Callum Miller makes most of late call to Calgary Stampede
The Airdrie address fits.
It’s the accent that throws you.
But Callum Miller is good about being billed as both a Canadian and Australian these days.
Especially with the crowd at the Calgary Stampede doling out love like he’s a local.
“A lot of the guys in the dressing rooms and everybody within the sports medicine and the committees, they keep telling me they’re claiming me as a Canadian, because I’ve been up here for long enough,” said the born-and-bred Aussie cowboy from Warwick, Queensland. “I’ll take that — Canadians have always been good to me.
“I’ll claim I’m a Canadian and an Australian all in one.”
Whatever helps the bull-rider to get the Stampede $50,000 champion’s cheque, really.
With the fan support driving him, it’s definitely a boost to be considered a kid from nearby Airdrie.
“My brother lives in Airdrie,” said Miller of his sibling Lachlan, a saddle-bronc star. “I’m down in Texas most of the year.
“I did four years of college at Oklahoma Panhandle State and then I’ve just been rodeoing ever since.”
But this is Miller’s first time to the Stampede.
And he wasn’t supposed to be here this year until he got a late invite as a stand-in.
“I got the call-up last Sunday to replace somebody who couldn’t make it up here — I wasn’t going to say no,” said Miller, who was here ahead of the Stampede for Cody Snyder’s Charity Bullbustin’. “You come to the Calgary Stampede and you’re down for trying to win every round and then you’re down to try to win the big cheque at the end.”
While he didn’t win every round in Pool C competition the last three days, Miller did post a first-place ride Saturday. An 86 aboard Hard Not To Get was one of only three full rides, giving him $9,083 to help move him on to Showdown Sunday.
The only others to ride the bulls the entire eight seconds on Day 9 were Texan Jeff Askey and fellow Aussie Ky Hamilton. With respective 85.5 and 71 scores, both Askey ($20,866) and Hamilton ($10,033) advanced with Miller ($13,783) and Texan Chase Dougherty ($11,283) to the championship day.
But whether Hamilton is ready to compete for the $50,000 payday is unknown after he was injured in the aftermath of his ride Saturday. The bull he was riding, Billy Big Riggers, turned on him after the dismount, picked him up by the horns and launched him at least a half-dozen feet into one of the starting gates.
It certainly hurt Hamilton, who left the ring under his own power but received medical attention afterwards.
There was no update on his condition in the hours after the ugly incident.
IRWIN STEERS WAY TO SUNDAY
Kyle Irwin was the epitome of clutch Saturday in steer wrestling.
The Florida bull-dogger needed a win — and got it with a lightning-quick 4.2-second wrap-job — to qualify for Showdown Sunday.
“I did need it,” Irwin said. “I didn’t really like the draw. That steer was a little stronger — tougher to get by. But I went in with a game plan — you’ve got to put your faith in the Lord and know that what’s supposed to happen will happen.
“And we did it.”
The $7,000 Irwin won for the first-place effort gave him a total $9,000 — a scant $250 more than Alberta’s Ty Miller, who finished fifth in the Pool C group.
Only the cowboys with the top-four cash totals after the three go-rounds of each pool move on to the championship day.
And Stampede veteran Irwin’s been there, done that, too.
“I’ve been here about five times,” said Irwin, who was crowned Stampede steer wrestling champion in 2019 and finished second in 2015. “On Sunday, it’s just don’t beat yourself. Just make your run against your steer — don’t try to beat the guy that went before you or beat the guy that’s going after you. If you make your run on your steer and you’re fast enough, you advance (from the short-round into the final four).
“In the four-man, depending on how you come back, if you’re the last guy to go, you might want to try to beat the arena record.”
Irwin joins North Dakota’s Bridger Anderson ($12,750), Oklahoma’s Tyler Pearson ($11,500) and Hawaii’s Trisyn Kalawaia ($10,750) as qualifiers from Pool C for Sunday’s big finale.
“I like my chances,” added Irwin. “My confidence is high after (Saturday). I like them.”
AROUND THE CHUTES
Alberta’s first family of saddle bronc has two cowboys taking in Showdown Sunday. While 2023 Stampede champ Dawson Hay finished out of the money despite a fourth-place 87.5 ride on Fake Border on Saturday, big brother Logan Hay and cousin Ben Andersen are moving through to the championship day. Eckville’s Andersen was the best bronc-buster on Day 9 with an 89.5 on Enuff Cherry. The final four from the high-profile event are Idaho’s Kade Bruno ($14,375), Andersen ($13,250), Texan Wyatt Casper ($12,000) and Wildwood’s Logan Hay ($10,250) … Orin Larsen was the only Canadian to advance from Pool C bareback action into Showdown Sunday. The Manitoba cowboy rode Stinky Steve to an 82 on Saturday to finish fifth and pocket $2,000. That gives him $10,500 to join Idaho’s Jacob Lees ($12,500), Utah’s Dean Thompson ($10,250) and Garrett Shadbolt ($8,750), who needed a re-ride aboard Yukon Rambler to advance to the championship day. Shadbolt’s show was a second-place 85.5 for $5,500, beaten only by Lees’ 87.5 on American Thumper for $7,000 … Oklahoma’s Leslie Smalygo and Texan Hailey Kinsel and dominated Pool C barrel racing, putting their stamp on the group with Day 9 go-round finishes of 17.14 and 17.06 seconds to top the charts Saturday. All totalled, they respectively cashed $18,000 and $17,250 to grab the top two spots in the pool, moving them onward to Showdown Sunday with South Dakota’s Summer Kosel ($12,750) and Texan Jordan Briggs ($9,500) … It was oh-so tight in tie-down roping to determine the top four moving on to Showdown Sunday. So Texan Joel Harris and Louisiana’s Macon Murphy took control of their own destinies by finishing with matching 7.5-second efforts, which tied legendary Marty Yates as the fastest Saturday times. The performances earned each quick cowboy $5,666 — enough to move them on to championship day. In the end, it was Texan Cory Solomon ($11,250) topping the pool, with Texan brothers Joel ($10,166) and Ty Harris ($7,750) next and Murphy ($7,666) in the final hole … Davis Young is the 2024 Calgary Stampede junior steer riding champion. The cowpoke from Leader, Sask., came in as the third-ranked junior steer rider in Canada, rode to a pair of go-round wins. Manitoba’s Jett Lockie, with a winning 74.5 score Saturday, tried to catch Young on the final day of the event, but Young’s 67.0 on Day 9 — after previous efforts of 74.5 and 80 on Days 7 and 8, respectively — secured the title.
