Every professional athlete would like to retire at the top of his or her game. Scott Guenthner has taken that desire to a whole new level.
“I knew it was definitely going to be my last season so I wanted to have fun and enjoy it,” offers the 35-year-old, Provost, AB, steer wrestler. “I just wanted to do as good as I could.”
It turned out to be his best regular season on the Pro Rodeo Canada trail. In fact, it was the best regular season for any steer wrestler in the history of the CPRA.
“It didn’t start out that splendid,” contends Guenthner, who set a new steer wrestling single regular season earnings record of $66,784.80, beating the previous record, which he also held, by nearly $20,000. “From about the middle of June, things turned around and winning (the) Ponoka (Stampede) was a big help.”
“For me, it was a dream year. Knowing it was my last year, it meant a lot to go out with a bang by setting the record. I don’t think I really did anything different. I was just picking away for most of the year. There were some weekends where I didn’t actually win a rodeo, but I won four or five thousand dollars and no one knew I was even there.”
It’s his sixth season leader award, the most of any bulldogger in at least the last twenty years. The first came back in 2015, while it’s the second time he’s won the award in back-to-back years.
“I mean I think that’s a big accomplishment,” agrees Guenthner, who has gone on to win the Canadian championship in four of the previous five years in which he led the field into the Canadian Finals Rodeo. “Especially in the bulldogging where it’s always so tight right down to the end it seems.”
It’s true – the steer wrestling event is known for the perennial closeness among the twelve CFR qualifiers. Except in 2026. Guenthner will carry an unprecedented lead of over $30,000 into Rogers Place in Edmonton, double the previous largest gap between the number one and number two steer wrestling qualifiers, which Guenther also carried into the 2018 Canadian Finals.
Given that, and the fact he’ll carry a five-round winning streak into this year’s Canadian Finals, would there be anyone betting against Guenthner to win a record-tying sixth Canadian steer wrestling title in October.
“I’d love to tie that record,” says Guenthner, who would join Cody Cassidy and Bud Butterfield as the only cowboys with six Canadian steer wrestling titles. “I’m planning to go
have fun and enjoy it and let the chips fall where they fall. Hopefully at the end of it, I’ll go out on top but, if not, it is what it is.”
Among the other eleven qualifiers hoping to try to stop Guenther from repeating as champion is Quentin Branden. The Innisfail cowboy used the final weekend of the regular season to jump from 15th to 6th in the final standings.
“Couldn’t have drawn it up any better,” suggests Branden, who won $9,100 from the Massey Ferguson Pro Rodeo Tour Finale in Armstrong, BC to qualify for his second CFR. “But I also couldn’t have made it any harder on myself waiting until the very last weekend. It was stressful but turned out good.”
Also in the field are the Cassidy brothers, Curtis and Cody. It will be the 24th steer wrestling qualification for the elder brother, Curtis, and the 20th appearance for Cody, who has a chance to win a record-setting seventh Canadian championship.