General News
11 August, 2024
Mount Isa-bred cowboy claims elusive saddle bronc buckle
Clayton Braden has tasted a lot of success on the rodeo circuit but he's never won in Mount Isa before.
With his wife and three daughters cheering him from the grandstand, Mount Isa-born champion bronc rider Clayton Braden said it was "bloody good" to be back home.
Announced to the cheering crowd as a Collinsville cowboy, most at Buchanan Park would have been unaware that Braden was born and raised in the North West before moving to Townsville in his early teens.
"It's good to be home and breathe the Mount Isa air – everyone thinks it's shit but I like it," said Braden after claiming the open saddle bronc buckle for the first time in Mount Isa.
He produced two scores in the 80s – the only rider to do so with an 81 on Jane and an 83 on Hank in the final – to be a comfortable winner of the prized event.
"I'll have a headache tomorrow, that's for sure," Braden said with a cheeky grin.
Giving him plenty of encouragement in the chutes was his little brother Tristan, who got bucked off in the long round and didn't make the final.
"He's been going good, too. I would have loved to see him sticking on that horse and be up here with me now," said Braden, who went to Sunset State School in Mount Isa before his family left for the coast.
"Bronc riding is different to all of these other (events) – I was a bull rider when I was a young fella – but bronc riding ... every single one of those bronc riders are like your brothers and you just strive for them to do just as good as you."
Braden now runs a property on the Burdekin River just outside of Collinsville, however is still a regular on the rodeo circuit.
He was fourth on the APRA saddle bronc standings before Mount Isa and his win would have springboarded him to the top spot.
"I've been going all right actually; been pretty lucky and winning or placing," he said.
"This is my first year back (competing in Mount Isa) for three years ... I've been coming since was 13."
Braden's first Mount Isa Rodeo as a competitor was actually at the opening of Buchanan Park, although he still has memories of attending Kalkadoon Park with his family.
Both his father and grandfather were horsemen and trained racehorses for the North West circuit.
"I don't know if grandad ever rode; I think dad had a couple of goes here and there," he said of his rodeo roots.
"We're more or less just bushy fellas.
"I was pretty lucky as a kid; when I got up to mischief at school and they'd let me have a few days off, I'd just be out on a property and gallop around out there."
