LUKE BRANQUINHO

Event: Steer Wrestling
Hometown: Los Alamos, CA
Born: September 17, 1980
Height: 6’0
Weight: 235 lbs

World Titles: 1 (2004)
NFR Qualifications: 6 (2001-07)
2007 World Standings Place: 3rd

2007 NFR Earnings: $30,144.22
2007 NFR Place: 9th
2007 Earnings: $151,681.00
Career Earnings: $956,017.00

While Luke Branquinho’s brute strength fits the requirement for the “big man’s event,” he also uses his mind to fully understand the rules of leverage. Steer wrestling is often called the quickest event in a rodeo, and Branquinho took advantage of that quickness as he speedily locked up his first world title after the ninth round in 2004. Branquinho’s 2004 stunning steer wrestling performances helped him set the regular season earnings record prior to the NFR with $125,625, and the single-season earnings record after the NFR with $193,624. In the 2005 season, Branquinho took home two major Steer Wrestling titles, one from The Showdown Rodeo (Palmdale, CA) and one from the Woodlake (CA) Lions Club PRCA Rodeo. Not to be welded to only one event, Branquinho also earned a tie-down roping title at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo before tearing his pectoral muscle in the end of June 2005.

It has been a rough road for Branquinho since his torn pectoral muscle required surgery, which left him in the stands for the rest of the year. In 2002 he and his family survived a car wreck when their rig hit a patch of ice and slid off the road. But the next year both he and his brother Casey bounced back to win event titles at the Redding Rodeo. This is the sort of comeback story we hope to see again in 2008 from our durable Cinch steer wrestler.

For more information go to:
http://www.lukebranquinho.net