Rank beasts make life tough on top bull-riders in The Greatest Outdoor Show On Earth finale
The bulls got the better of the Calgary Stampede rodeo stars on Red Hot Sunday.
But somebody had to win the $50,000 cheque.
So the cowboys and the Stampede opted to crown Jeff Askey and Chase Dougherty — both of whom were bucked off in the two-man championship go-round — co-kings of the 2024 edition.
“It feels good,” said Askey, who lacked the usual requisite excitement in earning half of the big cheque after a strange ending to the annual rodeo’s final day at GMC Stadium.
“It’s not like we’d script it,” continued Askey. “Chase and I would’ve loved to have both stayed on and one of us to win it outright. 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.”
From the git-go Sunday, the riders were one-upped — pretty much across the board — by the beasts.
In fact, the 12-man long go-round featured all but the two Texans being bucked off.
Bull after bull took turns separating cowboys from their respective rides, with the exception of Uncle Buck — ridden to 82 points by Askey, of Athens, Texas — then Sky Fall — conquered by Dougherty, of Decatur, Texas, for an 89.
So instead of a final four, it was a two-man finale, with the champions’ 50 grand plus another $20K from ground money up for grabs.
But back came the bulls for an encore — Chosen knocking off Askey immediately, and Blue Magic making Dougherty disappear into the dirt midway through a would-be winning ride.
“The bull kind of gave me some trouble in the chute,” Askey said. “I probably should’ve took a better shot at him. I took kind of a cheap shot out of the chute at him — let him have the advantage and beat me out of there. And it was downhill from there. He jerked me down and kicked me into the chutes, and it just turned into a train-wreck.”
Dougherty, who has a boy named Calgary in a salute to meeting his wife, Kara, at Stampede five years ago, was a train-wreck just getting up off the ground. He seemed awfully hurt from a few heavy days of making it all the way to the finale.
Actually, the lanky Texan came into Stampede sore — with constant hip issues aggravating him — and needing help after both the long-go and the finale getting out of the arena. It would’ve likely been tough for Dougherty, who didn’t make it to the champions’ parade on stage, to get back on a ride-off bull.
“I would’ve liked to ride the shoot-out bulls with Chase,” added Askey, himself rumoured to be suffering from injury, as well.
“At the end of the day, if you’re making some money, splitting a ($87,500) win is better off than getting bucked off in the long-round. At the end of the day, we did our job a few times earlier in the week to get to this point.
“So you just take that.”
BAREBACK
RC Landingham, of Castle, Calif., followed up his 89.5-point ride on Special Delivery in the long-go 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 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.”
Landingham was a first-time winner of the Stampede, as were all this year’s champions.
BARREL RACING
Aboard her horse, Gus, Leslie Smalygo, of Skiatook, Okla., completed the cloverleaf-pattern course in 16.94 seconds to edge 2018 queen Hailey Kinsel, of Cotulla, Texas, by .046.
“I didn’t even know I’d won,” Smalygo said. “I honestly thought Hailey had ran a (16.93).
“But I was so happy with my run (16.94), and she told me, ‘No, you out-ran me.’ I said, ‘No, I didn’t.’ And she goes, ‘No, you did,’ and she gave me a big hug. To run against Hailey and Sister … they’re so iconic, and they’re such a force to be reckoned with. I’m happy I got this.”
Texan Katelyn Scott and Oklahoma’s Paige Jones were 17.24s and 22.33s respectively to round out the long go times.
“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.”
TIE-DOWN ROPING
Haven Meged stopped the clock at 6.7s to finish first in the tie-down roping finals for the $50,000 payday.
The cowboy from of Miles City, Mont., and his horse, Little Punch, finished just ahead of Macon Murphy, of Keatchie, La., by just 4/10ths of a second.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Meged, whose better half, Shelby Boisjoli, is a barrel racer in the business and grew up in nearby Langdon, Alta.
“I wish my wife was here. She’s busy and headed to another rodeo. But all her family comes, so that means the world to me to have all support.”
Meged won the Ponoka Stampede just days ahead of coming to Calgary for this victory.
“This is my sixth year professionally out here,” Meged said. “The biggest deal is you can’t beat yourself. You’ve got to take every chance for what they are and just try to max everything out.”
John Douch and Kincade Henry, both from Texas, had long-go trips of 8.4s and no time, respectively.
STEER WRESTLING
Fellow Montana cowboy Ty Erickson, of Helena, shook off recent ankle surgery to power through for the steer-wrestling title at the Stampede.
The 2019 world champion sustained the injury during what he called a “freak accident” when a horse clipped him in April at a rodeo in Clovis, Calif.
But despite not being 100%, Erickson didn’t let it deter him from winning the $50,000 champion’s cheque here.
“This one’s right up there with the world title for me just because of the stuff I had to go through to get here,” Erickson said. “The whole time coming back, I did have my doubts whether I’d be ready or not, because I did have good days and I’d have bad days.
“But we just kept pushing on.”
Erickson bulldogged his way to a time of 4.0s in the long-go. Tyler Pearson, of Atoka, Okla., and Don Payne, of Stephenville, Texas, tied for second with identical 4.7s runs, and 2021 Stampede king Stetson Jorgensen broke the barrier for a disappointing 14.2s trip.
— with files from Canadian Press