Fast Break
Track and Field
Record-breaking day for Anderson
Washington State’s Jeshua Anderson broke a 24-year-old meet record and a 5-year-old stadium mark in winning the 400-meter hurdles in 49.28 seconds at the USA Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Jesse Owens Stadium Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
The victory qualified Anderson, the NCAA champion, to compete in the world junior championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, July 8-13.
Anderson said in a press release that he was able to get a good warmup before the race because of a storm that delayed the meet for two hours.
“I feel very blessed to be having this type of season,” said Anderson.
Rodeo
Cheney’s Gray gets on a roll
Just in time for the meat of the season, Ryan Gray is red hot.
The bareback rider from Cheney won his event at Livermore, Calif., and Sisters, Ore., over Father’s Day weekend, in both cases setting arena records. He scored an 88 on Faded Dice of Big Bend Rodeo (Ritzville) at Sisters and had a 90 at Livermore.
The two wins were worth more than $6,000 for the three-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, pushing his season total to more than $30,000, good for 10th in the PRCA standings.
Zach Oakes, who lists Elk, Wash., as home after marrying Mt. Spokane graduate Anne Bolich, won the bull riding at Sisters, good for close to $5,000.
Oakes is also 10th in the PRCA standings with more than $34,000 won. He is a two-time NFR qualifier.
Although his name didn’t appear in recent results, Tyson Durfey, a calf roper from Missouri who has moved to Colbert, is 12th in the national standings with more than $30,000.
The season heats up with the busy and lucrative Fourth of July schedule known as “Cowboy Christmas.” The Cheney Rodeo is July 10-12.
Horse racing
Trainer Jones smells a rat
Larry Jones, the trainer of the late filly Eight Belles, said a recent failed drug test by one of his colts was sabotage.
The New York Times reported in Saturday’s editions that Jones and breeder Jim Squires, both prominent critics of the use of drugs in horse racing, were notified early this week that Stones River had tested positive for illegal levels of clenbuterol, a bronchodilator that helps burn fat and promote muscle growth, after a race at Delaware Park this month.
Jones was the target of criticism after Eight Belles was euthanized on the track after finishing in the Kentucky Derby. He has often called for limits on the use of steroids and medications in racing.
The Times reported Jones had never had a violation in 25 years as a trainer, according to the Racing Commissioners International database. Spires also has no violations on his record, the newspaper reported.