Zeke Thurston thought he had won his fourth saddle-bronc title at the Calgary Stampede rodeo on Sunday.
Jubilation then turned to dejection for the 29-year-old cowboy from Big Valley, Alta., as he was informed 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 his $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 detected 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 will celebrate his 30th birthday on 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.
Bull riders had a tough afternoon on Sunday as only two competitors — both Texans — out of 12 had clean rides in the preliminary round. After both Chase Dougherty, of Decatur, and Jeff Askey, of Athens, were bucked off in the finals, they were declared co-champions and each awarded $43,750 in prize money.
“Chase and I would’ve loved to have both stayed on and one of us to win it outright,” Askey said. “But rodeo, you never can script it. You can put the best guys and the best bulls together and sometimes they knock it out of the park and sometimes it just doesn’t work. It’s just what happens.”
RC Landingham, of Castle, Calif., followed up his 89.5-point ride on Special Delivery with a 94 atop Virgil in the showdown round to win the bareback title.
“This is awesome,” said Landingham, who was pleased as punch to receive $50,000 in addition to a souvenir bronze statue. “I’m really proud of the young guys that come in here and get this win early in their careers, but it’s taken me 15 years and I’m just so happy to be able to take that bronze home.”
Aboard her horse Gus, Leslie Smalygo, of Skiatook, Okla., completed the cloverleaf-patterned course in 16.94 seconds to edge out 2018 champion Hailey Kinsel, of Cotulla, Texas, by .046 for her first Stampede victory.
“This is such a legendary, prestigious rodeo,” Smalygo said. “I’ve always wished I could win something like this. I never thought it was in the cards, because I really have not come from the barrel-racing background … so this is beyond my wildest dreams.”
Haven Meged, of Miles City, Mont., then stopped the clock at 6.7s to finish first in the tie-down roping finals ahead of Macon Murphy, of Keatchie, La., by just 4/10ths of a second.
Fellow Montana cowboy Ty Erickson, of nearby Helena, won the steer-wrestling competition by posting a time of 4.0s in the showdown round. Tyler Pearson, of Atoka, Okla., and Don Payne, of Stephenville, Texas, tied for second with identical 4.7s runs.
Later in the evening, chuckwagon driver Jason Glass won the Cowboys Rangeland Derby title by beating defending champion Layne MacGillivray across the finish line in a time of 1:11.55.
For his efforts, Glass, of High River, Alta., won $50,000 and a new GMC truck, while MacGillivray, of Halkirk, Alta., took home $20,000 for his second-place showing.
Chanse Vigen, of Grande Prairie, Alta., had to settle for third and a cheque for $10,000.