Luke Branquinho Wins Third Round of Rodeo Finals

It’s been dubbed both the World Series and Super Bowl of Rodeos, and on Saturday night, a Santa Barbara County cowboy won the third round of it in 3.6 seconds. Luke Branquinho of Santa Maria trailed the steer-wrestling pack heading into the 29th Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas; the four-time world champion started out the 10-day event ranked 13th in a field of 15 men. But after his lightning-fast bull dogging, in which he leapt off a horse and onto a steer that he then wrestled to the ground by the horns, Branquinho now ranks fourth. The next round is scheduled for Sunday at 6:45 p.m