings. He narrowly missed qualifying for his first NFR, something Dawson and their father Rod Hay have accomplished. “You could see after that happened, it really lit a fire under him,” Dawson said. Logan Hay, 25, is oven-mitts required hot in July. Earlier this month, Hay claimed the top prize at the Calgary Stampede with an 89.5-point ride on Baby Bibitz. Until July 30, it was his most memorable ride as he joined his father as Stampede champion. “I think since the middle of July last year, it kind of clicked for me. Since then, I feel like I have been riding different. I think it’s just a confidence thing,” Hay said. “It’s such a mental thing and once you get a hold of that it goes a lot better for you as a competitor.” Calmmind. Big rides. And a record on the resume. It has brought the NFR squarely within arms’ reach. “It has definitely been my goal since I started. It would be pretty special if me and Dawson made it,” Logan said. “And to break that mark in front of that amazing crowd, it is just unbelievable.”

Xplosive Skies, Hay was left speechless. The score? A 95.5, a new world record, leaving Hay part of the sport’s fabric forever after his breathtaking performance at the Hardgrass Bronc Match in Pollockville, Alberta. “From the second jump, it could have gone either way. I just tried to keep gassing and I won the fist fight,” Hay said. “When I saw 95.5 pop up on the scoreboard. … It really hasn’t sunk in yet.” X-9 Xplosive Skies presents trouble and potential. She is ridiculously athletic, befitting her status as the 2021 Pendleton Whiskey Let’Er Buck Bareback Horse of the Year. “She bucks extremely hard. I have never been on a horse like that,” Hay said. Setting a record never entered Hay’s mind. But he admits he knew what the score required. A year ago, his brother Dawson tied the previous ProRodeo mark of 95, one he shared with Doug Vold, who posted the score on Franklin’s Transport in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, in 1979, and ProRodeo Hall of Famer Glen O’Neill, who delivered a 95-point trip on Franklin’s Airwolf in Innisfail, Alberta, in 1996. “It was a pretty big roar when the score went up. The

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Billie-Jean Duff photos Saddle bronc rider Logan Hay wowed the crowd in Pollockville, Alberta, on July 30 with a saddle bronc riding world record 95.5-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s X-9 Xplosive Skies.

Logan Hay acknowledges the crowd after he won the Hard Grass Bronc Match July 30, earning $14,923.

ProRodeo Sports News 8/5/2022

ProRodeo Sports News 8/5/2022

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