Kade Bruno claims Stampede saddle-bronc crown amid controversy

Zeke Thurston thought he had won his fourth saddle-bronc title at the Calgary Stampede rodeo Sunday.

Jubilation then turned into dejection for the 29-year-old cowboy from Big Valley, Alta., as he was informed that the judges made a miscalculation and that Kade Bruno, of Challis, Idaho, was actually the winner.

“It’s been a whirlwind of emotions, but what a day,” said Bruno, who needed a ride-off against Thurston to be declared the champion. “What a cool deal. You don’t have ride-offs every day, and you definitely don’t get a ride-off against a four-time world champion every day.

“So that was pretty special.”

After advancing to the showdown round, Thurston and Bruno posted identical scores of 92 points atop Exotic Warrior and Tokyo Bubbles respectively.

Following Thurston’s 90.5-point performance on Yesterday’s Delivery in the ride-off, Bruno appeared to win the competition when his score of 92 aboard Mary Lou was announced to the crowd of 20,000-plus spectators at GMC Stadium.

The crowd was then informed that Bruno was docked two points and that Thurston had won.

Thurston, a three-time Stampede champion in back-to-back-to-back years from 2015-17, then accepted the first-place $50,000 cheque on the stage before he was informed that Bruno’s score was, in fact, 92.

“I had just got back to the locker room,” Bruno said. “I had set my saddle down. Everybody in the locker room told me I had won and I needed to come back out (to the stage).”

Before going up on stage to get rewarded, Bruno chatted with Thurston and the pair congratulated each other on a hard-fought battle.

“I come out and Zeke said, ‘I’m sorry about all this,’” said Bruno, who referred to winning the Stampede title in his first trip to Calgary as one of his greatest rodeo accomplishments. “He goes, ‘It kind of takes away from your moment,’ and he said if it had been the other way, it would have taken away from mine.

“I said, ‘Hey, no hard feelings, buddy. They fixed it.’ I’m not sure what got messed up. I’d have been just as happy for him.”

According to Stampede president and chief executive officer Joel Cowley, the error was quickly determined and then corrected.

“So we unfortunately had a recording error in the short-go,” Cowley said. “Apparently there was some confusion. Zeke was unfortunately named the winner, but we backed up and did it right and gave Kade his proper recognition.”

Thurston, who celebrates his 30th birthday Monday, thought he was the lone Canadian to win a title on what was billed as Red Hot Sunday. Instead, Americans prevailed in all six events at the annual rodeo.

One, of course, was Bruno, who said earlier in the week that he hoped to pull the big money out of Canada after constantly watching Thurston and the Hay family — including respective 2023 and 2022 champions Logan and Dawson — profit from rodeos in his home country.

“It’s pretty crazy, you know,” Bruno said. “We all kind of joke amongst each other that it’s Canadians versus Americans in bronc riding, because there’s so many good Canadians.”

Three good Canucks were in the final four with Bruno after an exciting long go-round.

One, of course, was Thurston, who put up a best-round 91 aboard Erotic Tango.

Fellow Albertans Ben Andersen, of Eckville, and Layton Green, of Millarville, went 91 and 87 respectively on Wild Cherry and Dandy Delight.

And Bruno laid down an 88 on Business Girl.

Then came the final four and the thrilling ride-off, which had the fans on hand jumping.

“It sure is fun to come up here and ride with them at some of these awesome rodeos,” added Bruno. “They’ve got just as good of rodeos up here as we got down there (in the States).

“This one ranks up there in the top two, for sure. It’s been a bucket-list rodeo for me for a long time.”

Thurston did walk away a winner from the rodeo, as he copped the 2024 Guy Weadick Award, annually given to the one chuckwagon or rodeo competitor who best represents what a cowboy stands for and embodies the spirit of the Calgary Stampede. It is based on ability, appearance, showmanship, character, sportsmanship and cooperation with other cowboys, the arena crew, the media and the public.

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

http://www.x.com/ToddSaelhofPM

CALGARY STAMPEDE ($1.8 million)

BAREBACK

RED HOT SUNDAY

Long go-round

1. RC Landingham (Castle, Calif.), Special Delivery, 89.5 points; 2. Orin Larsen (Inglis, Man.), Zastron Acres, 88.5; 2. Rocky Steiner (Weatherford, Texas), Shadow Warrior, 88.5; 4. Leighton Berry (Weatherford, Texas), Bucking Knight, 88.0; 5. Waylon Bourgeois (Church Point, La.), Blasting Sand, 87.0; 6. Cole Franks (Clarendon, Texas), Broken Arrow, 86.0; 7. Dean Thompson (Altamont, Utah), Born Fearless, 85.5; 7. Richmond Champion (Stevensville, Mont.),? Side Show (re-ride), 85.5; 9. Mason Clements (Spanish Fork, Utah), Fresh Chick, 85.0; 10. Garrett Shadbolt (Merriman, Neb.), Arbitrator Joe, 84.0; 11. Jacob Lees (Caldwell, Idaho), Fishy Alibi, 78.5; 12. Taylor Broussard (Estherwood, La.), Winning Rose, BO.

bolded — advances to final four

Final four

1. RC Landingham (Castle, Calif.), Virgil, 94.0 points, $50,000; 2. Rocky Steiner (Weatherford, Texas), Yipee Kibitz, 90.5, $20,000; 3. Leighton Berry (Weatherford, Texas), Disco Party, 89.0, $10,000; 4. Orin Larsen (Inglis, Man.), Agent Lynx, 86.5, $7.500.

bolded — Stampede champion

BARREL RACING

RED HOT SUNDAY

Long go-round

1. Hailey Kinsel (Cotulla, Texas), 16.97 seconds; 2. Leslie Smalygo (Shiatook, Okla.), 16.99; 3. Katelyn Scott (Odessa, Texas), 17.26; 4. Paige Jones (Wayne, Okla.), 17.27; 5. Summer Kosel (Glenham, S.D.), 17.30; 6. Jordon Briggs (Tolar, Texas), 17.40; 7. Tiany Schuster (Krum, Texas), 17.41; 8. Lisa Lockhart (Oelrichs, S.D.), 17.42; 9. Taycie Matthews (Wynne, Ariz.), 22.27; 10. Ashley Castleberry (Montgomery, Texas), 22.33; 11. Taylor Manning (Yellowhead County, Alta.), 22.61; 12. Carlee Otero (Perrin, Texas), 23.58.

bolded — advances to final four

Final four

1. Leslie Smalygo (Shiatook, Okla.), 16.94 seconds, $50,000; 2. Hailey Kinsel (Cotulla, Texas), 16.98 seconds, $20,000; 3. Katelyn Scott (Odessa, Texas), 17.24, $10,000; 4. Paige Jones (Wayne, Okla.), 22.33, $7,500.

bolded — Stampede champion

TIE-DOWN ROPING

RED HOT SUNDAY

Long go-round

1. Haven Meged (Miles City, Mont.), 6.9 seconds; 2. Kincade Henry (Mount Pleasant, Texas), 7.2; 3. John Douch (Huntsville, Texas), 7.8; 3. Macon Murphy (Keatchie, La.), 7.8; 5. Tuf Cooper (Decatur, Texas), 8.2; 6. Bryce Derrer (Portales, N.M.), 8.7; 7. Logan Bird (Nanton, Alta.), 10.2; 8. Joel Harris (San Angelo, Texas), 10.8; 9. Shad Mayfield (Clovis, N.M.), no time; 9. Riley Webb (Denton, Texas), NT; 9. Ty Harris (San Angelo, Texas), NT; 9. Cory Solomon (Prairie View, Texas), NT.

bolded — advances to final four

Final four

1. Haven Meged (Miles City, Mont.), 6.7 seconds, $50,000; 2. Macon Murphy (Keatchie, La.), 7.1, $20,000; 3. John Douch (Huntsville, Texas), 8.4, $10,000; 4. Kincade Henry (Mount Pleasant, Texas), no time, $7,500.

bolded — Stampede champion

SADDLE BRONC

RED HOT SUNDAY

Long go-round

1. Zeke Thurston (Big Valley, Alta.), Erotic Tango, 91.0 points; 2. Kade Bruno (Challis, Idaho), Business Girl, 88.0; 3. Layton Green (Millarville, Alta.), Weekend Departure, 87.0; 4. Ben Andersen (Eckville, Alta.), Zoaria Hills, 86.5; 5. Lefty Holman (Visalia, Calif.), Borderline Untimely, 86.0; 5. Kolby Wanchuk (Sherwood Park, Alta.), Xena Warrior, 86.0; 7. Lucas Macza (High River, Alta.), Steely Dan, 83.5; 8. Riggin Smith (Winterset, Iowa), Flying Carma, 83.0; 9. Brody Wells (Powell, Wyo.), Cloudy Skies (re-ride), 81.5; 10. Dawson Dahm (Duffield, Alta.), Come Along, 80.0; 11. Wyatt Casper (Miami, Texas), Shattered Lunatic, 75.5; 12. Logan Hay (Wildwood, Alta.), Magic Carpet, bucked off.

bolded — advances to final four

Final four

1. Zeke Thurston (Big Valley, Alta.), Exotic Warrior, 92.0 points; 2. Kade Bruno (Challis, Idaho), Tokyo Bubbles, 92.0; 3. Ben Andersen (Eckville, Alta.), Wild Cherry, 91.0, $10,000; 4. Layton Green (Millarville, Alta.), Dandy Delight, 87.0, $7,500.

Ride-off

1. Kade Bruno (Challis, Idaho), Mary Lou, 92.0 points, $50,000; 2. Zeke Thurston (Big Valley, Alta.), Yesterday’s Delivery, 90.5, $20,000.

bolded — Stampede champion

STEER WRESTLING

RED HOT SUNDAY

Long go-round

1. Ty Erickson (Helena, Mont.), 4.5 seconds; 1. Don Payne (Stephenville, Texas), 4.5; 1. Tyler Pearson (Atoka, Okla.), 4.5; 4. Stetson Jorgensen (Blackfoot, Idaho), 4.6; 5. Scott Guenthner (Provost, Alta.), 4.8; 6. Dakota Eldridge (Elko, Nev.), 5.2; 7. Bridger Anderson (Carrington, N.D.), 5.6; 8. Trisyn Kalawaia (Hilo, Hawaii), 6.3; 9. Dalton Massey (Hermiston, Ore.), 6.6; 10. Kyle Irwin (Robertsdale, Fla.), 6.9; 11. Stephen Culling (Fort St. John, BC), no time; 11. Clayton Hass (Weatherford, Texas), NT.

bolded — advances to final four

Final four

1. Ty Erickson (Helena, Mont.), 4.0 seconds, $50,000; 2. Don Payne (Stephenville, Texas), 4.7, $20,000; 3. Tyler Pearson (Atoka, Okla.), 4.9, $10,000; 4. Stetson Jorgensen (Blackfoot, Idaho), 14.2, $7,500.

bolded — Stampede champion

BULL RIDING

RED HOT SUNDAY

Long go-round

1. Chase Dougherty (Decatur, Texas), Sky Fall, 89.0;2. Jeff Askey (Athens, Texas), Uncle Buck, 82.0; 3. Nick Tetz (Calgary, Alta.), Deep Creek (re-ride), slap; 3. Trey Kimzey (Strong City, Okla.), Foo Fighter, bucked off; 3. Callum Miller (Warwick, Austrailia), Whistleblower, BO; 3. Wyatt Gleeson (Sundre, Alta.), Wild Time, BO; 3. Creek Young (Rogersville, Mo.), Wolf Bait, BO; 3. Josh Frost (Randlett, Utah), Sugar Jacked, BO; 3. Jace Trosclair (Chauvin, La.), Dark Mark, BO; 3. Ky Hamilton (Mackay, Australia), Wreckicled, BO; 3. Hayes Weight (Goshen, Utah), Blue Bombshell, BO; 3. Mason Moody (Letcher, S.D.), Tactical Error, BO.

bolded — advances to final

Final

1. Chase Dougherty (Decatur, Texas), Blue Magic, bucked off, $43,750; 1. Jeff Askey (Athens, Texas), Chosen, BO, $43,750.

bolded — Stampede champion

GUY WEADICK AWARD WINNER?

Zeke Thurston (Big Valley, Alta.)