Five-time world champion steer wrestler Luke Branquinho will be returning home to Los Alamos with a first-place belt buckle he won at the 2017 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo over the weekend.
The 36-year-old rodeo star clinched Saturday night’s steer wrestling final with a time of 3.0 seconds, according to the FWSSR website.
In addition to the championship hardware, Branquinho earned more than $15,000 in prize money from his performance.
Another Santa Barbara County cowboy, Cody Snow of Los Olivos, finished fifth in team roping with his partner, Wesley Thorp of Throckmorton, Texas — good enough to win $3,600 apiece at the Fort Worth rodeo.
Branquinho won the steer wrestling event at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver in January, and he finished in ninth place last year on the Elite Rodeo Athletes (ERA) leaderboard of steer wrestlers.
— Noozhawk publisher Bill Macfadyen can be reached at wmacfadyen@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.