10-07-2025
Day 6 at the Calgary Stampede Rodeo: Saddle-bronc finale setting up to be a 'salty' one
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Saddle up and hold on tight, Calgary.
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The bronc bustin' is shaping up to be a who's-who for the $50,000 champion's cheque at 'The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth'.
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A few champions from past Calgary Stampedes have already punched their tickets to the big saddle-bronc dance on Showdown Sunday.
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And the promise of a few more earning spots to the finale is still in the chutes.
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'It should be good bronc ridin' Sunday,' promised Alberta cowboy Zeke Thurston, with three more days on tap — and three more showdown berths on the line — in the high-profile rough-stock event.
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'The cream always rises to the top in our event,' continued Thurston, of Big Valley, Alta. 'It don't matter if you're here or at the National Finals Rodeo. Like Championship Sunday here is going to look like a round at the NFR. It's going to be the best-of-the-best guys. That's kind of how these deals work.
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'It'll be salty bronc ridin'.'
Thurston himself is a three-time Stampede king, having won a trio of consecutive titles from 2015-17.
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He's through to this year's final day after coming out of Pool B action Wednesday with the top money from 10 cowboys through three rounds. His 86 points aboard Turf Wars on Day 3 of the pool gave him $4,500 from the round for a $14,416 total.
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He got that by scoring high all three days, including a 90.5 on Monday's first day of the pool and an 88.5 during Tuesday's second round.
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'I've actually had a really good year,' said Thurston, who is joined in advancing from Pool B to Showdown Sunday by New Mexico's Zachary Dallas ($12,000) and Australia's Damian Brennan ($9,000). Dallas, with an 87.5 aboard Bright Lights, and Wyoming's Brody Wells, with a round-best 88 on Painted Heart, were the only busters better than Thurston on Wednesday.
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'Kind of a slow winter, but here in the last just about two weeks — since about the 26th of June — I've won just about $55,000,' continued Thurston. 'I think in the last 10 days or two weeks, I've just about doubled my yearly earnings there, so it's been pretty good. I think I'm the second-highest money winner over Cowboy Christmas for rough stock.'
