But no Utahn has turned his rodeo around more than Spanish Fork's Clint Robinson. The son of legendary roper Lance Robinson won the tie-down roping go-round on Friday night with a time of 7.3 seconds, just one night after tying for first in the same event.
Robinson, 24, now has two second-place finishes and two first-place runs in the last four nights. That after he was out of the money the first five nights.
"I'm to the point where, if I rope well, I expect to win," he said.
Some 20 family members and close friends cheered Robinson on to the win as he edged Cody Ohl of Hico, Texas, who recorded a 7.4. The group included his father, mother, sister, wife and nieces.
"Good start, good calf," he said.
Robinson has moved to fourth in the tie-down roping world standings with $121,269 and is third in the all-around, where he will likely stay because he's $46,000 behind the No. 2 guy. He said next year he plans to qualify for the NFR in two events and make a "serious" run at the all-around.
His last four runs have come on a borrowed horse belonging to roper Fred Whitfield named Gator, after Robinson determined his own horse, Batman, was having trouble handling the arena and crowd of more than 17,000.
"Batman is great outdoors, and buildings have never bothered him before. He just doesn't like this building," Robinson said.
While Robinson excelled, the state's other cowboys all struggled Friday.
Milford's Cody Wright and Lehi's Rusty Allen were both bucked off in saddle bronc riding, a shame because only five cowboys covered in that event and some money was there for the taking.
Wright dropped from fifth to seventh in the aggregate, after failing to cover for the first time in Las Vegas.
"I need to do something [today], for sure," Wright said. "I've done alright. I just need some luck or something. It is not going as well as I hoped it would."
Beast continued to dominate human in the bull riding at the NFR. Only Bobby Welsh of Gillette, Wyo., managed to stay on for eight seconds.
Payson's Steve Woolsey couldn't change his luck, failing for the ninth time in nine attempts to cover a bull. This from a cowboy who placed second in the world in the event last year.
His traveling partner, Wesley Silcox, also hit the dirt early, a night after placing third and moving up to second in the average. He's now in third again, having fallen behind Welsh.
Payson's Jess Davis is also cooling off after a great start. He failed to get in the money for the second-straight night in bareback riding, scoring just a 72.0 on Moon Beam to take 10th.
Davis dropped from third to fifth in the average, but still stands to make a good check in that race after having earned $43,887 at this rodeo already, second-most among Utah cowboys behind the suddenly red-hot Robinson.
The top eight in the average get a check.
NFR Notes: A group from Utah has been getting good play on the large video screen in the arena this week as the camera pans the crowd for "interesting" characters. Friday, the group of eight or nine wore T-shirts spelling out U-T-A-H, and the hefty guy wearing the 'U' was compared to the Wasatch Mountains by the public address announcer
drew@sltrib.com
* Spanish Fork's Clint Robinson won a go-round in tie-down roping for the second-straight night, again on a borrowed horse, and has now won more money ($54,137) at the National Finals Rodeo this year than any other Utah cowboy.
* For the ninth time in nine rounds, Payson's Steve Woolsey failed to cover a bull. His traveling partner, Wesley Silcox, also got bucked off Friday.
* Wyoming's Bobby Welsh, from Gillette, was the only bull rider to stay on for eight seconds Friday and won more than $50,000 for doing so.
* TODAY'S TV: 7 p.m., ESPN2
