Solid Night For Canadians in WNFR Round Six
As has been the case on several occasions at the 2025 edition of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, there was a major Maple Leaf flavour in the saddle bronc riding. For the second time, Wayne Vold’s outstanding gelding, Renegade carried his rider to the winner’s circle. This time, the man aboard was Statler Wright, youngest of the three Wright brothers in the bronc riding. And the score was a whopping 90, equalling the exact mark that in round one resulted in a first place $39,688 payday for Stetson Wright.
But there was more Canadian cooking in the premier event of rodeo. Ben Andersen enjoyed his best moment of this NFR as he rode Cervi’s Vitalix Womanizer, a world champion horse to a 3-4 split in the round with an 88.25 point ride and an $18,630 payday. The Eckville, AB cowboy now sits fifth in the aggregate as well. And the man he shared that 3-4 spot with was the third of the Wright brothers, Ryder who is clinging to the overall lead with four rounds remaining. Ryder was aboard the Big Stone Rodeo bronc Gone Fishing.
And in sixth spot and cashing for $5914 was four-time World Champion and six-time Canadian title-holder, Zeke Thurston. But here’s the thing–the Big Valley, Alberta superstar has been quietly going about the business of moving very much into contention for a fifth gold buckle. Thurston sits 3rd in the world with $306,904 in season earnings. That’s $85,000 behind Ryder Wright but both Wright and the other man ahead of the Canadian on the world leaderboard, Damian Brennan, recorded a no score in an earlier round. So the aggregate (average) will be huge in determining the finals outcome. And Zeke Thurston is number one in the aggregate (first place pays $94,035) with both Brennan and Wright on the outside of the average at this point of the Finals.
Speaking of being in contention for a world championship, Barrhead, Alberta team roper, Kolton Schmidt and his Florida heeler, Jonathan Torres were at it again, putting up a 3.6 second run for third in the round. After an opening round miss, the tandem has been unstoppable, recording two firsts, a second, a third and a sixth. They sit second in the aggregate and third in the chase for world supremacy. Nobody is hotter than the Schmidt/Torres combo.
Noteworthy too, was the run of Dawson and Dillon Graham. The Wainwright, AB brothers posted a time of 8.3, one spot out of the money. But that time came with a five second penalty for catching only one heel. Had they been able to nab both back feet, the resulting 3.3 seconds would have equalled the NFR arena record.
And in the tie-down roping, Joel Harris put together a blazing 6.8 second run for the win. And as has been the case for the last two years, Harris was riding the incomparable Peso, owned by Logan Bird who noted after the roping wrapped up that round 6 marked the sixth NFR go-round win recorded on the amazing buckskin from north of the 49th parallel.
For complete WNFR results, visit www.prorodeo.com
For more information:
Barb Poulsen
CPRA Communications and Media
Phone: 403 625-9225
Email: media@rodeocanada.com