They say three’s a charm, but four is just plain champion material.
Big Valley Cowboy Zeke Thurston captured his fourth Saddle Bronc Riding World Championship at the PRCA in Las Vegas Saturday night, December 16.
Thurston split sixth place in Round 10 with an 86.5-point ride on Calgary Stampede’s Dandy Delight to seal the world championship.
At this year’s competition, he won rounds 1, 5, 8, and 9, and placed in eight of the 10 rounds. This win helped him top his previous single-season earnings mark of $399,916 by finishing 2023 with $456,356.
“I really wanted to go out there tonight and put an exclamation point on the week. That horse was a little bit all over the place and it sure wasn’t a perfect ride, but we weathered it and here we are,” Thurston said.
Thurston now has world championships in 2016, 2019, 2022, and 2023. This puts him in a rare circle of Cowboys with four championships. Only Dan Mortensen, Casey Tibbs and Billy Etbauer have more with six, six and five respectively.
“Yeah, that’s a big deal for me,” Thurston said about joining saddle bronc royalty with at least four world championships. “It’s what I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a little boy. It’s just proof that if you work hard enough and chase your dreams, it’s possible.”
“It’s huge,” Thurston said about representing Canada and capturing another PRCA World Championship. “You get to come and represent the country of Canada and some of the very best bronc riders have come from there. It’s special to keep that legacy rolling.”
