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Luke Branquinho, Cowboy Blogger
Cade, son of two-time and reigning World Champion Steer Wrestler Luke Branquinho and barrel racing wife, Lindsay, celebrated his first birthday in June. The birthday party theme came from the classic children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. Cade dressed as lead character Max with a crown and tail. |
Wow! Where does the time go? As you guessed it I have spent most of my time going down the road and doing a little steer wrestling in hopes of defending my world title in December.
I didn’t have the Fourth of July I was hoping for only winning about $4,000. It seemed like I couldn’t catch a break. I either broke a barrier or had trouble getting a time that would place in the money. Oh well, that is rodeo for you. Right after the Fourth we headed up to Calgary and had a good time up there. I ended up winning about $16,000 and advanced to the final 10-man field. However, it wasn’t meant to be and I finished out of the top 4 to run for $100,000. It was still a good week as it is always nice to run for that much money and not have to spend a lot to do it. It is definitely a win-win. It was cold and rainy the first couple of days we were up there but then it warmed up and was nice.
I got back from Calgary in time to compete at the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho. I didn’t do any good there but then headed back to my home state for the California Rodeo Salinas. This has always been one of those rodeos on my list of ones I wanted to win but had yet to finish atop the leaderboard until this year. I didn’t start out well in the first round but got things turned around in the next two rounds on Billy Bugenig’s horse Smarty. I finished with a total time of 21.5 seconds on three head, just one-tenth of a second faster than Brad McGilchrist with a 21.6. 
It was great to finally add that title to my resume and it was a huge win for me in so many ways. Not only did the money count toward the world standings but it also counted toward the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour standings as well as my circuit. My family was able to come to Salinas so it was nice to have them there to celebrate. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of many more Salinas titles.
We are now headed to Cheyenne for our two there. We will run our first one on the 22nd and return on the 23rd for our second. Hopefully, all will go well and we will be back on Sunday the 26th for the Finals. I will try to keep my schedule page updated with my results so you can see how things are going.
For those of you who might have missed my June blog on my site: www.lukebranquinho.net, we celebrated my son’s first birthday on June 7. It turned into a HUGE party with about 75 people. The theme for his party came from the book “Where the Wild Things Are.” Cade had a crown and a tail just like Max did in the book and surprisingly enough he wore it the entire time. The cake was definitely his favorite part as you can tell from his messy hands in the photos. Cade got a huge pile of gifts but of course one of his favorites was a birthday card that sang when you opened it. It was definitely a busy weekend (June 5-7) with Cade’s birthday and the Santa Maria Rodeo. It was a true family affair with several of my family members competing, including my wife, Lindsay, who competed in the WPRA barrel racing.
I hope everyone has been enjoying the summer but as always it goes by way to fast. Before long we will be in Las Vegas.
That is about all the news for now, so until next time,
Luke
Two-time World Champion Steer Wrestler
About Luke Branquinho
The 6-foot, 235-pounder is married to Lindsay and the couple has a son Mark Cade born June 7, 2008. His hobbies include training horses, fishing and hunting, playing golf. Diagnosed with Type II diabetes when he was 18 years old, he uses an insulin pen to get his insulin. His parents are ranchers John and Brandy Branquinho, who compete in team roping. He and his family survived a wreck in March 2002, when their rig hit a patch of ice and slid off the road. At the 2003 Redding (Calif.) Rodeo, both Luke and his elder brother Casey won event titles. Eldest brother Tony is the rodeo coach at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. When he missed the 2005 Wrangler NFR due to injury he helped call the action for the ProRodeo Radio Network. He travels with Jason Miller, Curtis Cassidy, Les Shepperson and Gabe Ledoux. For more information visit his Web site: http://www.lukebranquinho.net
Click here to go to Branquinho’s Cowboy Bio
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