In The Bull Pen: Nampa

NAMPA, Idaho. – We should see a slight bump in overall bull quality in Nampa, Idaho, compared to Eugene, Oregon, last week simply because J.A.R.S. / Gene Owen and D&H Cattle will both be in town along with Chad Berger. Berger had 46 bulls in Eugene, and his bulls performed well. He’ll have 30 in Nampa, while Owen and Page are bringing 15 apiece.

The DeWALT Flexvolt Invitational in Nampa will have major implications for qualifications for the 2016 World Championship Bull race. At least six bulls scheduled for the short round have some stake in the race, and four of those bulls are on the bubble.

The bulls in the World Champion Bull race will be decided at the Built Ford Tough World Finals, but seven bulls will automatically qualify based on their bull scores throughout the season, and this event will be a big deal for the bulls that are still trying to qualify.

D&H Cattle’s SweetPro’s Bruiser is one of the front runners for World Champion Bull. He’s already clinched a qualifying spot, so no matter what he does here in Nampa he will compete in Vegas. He could win some bragging rights here with a high-scoring out. He’s in second place in the qualifier standings right now, and he’s just six one hundredths of a point behind Pearl Harbor, who is relaxing in Texas until the World Finals. Bruiser could pass him up and become the number one qualifier, but all the bulls start with a clean slate at the World Finals, so winning the qualifier race is somewhat symbolic.

J.A.R.S. / Gene Owen’s Seven Dust is the one bull who appears to be peaking at the right time. He’s currently in fifth place in the bull standings, and he’s done far better in the second half of the 2016 season. Any 45-plus point bull score here will probably clinch him a spot. Any bull score of 44.5 or more will be a plus for him. Another Gene Owen bull, Cochise, is right behind him in sixth place, and the same applies to him. Both bulls really need a 45-point or better bull score to really move.

Berger’s Beaver Creek Beau is tied for eighth in the qualifier standings. His best eight outs this year average out to 44.34 points, so anything above that will help him, and an exceptionally low score could knock him out of contention.

J.A.R.S / Gene Owen’s Wicked is in the same fix as Beaver Creek Beau. He’s in seventh place, but he’s only four one hundredths of a point ahead of Beau. He has fewer outs on the season than Beau, and that makes him more vulnerable to falling in the standings with a bad out here, but a 45+ point out could almost clinch a spot for him. He has only one out over 45 points on the year so far.

And finally, another J.A.R.S / Gene Owen bull – Hey Jack – isn’t even in the Top 100 in the qualifier standings right now, but the reason for that is he’s a latecomer to the race and only has six outs in 2016. Nampa will be his seventh out, and he would need one more to qualify. He’s averaging 44.5 points this year, and if he can simply hold steady that would put him seventh in the race between Cochise and Wicked. It would bump Wicked out of the race. Hey Jack has turned in two straight 45+ point outs, and he’s definitely a bull to watch here.

Although D&H and Berger will be in Nampa in force, their heaviest hitters will not. H.D. Page’s SweetPro’s Long John is out with a sore foot at the moment. Berger’s Pearl Harbor is healthy, but he’s resting, and we won’t see him again until Las Vegas.