Bad break for Hay, good break for Utah rider

Rod Hay’s bad news late last week couldn’t have been better for Utah saddle bronc rider Jesse Wright.

Hay qualified ninth for the Dec. 2-11 National Finals Rodeo, but withdrew from the event last week because the right leg he shattered in competition on June 20 had not heeled sufficiently for him to compete in the $5.875 million rodeo.

That opened the door for Wright, 21, to move up from 16th to 15th in the money standings and earn a spot in his first NFR.

Wright is the reigning 2009 Resistol rookie of the year and younger brother of 2008 World Champion Cody Wright, who is qualified third.

Jesse Wright finished $428 behind Sam Spreadborough for the 15th – and last – spot in the NFR field, the slimmest margin in any event.

“I bet it was very hard for Rod (to withdraw),” said Wright, 21. “I have never been in that type of situation, but I bet he thought about it a long time.”

Hay, 41, met with his doctor in Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 16, to discuss a procedure to break up scar tissue to give him more mobility, but determined that it was not a viable option.

Hay said, “I needed to get more mobility in my leg and feel comfortable that I could be competitive. If I’m going to go (to the NFR), I want to be a threat and believe I have a chance. People pay a lot of money to go to Las Vegas, and they want to see that guys are competing to win. I didn’t feel I would be at that level.

“I didn’t want to go in there, ride for two rounds and then turn out.”

Hay is an eight-time Canadian saddle bronc riding champion and well liked among fellow saddle bronc riders and fans. He was expected to be among the leaders in the field this year with his extensive experience and knowledge.

Cody Wright is thrilled to have his brother join him at the NFR, but also said he’ll miss not having Hay in the field.

“You feed off those great bronc riders,” Cody Wright said. “They give it their best every time and you think, ‘I want to do that.’ He is a good person and a good role model. He will be truly missed.

“(Hay) knows best if he can ride or not, but I do feel really bad for him. I felt bad when he got hurt. If anyone deserves to win a world championship, it’s Rod. I felt he was in the position to run away with it if he had not gotten hurt.”

“It feels like the opportunity of a lifetime for me,” Jesse Wright said. “I’ve wanted to make the Finals for as long as I can remember, but I feel bad about Rod not going.”

It had been five years since an injury caused a competitor to give up his spot in the NFR. Jason McClain filled in for B.J. Schumacher in the 2005 bull riding field when Schumacher suffered a broken collarbone two weeks before the NFR.