Big Valley Saddlebronc rider Zeke Thurston literally had the spoils of victory in his hand, before there was a slight recalculation.
Thurston led the way through Pool A at the Calgary Stampede Rodeo, looking for his fourth title, having claimed a three-peat in 2015 through 2017. On his heels was Kade Bruno of Idaho qualified second from Pool C.
On Sunday, July 14 Thurston scored a 91 on Erotic Tango, and Bruno scored an 88 on Business Girl. with three points dividing the two.
In the showdown round, each scored a 92. In the final ride, Thurston scored a 90.5 on Yesterday’s Delivery and Bruno scored a 92 on Mary Lou. It appeared Bruno had won, the crowd was informed that Bruno would be docked two points and Thurston was declared the winner.
Thurston accepted the $50,000 prize for his ride, but that wasn’t the end of it. Bruno was then informed he had, in fact, won.
According to Stampede president and chief executive officer Joel Cowley, the error was quickly detected and then corrected, stated a Canada Press report.
"So, we unfortunately had a recording error in the short-go," Cowley said. "Apparently there was some confusion. Zeke was unfortunately named the winner, but we backed up and did it right and gave Kade his proper recognition."
Had Thurston won, not only would he have won his fourth, but he also would have been the only Canadian to win at this year’s Stampede.

Twice is a charm for Hanna native Jim Nill as he won a second consecutive NHL General Manager of the Year award.
The NHL announced that Dallas Stars general manager Jim Nill has won the 2023-24 Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award.
Nill has been at the helm of the Dallas Stars for 11 seasons. He is only the second General Manager to win the award twice. The other is New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello.
The General Manager of the Year is voted on by a 42-member panel, that includes all 32 general managers in the league. Nill secured 17 of these votes.
Under Nill’s leadership this year, the Dallas Stars made it to the Conference Finals, only to fall to the Stanley Cup finalists Edmonton Oilers. His fingerprints were all over this team, including signing Matt Duchene, who had 65 points in 80 games. He has also maintained a strong core of young players.
Nill started his hockey journey in Hanna and was playing Junior B right out of Bantam.
He was a member of the 1974-1975 Drumheller Falcons and averaged over a point a game. He played alongside players like future NHLer Merlin (the Magician) Malinowski, Ron Rose and Ryan Wecker.
After suiting up for the Medicine Hat Tigers and a year at the University of Calgary, Nill joined the Canadian National team and played in the 1980 Olympics.
Nill made his NHL debut in 1982 and through the decade, spent time in St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston, Winnipeg, and finally Detroit.
On the management side, he was a scout for the Ottawa Senators and then joined the front office in Detroit for 19 years before going to Dallas.
In April of this year, Nill was named to the management groups for the NHL Four Nations Face-Off. He, along with Don Sweeney of the Bruins have been named assistant general managers of Canada’s Men’s Olympic Teams for the 2026 Winter Olympic games in Italy.