Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

By Scott Roblin

Down Under

Australian Finlay impressing on Canadian circuit, Radford wins Stampede title in bull riding

Jul 27, 2019 | 9:46 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – He may be competing on the complete opposite side of the world, but Jake Finlay always takes a piece of home with him.

That’s been the case all summer for the 24-year-old, who has been one of the top talents in saddle bronc on the Rodeo Canada Finning Pro Tour circuit.

On Saturday, he rode ‘Prairie Sun’ to a score of 81 points to wrap up his Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede Rodeo with another top-10 finish on the season.

“My ride was alright,” said Finlay. “That was a young horse of the Kesslers, hasn’t had a hell of a lot of rodeos under his belt. I was really excited to get on him and it went pretty good.”

It was Finlay’s third time in the money this season, as he is tied for fourth in the Finning Pro Tour overall standings with 415 points.

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Finlay boasts something that no others on the saddle bronc circuit can however, an Australian passport.

Raised in the small town of Goondiwindi in Australia’s state of Queensland, Finlay left the beaches behind for Goodwell, Oklahoma.

“I started riding broncs back home, I made it on the Australian team to the National High School Finals in Rock Springs, Wyoming,” said Finlay. “I was fortunate enough to be recruited to Oklahoma Panhandle State University… I kind of cut my teeth down there for three or four years.”

During his tenure at Oklahoma Panhandle, Finlay captured a men’s team national title before winning an individual National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association championship in saddle bronc.

Finlay decided to stay in North America after graduating, trying his luck on the Canadian and American pro circuits.

He said the Australian rodeo scene continues to get better, but thought his best luck would come overseas.

“It’s growing right now but the level of horses and level of money is just a little bit lower,” he said. “We can make more money and make a better living doing it over here.”

That decision seems to be paying off for the Aussie, who added is glad to be carrying the torch of a small, but talented crop of Australian rodeo greats.

“There’s not a hell of a lot of people that rodeo back home, but the ones that come over seem to do pretty well,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of big shoes to fill for example Glen O’Neill, he’s a Canadian resident now and was one of the world’s all-time greats.”

Big-time Brock

Photo courtesy of Scott Roblin

Although his 2019 season hasn’t yielded the most fruitful results, Brock Radford grabbed his final ride at the 2019 Medicine Hat Exhibition Stampede Rodeo by the horns.

Radford made the most of his pairing with ‘Flick the Switch’ in his ride, posting a score of 86 to dethrone Thor Hoefer to capture the 2019 bull riding championship.

“Half of your score is drawing a good one and I had a good bull,” said Radford. “If I did my part on him today, I knew it would give me a good chance. That’s all you really show up to do, show up, be a cowboy, put out the effort, and let the judges take care of the rest.”

It’s the first win of the season on the Finning Pro Tour for the DeWinton product, while he has picked up a pair of top-five finishes on the PBR Canada circuit in Czar, Alberta and Manor, Saskatchewan.

Knowing the mark Hoefer had set just minutes before, Radford said it was gratifying being able to come through in the clutch with one of his best rides of the season.

“Feels really good,” said Radford. “Any time you can get a win is always good. But, when it’s a tour rodeo and at Medicine Hat Stampede, it helps big time.”

Cort Scheer was tops in saddle bronc on Saturday, posting a score of 87.5 points on ‘Flaming Shadow’ to walk away as a Medicine Hat champion.

There was no catching Shane Hanchey in tie-down roping, taking down his calf with a time of 7.6 seconds to beat out Marty Yates by two-tenths of a second to win the big money.

Dantan Bertsch’s score of 85.5 points was the tops on day three in bareback, however he still finished a point behind overall champion Orin Larsen and his 86.5 ride on Thursday night.

It was a score of 79.5 points for Maple Creek’s Wyatt Maines meanwhile, wrapping up his weekend in the money with a 10^th place finish.

Not much luck for Saturday’s steer wrestlers as the field struggled to post times that threatened eventual champion Tanner Brunner’s mark of 4.7 seconds, with the closest being Cody Cassidy at 5.1 seconds.

The family connections of Logan and Keeley Bonnett and Brady and Riley Minor remained kings of Medicine Hat team roping, with their times of 4.9 seconds from Friday standing as the weekend’s best.

Cypress County header Braidy Davies and his partner Brady Chappel finished out of the money with a time of 20.2 seconds, while Trent Tunke out of Medicine Hat and Jesse Popescul failed to register a time.

Not much movement in ladies barrel racing either, with no one from Saturday’s field cracking the top six overall list.

Texas’ Jennifer Sharp hung on to capture the Medicine Hat championship with a time of 17.537 seconds.