The checkered wagon is once again golden at the Calgary Stampede.
High River chuckwagon driver Jason Glass secured his second Calgary Stampede Cowboys Rangeland Derby title winning the Dash for Cash over Chanse Vigen and defending champion Layne MacGillivray Sunday night at GMC Stadium.
“It’s incredible,” said Glass. “This has been my whole life, doing what I do, and it’s something we just work for non-stop, trying to take care of these horses and run well and fast.
“If you take care of the horses properly eventually you get to a stage where you can win some stuff. That’s what happened this year, the horses were amazing and it all come together.”
Glass, who chose the number-one barrel after qualifying first in the aggregate, won the final heat by a comfortable margin over the other finalists.
The 2013 Derby champion, Glass was a consistent force all 10 days of racing with a trio of day money performances along with posting a new track record through the first nine days of competition. A five-second penalty on day four was the only wobble on an otherwise sterling Stampede.
“It was just a combination of the last three or four years and I made a lot of horse changes,” he said. “With the new ones that I’ve bought and trained and the older ones that I’ve sold to some friends to help them.
“The horses I’ve been training for the past three years came together, they started to gel and they’re really nice race horses, all of them. I know they can run, it’s just a matter of getting them put together comfortably into teams.”
The Dash for Cash was Glass’ first time in the championship heat at the Derby since 2018 and 11th time in his illustrious career.
The title is the 13th for over four generations of Glass competitors.
Jason’s great grandfather Tom Lauder won the Derby in 1924, the second year it was put on. A century of success followed through grandpa Ronnie and father Tom blazing the trail for the now two-time champion.
“It means everything,” Glass said. “I always refer back to it’s about taking care of these horses and my family has always been great horse caretakers, they come first, and I learned that from my grandma Iris.
“Win or lose, it doesn’t matter as long as these horses are happy and they get a chance to do what they love to do and that’s compete.”
Dayton Sutherland had a strong finish in his first entry as a driver at the Rangeland Derby.
So much so the Foothills County cowboy took home the Orville Strandquist Memorial Award as the top rookie driver at the Stampede, following in the footsteps of his father Mark who took home the honour in 1996.
Sutherland won his heat on the final three days of the Stampede and topped the three rookie drivers by a comfortable margin to claim the award.
“To win an award that’s tied together with that family, my dad outrode for Orville and I think Orville outrode for my grandpa (Kelly), there’s lots of heritage there so it’s super cool,” Sutherland said.
An accomplished outrider in his own right, Sutherland was part of Glass’ outriding crew at the Derby, helping the High Riverite take home the title.
“I’ve been outriding for 10, 11 years, ever since I was a kid, but my outrider career kind of got sidetracked by focusing on driving,” Sutherland said. “So that left some boxes unchecked for me, there were some things I wanted to do outriding that I never got a chance to.
“One of those was win Calgary and that’s a feather in any outrider’s career cap.”
The feat means more given who he’s sharing it with.
Sutherland said he’s always looked up to Glass and grew up with fellow-outrider Tyson Whitehead.
“You’re winning with a legend of the sport,” Sutherland said. “And Jason does it the right way, the horse care is some of the best in the world, it’s no exaggeration. He’s very smart and crafty and there’s no expense spared, and no corners cut.”
Blackie’s Jordie Fike completed 10 days of penalty-free driving and finished 20th in the Rangeland Derby.
In rodeo action, American competitors swept the field on Showdown Sunday at the Stampede.
Californian RC Landingham won the bareback, Idaho’s Kade Bruno topped Zeke Thurston in a jump-off for the saddle bronc title, Texas bull riders Jeff Askey and Chase Dougherty were co-winners in their event, Montana’s Haven Meged and Ty Erickson won the tie-down roping and steer wrestling, respectively, and Oklahoma’s Leslie Smalygo raced to the barrel racing crown.
Millarville’s Layton Green made the Showdown final-four round in the saddle bronc with High River’s Lucas Macza also competing in the bronc event on Sunday. Earlier in the competition, Longview’s Bradi Whiteside finished second in the breakaway roping event in the Rocky Mountain Cup.
For more information, go to calgarystampede.com.
