Heartbreak was probably the best description for Donalda’s Cody Cassidy at the 2019 Ponoka Stampede.
Cody made it to the showdown round and posted a fast time of 5.2 seconds as the second cowboy through the gate.
However, Cassidy was beaten out of his third Stampede championship buckle by Tanner Brunner from Ramona, Kansas by the slimmest of margins in steer wrestling — one tenth of a second. A win for Cody would have tied him with brother Curtis, who has three Ponoka Stampede steer wrestling wins in his pocket.
Even with that though, Cody’s performance was a great success financially.
He went home with nearly $13,000, more than half of that coming from his second place finish combined with taking third in the average and ending up tied for the fourth best first round run time.
Cody was also somewhat successful elsewhere on the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association circuit that same week, capturing about $1,700 for a fourth place tie in Williams Lake, B.C. to go with just over $400 from Airdrie.
He got a bit of rest at home before getting back in the saddle for four days of competition and a shot at a huge payoff at the Calgary Stampede, competing in steer wrestling’s A Pool July 5 to 8 (results unavailable at press time).
Meanwhile, brother Curtis wasn’t as fortunate in Ponoka, missing out much of the money in the tie-down roping despite runs of 9.6 and 13.0 on the Stampede’s opening day and also earning a no-time in the steer wrestling on June 28.
He did though have a big part in some other steer wrestling successes, doing the hazing for his brother and several others throughout the week.
However, Curtis managed to earn some cash in Williams Lake — beating out his brother — to place second for just over $3,700. He will also be in Calgary, but will be in steer wrestling’s B Pool that runs July 9 to 12.
Other Ponoka results
The Ponoka Stampede is always a great show, though the results were not what many of area competitors would have liked to see.
Bashaw’s own bareback rider Jacob Stemo, who last year made the Canadian Finals Rodeo in his first season as a professional, put up a solid score of 82.75 in the June 28 performance. However, that proved only good enough to end up in 20th spot.
The barrel racing included three area competitors — the Donalda mother and daughter pairing of Shannon Leguerrier and Shaylee McMann as well as Bashaw’s Marci Laye — though their results left them well back of top 12 finalists.
McMann was the best of the three, posting a run of 18.203 on June 26, followed by Leguerrier’s same day time of 18.281. Laye came in with an 18.628 on June 27.
Meeting Creek bull rider Garrett Green was also in Ponoka, but wasn’t able to hold on for the full eight second ride on June 30.
