Stampede Bronc Shatters Arena Record in Houston
  

March 20, 2014 - The Calgary Stampede's star horses are stamping out their brand all over Texas this season, and none more so than Stampede Warrior. After a string of winning rides already, Stampede Warrior set a new arena record of an astounding 94 points at Rodeo Houston this past Saturday.

Paired with veteran saddle bronc rider Cody DeMoss of Louisiana, Stampede Warrior kicked out a fierce and powerful performance with her signature change-up moves. This sharp mare knows how to put on a show, and her kicks and performances grow stronger and stronger with each time out of the chutes since swapping from the bareback to the saddle bronc event this season.

"I saw Wade Sundell win The American in Arlington on her earlier in the month," says DeMoss. "He gave me a few pointers on how much rein to give her and what to expect. When they opened the chutes, I was pretty excited. She's a powerful bronc. She pulled down hard then up high again. She did everything a bucking horse is meant to do and she feels good doing it. She's just an outstanding horse."

DeMoss was up to the challenge, meeting her moves with expert form. Together, the pairing scored an unbelievable 94 points, shattering the previous Houston arena record believed to be 91. "It was absolutely a career highlight. Every guy wants a score like this, but it's not often you would ever see one in your lifetime, let alone score it yourself," notes DeMoss, who was the 2008 Calgary Stampede champion and placed a close second during the Stampede's 2012 Centennial year.

Such a score is incredibly rare in rodeo. For example, the highest score ever recorded in a Canadian pro rodeo was 95 points in a pairing by Stampede Warrior's sire, the legendary Grated Coconut, with Canadian bareback rider Davey Shields Jr. during the 2005 Calgary Stampede.

Rodeo Houston was also brought to its feet by seven other strong Stampede horse performances scoring 90 and 89-point rides, as chronicled in this blog post. 

Houston is just latest stop on the Texas rodeo run where Texas rodeo fans have been forced to sit up and take notice of the Canuck Bucks that have dominated the big rodeos over the past two months. Pictures of Stampede horses and profile stories are being published in major rodeo publications across the south, building Calgary's legend in the rodeo world.

For example, Stampede Warrior has played a major starring role in the past few rodeos she's competed in. In the March 2 The American Rodeo in Arlington, Texas, she carried Iowa's Wade Sundell to the championship title and $100,000 pay-day in the final four shoot-out round in front of a crowd of 60,000 fans. Three of the four bronc horses selected for the final four championship round in the saddle bronc event were Stampede stock, including up and comer Texas Cherry.

Stampede horses also dominated in San Antonio earlier in February. Special Delivery was named Bareback Horse of the San Antonio Rodeo after winning Steven Peebles the championship title in the bareback event.