Steer wrestler Branquinho won’t let up
It’s not considered wise strategy for a poker player to count his money in the middle of a game.
Steer wrestler Luke Branquinho takes the same approach during a rodeo.
The 30-year-old Californian won Wednesday’s seventh go-round of the $5.87 million National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center to take the lead in the world championship standings with three rounds remaining.
But Branquinho said whether his money total is first or last, he plans to attack each round of competition the same.
"I don’t look at numbers, other than the number on the steer I got drawn," said Branquinho, who won world titles in 2004 and 2008. "I don’t look (at the standings) until the curtains drop on the last night."
Branquinho has won $53,524 at the NFR to push his season total to $143,666. His lead is about $13,000 over Trevor Knowles and less than $21,000 over Curtis Cassidy, reigning world champion Dean Gorsuch and Todd Suhn.
Not only can competitors win $17,512 in each round, but the top finishers earn bonuses in each event of the NFR, with the top prize being $44,910.
Not many — if any — contestants will admit to studying the standings during the rodeo, but Branquinho is adamant that he never has and never will.
"Ever since I got here (in 2001), a good friend of mine told me whatever happens is good if at the end you get the gold buckle," Branquinho said. "Those are the only numbers that matter."
It’s the same approach he took Wednesday as the last of 15 men out. Branquinho and a Thomas & Mack crowd of 17,132 watched three of the four bulldoggers ahead of him take the provisional lead with runs of 3.4 seconds.
Branquinho stuck with his strategy and was rewarded with a time of 3.3 seconds — the best at the NFR this year — on a steer that helped others win the first and fourth go-rounds.
"It’s exciting when you’re the last one out and 3.4 is winning," he said. "I wasn’t trying to beat 3.4, just trying to get a good start and make a good run.
"These steers are the best ones. That’s why we picked them to run four times."
The best steers aren’t too fast and run straight so they’re easier to catch.
The star steers’ next appearances will be Sunday afternoon in the final go-round.
That’s when Branquinho will finally look at the standings sheets to learn how well he has done and if he leaves Las Vegas with a third gold buckle.
Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.
2010 National Finals Rodeo — Day 7
