In saddle, from left, Taylor Sinclair, George De Jonge, and Cathy Sinclair, all of Langley, B.C., won the 7 Class final of the Calgary Stampede’s Team Cattle Penning Competition on Monday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The trio of West Coasters will split a championship cheque worth $18,081. Photo credit: Calgary Stampede

Now, finally, George De Jonge can let himself off the hook.

One year ago, De Jonge, his daughter Cathy Sinclair, and his granddaughter Taylor Sinclair were just seconds away from a priceless family snapshot –winning a 7 Class championship together at the Calgary Stampede’s Team Cattle Penning Competition – before misfortune struck.

Monday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the trio got another chance . . . and slammed the gate on victory.

“Last year, we entered the final in first place, and our run happened so fast . . . Taylor came up with third cow, and it was so loud in here that we didn’t know it was happening,” recalled Cathy Sinclair. “The first cow spooked, and bolted back, and we lost those seconds we needed . . . so we finished fifth.”

Added Taylor: “Grandpa kept blaming himself, but we told him that no one’s to blame – because we’re family.”

Proving that blood is thicker than melancholy, the three West Coasters from Langley, B.C., saddled up again Monday on the final night of the Stampede’s Team Cattle Penning Competition – and ended up top of the heap in 7 Class, with solid runs of 38.11 seconds in the third round and 33.20 seconds in the 10-team final.

The winning team laid down an aggregate, four-round time of 137.41 seconds on 12 head of cattle, collecting a cheque for $18,081 and those coveted, handtooled Stampede championship buckles. Their spiffy final run triggered the fourth and final lead change of the money round, and left them standing alone among the 149 outfits that began the 7 Class showdown back on Wednesday at the Okotoks Agricultural Society.

“Every penning we go to, we ride as a family,” said De Jonge. “And we did it. We finally did it.”

“We came back to win these buckles,” added Cathy Sinclair. “It’s special . . . very special.”

The team of Rob Schalk of New Serepta, Alta., Mandy Schalk of New Serepta, Alta., and Bev Mailer of Leslieville, Alta., finished with an aggregate time of 156.61 seconds on 12 head, good enough for the reserve championship and a runner-up cheque of $12,218.

The last team out on the floor, and the only one with a chance at threatening the De Jonge brood’s title, couldn’t measure up, scoring a final-round 52.26 seconds on two head of cattle. Cayley Rishor-Olney of Selah, Wash., Rae Gulley of Gilbert, Ariz., and Doug Ohlmann of Thorsby, Alta., ended up seventh overall.

In all, 149 teams entered the 7 Class of the Calgary Stampede’s Team Cattle Penning Competition, with the third round and championship final being held Monday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. A prize pot of more than $61,000 was paid out in the class. Photo credit: Calgary Stampede

Team Cattle Penning, a race against the clock, gives a team of three riders on horseback 60 seconds to separate three specifically identified cattle from a herd of 30 and direct them into a 16-foot-by-24-foot pen at the opposite end of the arena. Teamwork is key, with all three riders working in harmony to cut out the correct cattle and drive them to the pen.

Standing second overall entering Monday’s final, Cathy Sinclair, her dad, and her daughter had their strategy all worked out.

“We decided that even though Taylor was first in, and my dad was second rider, he would walk in softly and find his cow. And as soon as my third cow popped out at the top of the herd, I booked it to the pen,” said Cathy. “My dad understands cattle. He’s been a farmer for 40 years.”

The Calgary Stampede boasts one of the biggest team penning competitions on the continent. This year, 492 teams from across North America converged on Calgary for a piece of the $225,000 in cash and prizes that were up for grabs in four classes over four nights of competition at the Saddledome.

The Stampede will be webcasting all events being held in the Scotiabank Saddledome and the Big Top this year. Visit http://ag.calgarystampede.com/saddledome-ustream-2011 for live streaming of Saddledome action, and http://ag.calgarystampede.com/big-top-ustream-2011 for events under the Big Top.

It was truly a team penning clinic. And these three performed like physicians . . . making an extremely long-distance house call.

In saddle, from left, Brian Buckner of Magee, Miss., Jordan Lesh of Stillwater, Okla., and Joel Lesh of Stillwater, Okla., won the Open Class of the Calgary Stampede’s Team Cattle Penning Competition on Sunday evening at the Scotiabank Saddledome, splitting a championship cheque of $10,266. Photo credit: Calgary Stampede

Brothers Joel and Jordan Lesh of Stillwater, Okla., and fellow professional team penner Brian Buckner of Magee, Miss., cashed in on their cross-continent journey to the Calgary Stampede on Sunday evening – claiming the championship in the Open Class Team Cattle Penning Competition, presented by Calfrac Well Services, at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Victory is worth $10,266, split three ways . . . and should be good for a little gas in the hauler en route to their next go-round.

“In the last three weeks, we’ve put on 11,000 miles (17,600 kilometres),” chuckled Brian, who, along with his wife Sonya, also a professional team penner, convoys with the Lesh brothers from one event to another across North America. “That’s from Mississippi to Montana, back to Oklahoma City, to Mississippi, and up to Calgary.”

Added Joel Lesh: “We’re probably doing 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometres) a year. We go to about 50 shows a year. Calgary isn’t a big deal in terms of travel; I go to the West Coast a lot, places like Oregon and Washington. Anywhere there’s a big event.”

The Stampede more than qualifies for that category. This year, the team penning event at The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth has attracted 492 teams from across the western half of the continent, with about $225,000 in cash and prizes available in four classes over four nights of action at the Saddledome. Sunday’s purse for the Open Class totaled $34,220, including the winner’s share.

Stampede success is not new to these American competitors. Joel Lesh and Sonya Buckner won the Open Class together back in 2009, the same year Jordan was part of the 10 Class’s winning outfit.

Sunday night, the Lesh brothers and Brian Buckner put the exclamation mark on an exciting 10-team final round that put top-notch skills on display – and featured seven lead changes – before the American triumvirate sealed the deal with a 33.61-second run.

Jordan Lesh and Buckner, in fact, were able to double-dip in the prize payout department. They also teamed up with Calgary’s Ron Scott to earn the reserve championship, collecting a runner-up cheque of $6,844 for their troubles.

The Open is the feature class of the Stampede’s Team Cattle Penning event, in terms of horse and rider skill and experience. The competition began on Thursday at Okotoks Agricultural Society with 58 teams in the mix, and the first two rounds of competition narrowed the field to 20 for Sunday evening’s third round and final at the Saddledome.

The Lesh brothers and Buckner never lost their grip on the lead Sunday – entering the third round with a cushion of more than five seconds, and pushing it to about 7.5 heading into the final.

Their aggregate time on 12 head of cattle was 120.36 seconds, exactly two-and-a-half seconds over the reserve champion outfit (122.86).

“I guess the consistency is what does the trick. It makes up any difference, and it weeds out any lucky runs,” noted Jordan Lesh. “The cattle were a little (less frisky) in the final, but all along we didn’t draw any three-cow cuts or pairs.”

The three winning riders may be grizzled veterans in their chosen fields, but at least one of their four-legged equine companions performed admirably in a completely new arena.

Smartest Dual, Buckner’s nine-year-old quarter-horse gelding, was making only his second foray into a team penning event. “He’s been a cutting horse most of his life,” said Buckner. “He’s won about $10,000 at (National Cutting Horse Association) cutting events.”

The third round and final of the 7 Class team penning event will be staged Monday, July 11 at the Saddledome, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The Stampede will be webcasting all events being held in the Scotiabank Saddledome and the Big Top this year. Visit http://ag.calgarystampede.com/saddledome-ustream-2011 for live streaming of Saddledome action, and http://ag.calgarystampede.com/big-top-ustream-2011 for events under the Big Top.

There are long odds . . . and then there’s a 182-to-one shot.

That’s what two Calgary Stampede rookies, and an old chuckwagon outrider from another era, were facing this week as they saddled up for the Stampede’s 10 Class Team Cattle Penning Competition, presented by Calfrac Well Services.

But after four rounds, and an agonizing wait while the final five teams took their best shot, the team of Fort Saskatchewan’s Will Hanson, Sherwood Park’s Preston Fleming, and Brian Cardinal of Millet, Alta., was basking in victory’s glow Saturday evening at The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.

In saddle, from left, Will Hanson of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Preston Fleming of Sherwood Park, Alta., and Brian Cardinal of Millet, Alta., emerged victorious during the Calgary Stampede’s 10 Class Team Cattle Penning Competition at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The trio split a winners’ cheque of $22,263. Photo credit: Calgary Stampede

“Fabulous. Amazing. A lot of people had a lot of luck, but we had to work for everything we got,” said Fleming, who rode 19-year-old quarter-horse mare Blaze. “We never did get lucky. We had to pull every (cow). No gimmes.

“It was just a really consistent effort from a real strong team.”

Class 10 is perennially the largest division in the Stampede’s team penning event, and this year was no different. In all, 182 teams kicked things off with two preliminary rounds on Wednesday at Okotoks Agricultural Society, with the top 20 advancing to Saturday’s action at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Cardinal, Fleming, and Hanson stood ninth of 20 teams entering the fray Saturday, and laid down a pair of solid runs – 39.12 seconds in that third round, and then 35.57 seconds in the 10-team final – to stake a claim on the championship with an aggregate time of 140.44 seconds on 12 head of cattle. And when the five teams ahead of them in the standings missed their final chance to nail down the title – three scored a no-time, one settled for a time on two head of cattle, and a fifth stopped the clock too late, at 44.76 seconds – the trio was finally able to start whooping it up.

Cardinal, Fleming, and Hanson split a winners’ cheque of $22,263, and collect those coveted handtooled, gold-and-silver Stampede buckles. The only team from the final quintet to lay down a time on three head – Tyler Daniels of Lethbridge, Dave Harker of Coaldale, Alta., and Troy Terry of Taber, Alta. – ended up as reserve champions, finishing about eight seconds back at 148.21 and collecting a runner-up cheque of $14,842.

“We were just hopin’ that our time could stick,” said Hanson, who celebrated aboard six-year-old quarter-horse gelding 538. “We felt that (the final five) had an easier herd coming in, so all we could do was hope and pray. It’s all you can do.”

A total of 182 teams battled for a prize pot of more than $74,000 in the Calgary Stampede’s 10 Class Team Cattle Penning Competition, which concluded at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday evening. Photo credit: Calgary Stampede

Team Cattle Penning, a race against the clock, gives a team of three riders on horseback 60 seconds to separate three specifically identified cattle from a herd of 30 and direct them into a 16-foot-by-24-foot pen at the opposite end of the arena.

Teamwork is key, with all three riders working in harmony to cut out the correct cattle and drive them to the pen.

The Stampede’s team penning event draws competitors from across the western half of North America, with 492 teams registering this year for about $225,000 in cash and prizes in four divisions over four nights of action at the Saddledome. Saturday’s purse exceeded $74,000, including that winner’s share of $22,263.

Hanson and Fleming might have been Stampede debutantes, but Cardinal knows Stampede Park like the back of his hand. More than 30 years ago, while based in Spirit Lake, Alta., Cardinal rode the Half Mile of Hell as an outrider in the GMC Rangeland Derby.

“This is beyond my wildest dreams,” said Cardinal, who shared Saturday’s victory with his nine-year-old quarter-horse gelding Willy. “I was an outrider here in 1977 and ’78, and I wondered how I would ever get back here to earn a buckle from the Stampede.

“You could call this a blessing in disguise. I couldn’t ask for a better finish.”

Two more classes remain in the 2011 Stampede’s team penning competition. The third round and final in the Open class – the highest calibre of competition at the Stampede, in terms of horse and rider skill and experience – are slated for Sunday, July 10, while the third round and final of the 7 Class are scheduled for Monday, July 11. Start time both days is 5:30 p.m. at the Saddledome.

The Stampede will be webcasting all events being held in the Scotiabank Saddledome and the Big Top this year. Visit http://ag.calgarystampede.com/saddledome-ustream-2011 for live streaming of Saddledome action, and http://ag.calgarystampede.com/big-top-ustream-2011 for events under the Big Top.

In saddle, from left, Russell Armstrong of Armstrong, B.C., Bob Armstrong of Armstrong, B.C., and Wallace McComish of Stettler, Alta., won the Calgary Stampede’s 14 Class Team Cattle Penning Competition on Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, splitting a championship cheque of $15,450. Photo credit: Calgary Stampede

It’s easy to be awestruck by an accessory like this. Just ask Wallace McComish.

“During my first year of team penning in 2006, my team finished second in the 5 Class final here at the Stampede,” said the affable resident of Stettler, Alta., on Friday. “And when we were waiting in line at the awards presentation, they handed us the champions’ buckles by mistake . . . said, ‘Oops,’ and had to take ’em back.

“I got enough of a feel of it,” added McComish with a chuckle, “that I really, really wanted one. And I’ve tried very hard to get it ever since.”

McComish’s hard work finally paid off at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday evening. McComish and the father-and-son team of Bob and Russell Armstrong, both of Armstrong, B.C., entered the final two go-rounds of the Calgary Stampede’s 14 Class Team Cattle Penning Competition in 12^th place overall, but turned in a pair of great runs – including the fastest time of the night – to vault themselves directly into the winner’s circle.

Through four runs, McComish, Armstrong, and Armstrong posted an aggregate time of 123.82 seconds for 12 head of cattle – and will split a championship cheque of $15,450. The trio of Calgary’s Skylar Hansen, Jens Greimeier of Okotoks, Alta., and Chrissy Santangelo of Nanton, Alta., ended up reserve champions, with an aggregate time of 139.84 seconds for 12 head, collecting the runner-up prize of $10,300.

McComish, Armstrong, and Armstrong catapulted themselves into the thick of Friday’s 10-team final with a blistering third-round run of 20.99 seconds, the fastest on the Saddledome floor Friday. And with the last run of the night, they stopped the clock in 33.06 seconds for a comfortable margin of victory, even while being forced to chase a wrong-numbered bovine, or “dirty cow,” back to the herd.

Russell Armstrong, 21, of Armstrong, B.C., and his 12-year-old quarter-horse mare Mary show winning form Friday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome en route to victory in the Calgary Stampede’s 14 Class Team Cattle Penning Competition. Armstrong and his dad Bob, as well as Wallace McComish of Stettler, Alta., will split a cheque for $15,450. Photo credit: Calgary Stampede

For the younger Armstrong, this makes two championships in two years on opening night of Stampede while riding his 12-year-old quarter-horse mare, Mary. In 2010, he won the 14 Class title with Lindsey Thorlakson of Carstairs, Alta., and Pete Molnar of Langley, B.C.

“Pretty sweet. And this one means something extra, because it’s good to do it with Dad,” said Russell Armstrong. “It was a good advantage coming in 12^th overall, as opposed to ninth, say, because you come in at the end of the first herd (when the cattle, theoretically, shouldn’t be as frisky).

“And we drew up really good. We got about as lucky as you could get (in the third round). The cows were there, and they just kind of came together.”

Russell and Bob Armstrong have won several regional penning competitions together, including one just last month in Kalispell, Mont., but none with the prestige of Calgary.

The Stampede’s 14 Class featured a prize pot of $51,500 on Friday, including the winners’ share of $15,450. A total of $225,000 in cash and prizes is up for grabs over four nights of competition.

“First time I’ve ever won at the Stampede. It’s my first buckle, and I wanted it bad,” chuckled Bob, whose horse Honey Boy, a quarter-horse gelding, is “a kid like me . . . he’s 19.”

Team Cattle Penning, a race against the clock, gives a team of three riders on horseback 60 seconds to separate three specifically identified cattle from a herd of 30 and direct them into a 16-foot-by-24-foot pen at the opposite end of the arena. Teamwork is key, with all three riders working in harmony to cut out the correct cattle and drive them to the pen.

The 14 Class represents the second-highest caliber Team Cattle Penning competition, presented by Calfrac Well Services, held at the Stampede, based on rider skill and experience. The competition began Thursday at the Okotoks Agricultural Society, with 103 teams in the mix, and Thursday’s first two qualification rounds narrowed the field down to 20 as the scene shifted to Calgary on Friday for the third round and the 10-team final.

As for McComish, this might have been his first Stampede crown, but it was old hat for his 12-year-old quarter-horse gelding Mate, which carried Brian Dick of Wetaskiwin, Alta., to a 7 Class title in 2009.

Three teams with McComish on their roster made the final 20. A couple of perennial title contenders, Kurt Robson of Carstairs, Alta., and Jordan Lesh of Morrison, Okla., started the evening with the same great odds, and Lesh, in particular, proved snakebitten in his quest for a Stampede crown. Lesh triumvirates stood first and second entering Friday’s competition, but one scored a no-time in the third round and the other posted a run of 57.94, falling out of contention.

The Saddledome will play host to the third go-round and final in 10 Class on Saturday, July 9, the third round and final of the Open Class on Sunday, July 10, and the 7 Class’s third round and final on Monday, July 11. Start time all three nights is 5:30 p.m.

The Stampede will be webcasting all events being held in the Scotiabank Saddledome and the Big Top this year. Visit http://ag.calgarystampede.com/saddledome-ustream-2011 for live streaming of Saddledome action, and http://ag.calgarystampede.com/big-top-ustream-2011 for events under the Big Top.