Texans dominate Calgary Stampede rodeo finals taking four of seven events

Noah Lee, of Mineral Wells, Texas, rides Whiskey At Noon to win the bull riding event during rodeo finals action at the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alta., Sunday, July 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Rodeo lineage was prominent in the Calgary Stampede final Sunday as a son and a nephew of previous winners stood in the winner’s circle and collected lucrative cheques.

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Noah Lee of Mineral Wells, Texas, captured the bull riding title 18 years after his father Mike won it. Riley Duvall of Checotah, Okla., claimed the steer wrestling crown 59 years after his uncle Roy in 1967.

“It means a ton,” said Duvall, whose winning time was 3.9 seconds. “The Calgary Stampede’s prestigious as they come, so to get your name out there with your uncle is, I don’t know, I’m so excited.”

The 10-day invitational rodeo that dates back to 1912 offered $2.17 million in prize money.

The $300,000 available in each of the seven events — bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, steer wrestling, tie down roping, barrel racing and breakaway roping — is among the top purses in the sport.

Sunday’s showdown winners each earned $50,000 on top of prize money they earned earlier in the rodeo while competing in their pools.

Canadians were shut out of the big money Sunday unlike 2025, when three of the seven winners were from the host province. Texans dominated Sunday by taking four events.

Logan Hay of Wildwood, Alta., qualified for the saddle bronc’s final four Sunday, but Frontier Acres was a reluctant bucker.

The 2022 Stampede champ scored 82.50 points to place fourth, while Caspar Wyatt of Miami, Texas, won with a 90.5 on Mary Lou.

“I’ve been coming to this rodeo for a while now and to finally get the win is just awesome,” Wyatt said. “Never have punched through to the four-man (final) and finally got it this year.”

Garrett Green of Meeting Creek, Alta., reached bull riding’s final four, but was thrown by Koulees Pet.

All four finalists hit the dirt, but Lee was given a re-ride by the judges after Grand Funk didn’t buck much, but tried to scrape Lee off by rubbing the rider against the chutes.

The 18-year-old Lee won with a re-ride low score of 77 on Whiskey at Noon.

“I’ve watched this rodeo since I was a baby,” Lee said. “My dad’s rode here. He’s won this deal. My whole family rodeos. We all talk about Calgary. This is a very big one for me. Not the way I wanted to get it done, but I still got it done.”

Money won in Calgary boosts a competitor’s world ranking. The top 15 in the world in each event qualify for December’s National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Calgary winners can rocket up the standings in a single day.

Tie down roping winner Zach Youngbloed of Iowa, La., ranked 21st in the world upon his arrival in Alberta. He laid down a top time of 7.2 seconds in the final.

“It really helps give me some momentum for the next few weeks,” Youngbloed said.

Barrel racing arena records fell three times during the Stampede. Hailey Kinsel of Cotulla, Texas, left Calgary with the fastest time of 16.75 seconds set during Sunday’s semifinal round, and a second crown after she also won in 2018.

The 31-year-old was slightly slower in the four-rider final aboard Sister, but still the quickest, at 16.802 seconds. The cracking pace in barrel racing was because of the quality of the infield dirt, said Kinsel.

“The ground, the ground, the ground, the ground,” she chanted. “The Calgary Stampede hired one of the best ground guys this year. New guy, he’s incredible. Jason Harder is his name.

“He knows his implement, he knows the dirt. He studied it the day after the arena records broke twice. He asked us what feedback we had and we said ‘you keep doing you sir.’”

Cheyanne McCartney of Kingston, Okla., won women’s breakaway roping with a time of 2.7 seconds. The Stampede introduced the event last year when Alberta’s Shelby Boisjoli-Meged was victorious.

“It’s just incredible how much breakaway has grown and just a place like this having breakaway, they just don’t realize what it does for our sport,” McCartney said.

“I rope for a living so to be able to come here … and rope for this kind of money, it’s hard to put into words.”

Bradlee Miller of Huntsville, Texas, scored 92.50 on Steve Knicks to take the bareback crown.

“This is crazy. I’ve never won more than $2,000 at the Calgary Stampede,” declared the 23-year-old. “This is my fourth year here and to get out of here with like $67,000, I can’t believe this just happened.

“These Canadian bucking horses are different, just a different breed of animal. They’re still a horse, but they buck different, they feel different, they’re ginormous for one. I don’t know what the heck you are feeding them up here, but they’re huge.”

Jamie Laboucane of St. Walburg, Sask., won chuckwagon’s Rangeland Derby in Sunday’s final race against Jason Glass of High River, Alta., and defending champion Chanse Vigen of Calgary.

Indigenous relay racing was competed nightly throughout the Stampede. The Crazy Cree team from Alberta’s Heart Lake First Nation was the victor in Sunday night’s final race.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2026.

Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press