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BySusanKanode Contributed CHEYENNE, WYO. There have been some changes over the last 20 years at the "Daddy of 'em All." Just ask barrel racer Sherry Cervi from Marana, Ariz. Cervi, who is a four-time world champion, won this ro- deo 21 years ago in 1995. At that time the Women's Professional Rodeo Association part of the competition was held as part of the night show and their en- trance into the arena was from the south. That put the placement of the barrels in the opposite direction as well, but the actual size of the pattern was similar. Cervi has been back to Cheyenne nearly every year since then. In fact, she finished in second place here last year and won $17,320 rid- ing her palomino mare Stingray. This year, she is on a different horse, a 10-year-old sorrel geld- ing named Dash Ta Diamonds that is known on the barrel rac- ing circuit as Arson. The duo was one of 193 competitors in the Women's Professional Ro- deo Association barrel race that made their first appearance here over a week ago on July 19. They stopped the clock in 17.89 sec- onds, not fast enough to get a pay check, but enough to be among the 98 that progressed to a second round. She competed again here dur- ing the fifth performance and improved her time significantly stopping the clock in 17.42 sec- onds. She now leads the overall standings with 36 more barrel racers to compete. "I'll be really happy if I get to make another run there," Cervi said. "I was excited to come to Cheyenne. It's a rodeo I look for- ward to and I hope I get to come back Sunday." The 18-time Wrangler Na- tional Finals Rodeo (NFR) qual- ifier is currently in 13th place in the world standings. If she re- mains in the top 15 through Sep- tember she will be making her 19th trip to Las Vegas in Decem- ber to compete at rodeo's cham- pionship event. Timber Moore, from Aubrey, Texas is the new leader in the first round of tie-down rop- ing. He stopped the clock in 10.1 seconds to overtake Chase Williams who has been lead- ing from the first performance. Moore is a four-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier. He is currently second in the world standings behind Hunter Herrin, from Apache, Okla., who also roped here during the fifth performance. Herrin had a time of 17.6. They will both rope in the second round on Thursday. RODEO Ce rv i se ek s an ot her F ro nt ie r Da ys t it le Rider out of Marana, Arizona, a 4-time world champion, won this rodeo 21 years ago in '95 DANHUBBELL—CONTRIBUTED Sherry Cervi took the lead in the overall barrel racing standings at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo with this 17.42-second run in Cheyenne, Wyoming. By Tanya Randall Reprinted with permission of The Barrel Racing Report SALINAS Former National Fi- nals Rodeo qualifier Nellie (Wil- liams) Miller has another home- grown superstar in Rafter W Minnie Reba ("Sister"). The half-sister to her 2010 NFR qualifier Rebas Smokey Joe ("Blue Duck") is quickly fol- lowing in his hoofprints with a $12,118 championship at the his- toric California Rodeo in Sali- nas. "Shejustworkedoutstanding," said Miller, who hails from Cot- tonwood and is the wife of James Miller, the Red Bluff Round-Up general manager. "She was just solid the whole week." Miller and Sister got progres- sively faster with each run and placed third in all three rounds. They blew everyone out of the water in the Sunday finals with a 15.86 seconds, the fastest run of the event by 2/10ths, to win the average. "I was first out on the ground after the drag and she really fired," recalled Miller. Although Sister and her great horse Blue Duck share many similarities, including their blue roan color, but as far as how they run, Miller said, they're com- pletely different. "He was really free running, and her, you can push a lot harder to the barrels," she said. "You always had to slow Blue Duck down." Their personalities are a bit different too, with Blue Duck be- ing strictly business and a little standoffish, while Sister tends to be little more nervous and a pest that prefers to be "all-up in your business." While Blue Duck, now 21 and retired, is by Mr. Bar Truckle, a son of Bayou Bar out of a Truly Truckle mare, Sister, 8, is by KS Cash N Fame, a son of Dash Ta Fame out of the Easy Jet mare Easy Charett. "The first time we bred that we bred that mare (Reba), when we got my old horse (Blue Duck), she was only four," said Miller. "We only got the one colt out of her and I went to running her in high school. So, there's a big age gap between the two. After I started doing good on [Blue Duck], we started breeding her again." Although now barren, Reba is still alive and packing Mill- er's oldest daughter. Miller also has two more colts out of Reba, a Dashair 6-year-old gelding and a 5-year-old full brother to Sister. "Mydadtrainedherandbroke her," said Miller. "I started run- ning barrels on her pretty seri- ously a year ago. Our first rodeo was last year over the Fourth of July. I took her to a circuit rodeo in Folsom. I've been running her pretty solid for a year, but be- fore that I had two kids, so my dad pretty much camped on her while I was having my babies." Miller and James have two little girls, ages 4 years and 15 months. With one year left be- fore her oldest daughter starts school, Miller plans on trying to make another big run. She's cur- rently No. 22 in the WPRA World Standings with $35,839.21 with- out having really left the West Coast. "I decided to enter the rest of the year and see how it goes," she said. "I think I'll probably end up going to some rodeos in the Northwest. I'm going to try to rodeo next year before my oldest starts school because I thought it would be more diffi- cult after she starts." BARREL RACING Cottonwoodwoman claimstitleinSalinas Miller, a former National Finals Rodeo qualifier, rides horse 'Sister' to 1st place PHIL DOYLE PHOTOGRAPHY — CONTRIBUTED Nellie Miller competes in barrel racing. She won the championship at the historic California Rodeo in Salinas. By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD,N.J. A drab year for Jimmy Walker took a turn for the worse two weeks ago at the Brit- ish Open, when he stayed in what was dubbed the "frat house" at Royal Troon with Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas, Ja- son Dufner and Zach Johnson. Walker was the only one to miss the cut. He still stayed the weekend. He just stayed away from the golf course, and his clubs. How does one kill time in such a small Scot- tish town? "When the first guy comes back and he's ready for a cocktail, you have one," Walker said. Thursday in the PGA Cham- pionship, the drinks were on Walker. In the final major of the year, Walker finally saw enough putts to fall at Baltusrol that he matched his low score in a major with a 5-under 65 and wound up leading a major for the first time in his career. Just like that, a stale year came to life. Walker had a one-shot lead over two-time major champion Martin Kaymer, Emiliano Grillo GOLF Walker has 65 to open last major of season Leads PGA Championship by 1 shot a er 1st round TONY GUTIERREZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jimmy Walker lines up a putt on the first hole during the first round of the PGA Championship tournament on Thursday. By Michelle Rindels The Associated Press LASVEGAS Developers who want to build a domed stadium for the Oakland Raiders in Las Vegas vowed to zero in on two poten- tial sites within the next month as they face a tight timeline to lock in a real estate deal, government approvals and the NFL's blessing. Representatives from Majestic Realty and the Las Vegas Sands casino company told an over- sight committee Thursday that they want to get their plan in or- der by January, when NFL owners who must approve any team re- location by a three-quarters vote are scheduled to meet. "I think the hardest part will be getting to the finish line on the land," said Sands President Rob Goldstein. "Please be advised that we're on it day in and day out." The Raiders are mulling a move to Las Vegas as Oakland hasn't made significant progress toward building them a new sta- dium. Los Angeles is another po- tential home for the Raiders if the San Diego Chargers pass on an opportunity to move there. Res- idents in San Diego will vote in November on the Chargers' pro- posal to raise local hotel taxes for a new downtown stadium. The Chargers would likely look north if that fails. Raiders owner Mark Davis has said he'd prefer to move the Raid- ers to Las Vegas — a position re- iterated by team President Marc Badain on Thursday. "I know there are some people that question our commitment," Badain told Las Vegas-area busi- ness and government leaders. "I hope they don't." Stadium proponents want to tap into $750 million in hotel tax NFL Vegas stadium backers aim at 2 finalist sites next month RODEO PAGE 2 VEGAS PAGE 2 PGA PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, July 29, 2016 MORE ATFACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1