CALGARY – The “weight” was well worth it for Randy Dodge.
Dodge, the veteran horse puller from Albany, Ore., has enjoyed a
strong friendship with the Soderglen
Ranches outfit of Airdrie, Alta., since he began towing to
Alberta for the Calgary Stampede’s Heavy Horse
Pull nearly a decade ago. Sunday night, that friendship paid off
in spades – not only giving Dodge
memories that will last a lifetime, but also rewriting the event
record books as the 2011 Stampede drew to
a close.
Dodge had already won Friday’s lightweight division and
Saturday’s middleweight division at the Heavy
Horse Pull, sponsored by Soderglen Ranches, UPS, Burnco, and
Wrangler. But he was at a distinct
disadvantage for Sunday’s heavyweight divisional showdown, with
his Belgian team of Jack and Michael
tipping the scales at only 3,876 pounds, about 1,200 lighter
than some of the eight other outfits entered.
The Soderglen team, owned by Stan Grad, kindly put the reins of
its two teams – Ben and Roy, weighing
in at 5,134 pounds, and Rex and Lane, weighing 4,882 – in
Dodge’s hands, while Soderglen teamster
Nicolas Pouso took over Dodge’s pair. And wouldn’t you know it –
with Dodge driving, and Pouso setting
the hook, the Antony Family-supported team of Ben and Roy won
the heavyweight belt by pulling a
13,000-pound sled the full 14 feet, earning a winner’s cheque of
$3,000.
And then, for good measure, they eclipsed the existing
heavyweight division weight record of 13,200
pounds by going right back out and performing another full pull
at 13,300.
“Stan Grad wanted to give me a hand and have me drive his ‘A’
team, so I gladly agreed,” said Dodge.
“This is an amazing feeling. This is great. I didn’t think it
would ever happen, but it did. That’s hard to do,
win three (divisions) at Calgary.”
“Randy is a top teamster in North America. They don’t build ’em
any better than Randy. I think the world
of him. And I think this is spectacular,” said Grad. “(Prior to
the Stampede), Randy comes up and helps us
work horses, and works his horses at the same time. We’ve been
doing that for quite a number of years.
“Being successful in this game, it’s not only the horses. A lot
of it is driving. If you don’t do everything just
right, especially on those last loads . . . the horses are so
hot and wired up, if you don’t get ’em working
together, you’re in trouble,” added Grad. “It’s being smart
enough to know when they’re ready to go . . .
it’s all split-second timing.”
The nine-team pull had been whittled to just two by the time the
sled was loaded to 12,500 pounds. And if
not for a great second effort, Ben and Roy would have been
forced to take a measured pull at that weight.
But they dug deep and found the few inches required for a full
pull. And one round later, at 13,000 pounds,
Weinberger’s Belgian pair of Uggh and Jesse, supported by the
We’ve Got Pull syndicate, was flagged for a
line violation.
“(The sled) was in a bad spot, a loose spot, and in a bit of a
hole. It just had to go three, four inches to
get it across,” said Dodge. “They handled really nice and did a
nice job for me.”
Weinberger took the reserve champion’s prize of $2,500. He also
picked up third place, worth $1,500,
after his Catalyst-supported pair of Doc and Dan managed a
91-inch pull at 12,000 pounds.
This year’s Stampede Heavy Horse Pull, the richest in North
America, drew teamsters from as far away as
Oregon, Washington, and Saskatchewan, with outfits primarily
featuring Belgian and Percheron
horsepower.
The teams of the Stampede’s heavyweight division tipped the
scales at a combined two-horse weight of
3,501 pounds and more.