QUEENSLANDER Emma O’Shea momentarily considered a shot at Man From Snowy River Bush Festival immortality in becoming the first female to win the time-honoured challenge.
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O’Shea led the event after the first three days of competition following a string of top-three finishes in the lead-up events including victory in the pack-horse and seconds in the stock-handling and whip-cracking.
But rather than risk injury in the buck-jump, which is the only event the women don’t contest, O’Shea settled for another slice of history in becoming the first competitor to win four women’s events in succession.
“I did think about, but you just see the blokes getting hurt out there,” she said.
“Nobody remembers who came tenth, but I am not strong enough to ride one of them.
“I would rather do my brumby catch and stick to the ladies.”
O’Shea had an unassailable lead over her two rivals in the finals with Carlie Venables edging out Larissa Pearsall for the minor placings in a three-way shootout.
Her winning margin was more than 100 points.
O’Shea hails from the tiny North Queeland town of Almaden, but spends a lot of time at Tumut where her partner and former MFSR challenge winner Morgan Webb lives.
She has dominated similar events in the lead-up to Corryong.
“This is the big one,” she said.
“But I don’t practice any more for this than I do the others.”
Her favourite event is the brumby catch.
“It really shows what horsepower you’ve got under you,” she said.
“You ride into the arena with a brumby catch halter in your hand and he is as excited as what I am to do it.”
O'Shea rode 11-year-old stallion, Hilite Dads Acres who she has been riding in similar events since 2014.
The junior challenge was taken out by Johnny Ward for a second time.
He finished on 511.6 points to beat Billy Stephen on 486.2 points with Travis Bandy third on 478.6 points.
Bandy’s father Scott is a five-time open challenge champion including back-to-back wins in 2013-14.