PENDLETON – A horse named Dunny won some big money for a Dillon, Mont., cowboy Thursday in the second performance of the Round-Up.

Jess Martin broke an arena record with an 89-point saddle bronc ride on the Ike Sankey horse and vaulted into the overall lead in the event. Thursday’s performance saw the overall leaders change in three of the eight events.

Martin, who is ranked seventh in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Jack Daniels world standings, has been aboard Dunny four times and qualified a score three of those times.

“I’m real happy with an 89. Dunny’s an awesome horse.”

Glen O’Neill of Didsbury, Alberta, had a nice ride in the event, posting an 87 to move into second overall in the round. Scott Johnston of Gustine, Texas, was third on the day with an 82 score to move into fourth place overall. Adam Newman of Poulson, Mont., and 2001 Round-Up champion Ira Slagowski each put up scores of 81 points Thursday to move into fifth place overall.

Blair Burk of Durrant, Okla., had a rough day in calf roping and in team roping, but he won the Thursday performance steer roping event with a time of 12.7 seconds as one of only two cowboys to post times in the event. Pendleton cowboy Jack Purchase, a former Round-Up director, was 17.1 seconds with his steer.

Burk, who is in second place in the world calf roping standings, is on the cusp of earning a top five spot in the world all-around standings. He had a time of 13.5 in calf roping and had no time in the team roping.

“I struggled a lot in (my) main event,” Burk said. “He was just a little long.”

As for the team roping, Burk said he and John Folmer of El Paso, Texas, had a hard-running steer.

“I had a good steer (in the steer roping). I just needed to get him down without messing up.”

The seven time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier said he will need to get by a couple of contestants in the second round of steer tripping in order to return Saturday for the finals. He is up in Spokane today (Friday) and will follow that with a trip to Othello, Wash.

In the calf roping event, Trent Walls of Stephenville had the fastest time of the day at 9.3 seconds. Walls entered the week in 20th place in the world standings, $8,113 out of the top 15 and a potential qualification for the NFR. He stands in sixth place overall with 20.8 seconds on two head. Ricky Hyde, who posted a rodeo best time of 8.9 seconds Wednesday, leads the average race with a 18.5 seconds on two. Casey Branquinho of Los Alamos, Calif., was second on the day with a time of 9.4 seconds and is now in fourth in the average at 20.0 seconds. Only six other contestants registered times Thursday and none of those were under 10 seconds.

Oregon cowboys took the top four steer wrestling spots in Thursday’s performance. Benny Rowe of Ontario was quickest on the day with a run of 6.2 seconds and Pendleton’s Chip Giles was second at 7.1. Chancey Lee Gartner of Pendleton was third at 7.9 and Carl Seiders of Adrian was fourth at 9.8 seconds. None of Thursday’s bulldoggers cracked into the top six in the average, which is currently led by Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, Calif., at 12.6 seconds in two runs.

It was a tough day for team ropers at the Round-Up. Of the 16 teams to go, 12 posted no times and two others were assessed penalties. Two California cowboys, Billy Holland, Jr. of Oroville and Mike George of Knights Ferry, won the day with a 6.2 second effort. Mel Coleman of Phoenix, Ariz., and Brock Andrus of St. George, Utah, were second Thursday with a time of 8.9 seconds. In the average race, David Key of Ledbetter, Texas, and Dugan Kelly of Paso Robles, Calif., are tied with Liddon Cowden of Merced, Calif., and Brent Lockett of Ivanhoe, Calif., with a two-go-round time of 13.3.

A pair of bareback riders moved to the top of the first round leader board with stellar efforts Thursday. Grandview, Wash., cowboy Sean Culver took a 86-point ride on a re-ride horse named Parlor Game to pass Ken Lensgrav for the overall lead in the round. The two had never been matched before but Culver said he had “heard quite a bit about him.”

He added, “The horse really got in the air, he had some rolls to him.

“He allows you to make a pretty good ride on him too.”

Culver said a Round-Up title would mean a lot. His uncle, Dick Culver, rodeoed in the event and Sean came here as a youngster.

“I used to play here, behind the chutes, as a little kid. It’s my favorite rodeo. You can talk to guys in Texas and a lot of them pick this as their favorite rodeo too.”

Clint Corey of Powell Butte, is a 17 time NFR qualifier and he won the world bareback title in 1991. He posted a score of 84 points on a horse named Been Cut Thursday to move into third overall. Corey, who once lived in Kennewick, also loves the Round-Up and gave kudos to Northwest rodeo fans.

“The Northwest is the best,” he said. “The crowds, the people here are the best in the world. I love being a part of it.”

Corey is looking to make another big ride Saturday at the Round-Up as he is looking to move up from 15th in the Wrangle Pro Rodeo Tour U.S. Smokeless Tocacco Co. Series standings.

He must be in the top 12 in order to qualify for the series finals in Dallas Oct. 24-27. Series points are awarded for contestant placing in the short-go (finals) at tour rodeos such as the Round-Up.

The 40-year-old cowboy is currently 38th in the world standings and second in the Columbia River Circuit. He said that Been Cut fit his riding style. They have been matched once before and the horse performed the same way each time. The ride Thursday, “couldn’t have been at a better place,” he added.

Current world leader Bobby Mote of Redmond, had an 81 score Thursday and moved into sixth place overall and Darren Clarke of Lewisville, Texas, moved into seventh with an 80-point ride.

Six bull riders covered their bulls Thursday in Pendleton and none for more points than Justin Andrade of Grover Beach, Calif., who had an 85 on Rich to take the event lead overall. Wheeler, Texas, contestant Layne McCasland was second on the day and is second overall with an 84 score. Casie Baize of San Angelo, Texas, posted an 82 score.

While Charmayne James of Athens, Texas, maintained her overall lead in the barrel racing at 27.97 from Tuesday’s slack performance, four contestants made it under 30 seconds around the course Thursday. Delores Toole of Manter, Kansas, was fastest with a time of 28.52 and Tara Polich of Canby came around in 28.76. Jolle Lautaret of Kingman, Ariz., was third at 28.63 and Dolli Lautaret, also of Kingman, was fourth at 29.01.

Today’s performance will begin at 1:15 p.m., as will the finals Saturday.

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Sports editor Christopher Halsey can be reached at 1-800-522-0255 (ext. 1-223) or by e-mail at chalsey@eastoregonian.com.