Branquinho Tops Lightning-Fast Round
By Ed Knocke
You had to be fast or you were left out in the cold in the steer wrestling competition at Tuesday’s sixth performance of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. If you were four seconds or more in this fast-paced round, you did not cash a check.
The top honor went to two-time world champion Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, California, who smoked the field with a sizzling 3.2-second run, two-tenths of a second off the arena record. Matt Reeves rounded out the money winners with a 3.9-second performance.
Branquinho, riding Curtis Cassidy’s horse Willy, stormed out of the box to earn the $17,139 first-place check and move into second place of the world standings, $13,987 behind leader Lee Graves.
Graves holds an edge on Branquinho at this stage since he leads the average with 22.5 seconds on six steers. Branquinho stands in third place. The winner of the average earns $43,954 at the end of the 10-round event.
It was quite a challenge for Branquinho after Graves had recorded a sizzling 3.3-second round just before he backed into the box. How did that affect his approach?
“Oh, I just told myself to get a good start and throw the steer down fast, and if it worked out where I beat him, great,” he said. “You don’t go up just trying to beat Lee. You have to beat the steer you have drawn, and I felt like I did that tonight.”
Branquinho said the fast pace set in the round gave him an extra boost. “Everybody was running at the barrier, trying to get good starts and throw them down fast,” he said. “I think that just motivates a guy, knowing he had to do that to come out on top.”
The California cowboy has been riding the 24-year-old Canadian horse that helped him earn the world title last year. Willy has a history of carrying cowboys to world championships starting with Rope Myers in 2001, Lee Graves in 2005 and Jason Miller in 2007.
What did Branquinho know about the steer, and how did he prepare for the run?
“I just knew he was a good steer,” he said. “Dean Gorsuch had run him, I think in the third round, and was 3.9 seconds and missed the barrier a bit, so I knew I could take a good start and have him caught up right there, and he was good on the ground.”
Check back for more updates from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke.