By Brett Hoffman

When the big bucks are on the table at the Calgary Stampede, Will Lowe just has that extra spurring power.

For the second consecutive year, the three-time world bareback riding champion from Canyon snared the Stampede's $100,000 winner’s prize.

When the title was at stake on July 12, Lowe turned in a blue-ribbon score of 87.5 as the renowned Alberta rodeo concluded its 10-day run.

“I just nod my head and ride each horse jump for jump,” Lowe said. “I try not to dwell on the past or look too far into the future. I just want to do as good as I can on each horse, and I was lucky enough to draw the horses I needed.”

The Calgary rodeo used a tournament format. During the July 12 championship performance, the 10 qualifiers in each event first rode in a semifinal round. At that point, the field was narrowed to four. During the final round, each event winner earned $100,000 (Canadian).

Lowe finished second in the bareback semifinals after turning in an 87.5. After that, he competed for the $100,000 against Petersburg cowboy Ryan Gray, Kyle Bowers of Canada and Utah rider Kaycee Feild.

During the final, Lowe edged second-place finisher Gray by a half-point after turning in another 87.5.

In saddle bronc riding, Taos Muncy of Corona, N.M., clinched the Calgary title after posting a finals score of 87.5. Muncy made headlines in 2007 when he won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world title and the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association title while attending Oklahoma Panhandle State.

Other 2009 Calgary winners were Tammy Key-Fischer, Ledbetter, barrel racing; Trevor Knowles, Mt. Vernon, Ore., steer wrestling; Ryan Jarrett, Sumerville, Ga., tie-down roping; J.B. Mauney, Mooresville, N.C., bull riding.

Cash Myers, a former National Finals Rodeo steer wrestling qualifier from Athens, also advanced to the championship performance on July 12. But Myers was eliminated during the semifinals after tying for fifth in the round with a time of 3.8 seconds.

The Stampede has become the ultimate all-star rodeo by inviting 20 credentialed contestants in each event and offering huge prizes. The Calgary rodeo reached a milestone this year by becoming the first rodeo outside of the Wrangler National Finals in Las Vegas to offer a total purse of more than $2 million.

The earnings from the Calgary rodeo do not count in the PRCA world standings. However, the Stampede draws the world's top competitors during a busy time of the regular season as the result of paying bigger bucks.

“It's such a great rodeo,” Lowe said. “They are top-notch all across the board. They put a lot of rodeos almost to shame by the way they handle things.”

Ready to roll

After facing three bulls on the weekend of July 10-12 at two lower tier Professional Bull Riders shows in South Texas, world title race leader Kody Lostroh said his riding arm injury has mended.

Lostroh said he experienced no serious problems after being sidelined for two months with a torn tendon in his left elbow.

He said he would be more than ready to compete when the Built Ford Tough Series resumes in Tulsa on the weekend of July 17-19. The PBR’s top tier tour has been at rest since mid-May.

Lostroh was bucked off in about three seconds at the PBR Copenhagen Challenger Tour show on July 10 in San Antonio. But at a July 12 PBR Enterprise Rent-A-Car Tour show in Gonzales, he turned in an 85.5 in the first round and then was bucked off in about six seconds during the finals.

Lostroh, 23, of Longmont, Colo., tore a tendon on the outside of his left elbow at the Ford Series tour stop in late April in Omaha, Neb. After undergoing an MRI exam, he discovered an older injury on the inside portion of the elbow.

In the PBR's Ford Series standings, Lostroh leads the title race with 8,335 points, a 797.75-point advantage over defending world champion Guilherme Marchi, and a 1,106.75-point lead over third-ranked J.B. Mauney.

Arnold inducted

Former world champion steer roper Walt Arnold of Silverton was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame on July 12 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Arnold qualified for the National Finals Steer Roping 19 times (1965-67, 1969-72, 1974-82, 1984-86), a number surpassed only by Guy Allen and Arnold Felts in steer roping history. Arnold, 70, won the world championship in 1969.

“Somebody asked me when I was a little boy what I was going to be when I grew up and I told them 'a world champion roper and a rancher.’” Arnold said in a statement released by the PRCA. “This was always the life I wanted.”

Brett Hoffman is a 20-year rodeo columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame member. E-mail him at brett@myrodeoinsider.com.