PUEBLO, Colo. – There may have already been 17 Built Ford Tough Series events so far this season, but the World Champion Bull race is very much still wide open.
There are still eight regular season events remaining before a select number of bulls will be named eligible to compete for the 2015 World Champion Bull title at the Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas on Oct. 21-25.
PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert shared with PBR.com a group of bulls – in no particular order – that he believes have the skillset to possibly make a run at the World Championship come October.
“These are the bulls that were impressive,” Lambert said. “A lot of these bulls have bucked off great riders. I am not ranking them in any particular order. One bad trip moves them out of that list and one good trip moves them back in.”
Mick E Mouse
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 6 (0)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 45.38 points
Lambert’s Take: “His out at Albuquerque with J.W. Harris was very impressive. His two rankest trips were against J.W. Harris and he has bucked off J.B. Mauney. He’s as good a bull as we got. He bucked off (Guilherme) Marchi at the end of last year. He is big and strong and has never been ridden. This is his third year out there and nobody has ridden him yet. He has had Silvano (Alves), Marco Eguchi, Shane Proctor several times, Chase Outlaw, Mike Lee, Valdiron (de Oliveira) (and) Joao (Ricardo Vieira). He has gone up against the best guys we got and his record is unblemished.”
“Bushwacker or Mick E Mouse didn’t buck all of those guys off because they had some tricky combination. They were physically superior and they got there by bucking. They didn’t do it by intimidation or some secret code. … They got big strong moves, but it is real.”
Sweet Pro’s Long John:
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 9 (1)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 45.42 points
Lambert’s Take: “Long John is a strong finisher. Even on an off day when he starts a little slower, he gets stronger as he goes. He always goes up and down hard. The out that he had with Kasey Hayes in Billings was amazing. Long John just goes up and down very strong and hard and he is going to be strong the whole way. It looks like he has great timing. What he has is the ability to jerk a rider down because he drops so hard. He has great timing, but if a rider doesn’t pay attention and he rears back or sits down he is going to drop so hard that he is going to jerk him over his head. So there is a little added danger there and that can be intimidation. There is a lot of size there. Mick E Mouse and Long John are both big bulls. They fill up the shoots and they fill up the bull rope. You can’t help but notice you are on a big bull.”
Smooth Operator
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 11 (1)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 44.66 points
Lambert’s Take: “Smooth Operator had a bad trip at Billings which took him from first place down several notches, but he still belongs on this list because he has way more good trips than bad. When he had a bad trip in Billings, Guilherme (Marchi) spent nearly an hour in the chutes on him. His record up to that point, he had bucked off everybody. He can go left or right with lots of kick and lots of speed. I think he kind of likes to spin to the right out of the left-hand delivery. He slammed J.W. Harris twice in two rank trips.”
Little Red Jacket
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 8 (4)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 44.16 points
Lambert’s Take: “Little Red Jacket is a bull that has just matured and gotten bigger and stronger. I think he is 5 years old and has been a late bloomer. He is taller, stronger and 300 pounds heavier than he was a year ago. He has the kick and speed when he spins to the right. He has the same bucking characteristics as Yellow Jacket did. There is not a lot of air, but there is lots of kick, and sometimes he will kick so high and spin so fast that it will look like a stumble.”
Air Time
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 5 (0)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 45.15 points
Lambert’s Take: “Air Time is an athlete that is totally gifted. He has the ability of a bull like Bushwacker – physically. He hasn’t settled down in the chute 100 percent. I think he is getting better, but he still has a real hair-trigger in the chute and he seems to be sensitive to the guys getting ready. That makes him not one of the riders favorites, not only because it is a little dangerous in there, but they have to treat him a little soft. Sometimes they are not as aggressive with him in the chute as they should be.”
Roy
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 5 (0)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 45.25 points
Lambert’s Take: “He is pretty impressive. He looks to me like he would be one of the more fun bulls ever to get on because the first round he has some kick and a little back up. The rest of the time he is fading across the arena while he is spinning. When bulls do that, it is really, really impressive to watch and it is fun to watch because not only are they are spinning, but they are traveling sideways while they do it. That doesn’t necessarily make them stronger or harder to ride. Usually, it just makes them worth more points. I love this bull. I think he is a great bull. The old bull rider in me says I would pick him every time in a draft and I would hope I drew him every time in a draw.”
Percolator
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 14 (5)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 44.54 points
Lambert’s Take: “Percolator is rank when he draws left-handers. He is very smooth when he draws left-handers. He has the same exact trip, but he fits left-handers and his bucking style lets the rider sit back and get into it when he is into your hand as long as you’re not hanging out on the outside of the spin. He has a lot of drop in the front end and that is what it makes so hard for a right-hander when he is going away from the hand. They start to make the turn and he keeps coming down and that straightens there arm and rolls their hips all the way to the outside. They get their free arm behind them and they don’t have a chance.”
Bruiser
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 4 (1)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 44.94 points
Lambert’s Take: “Bruiser is just cool. He is a young bull. He has won a lot already as a Classic bull. He is a 4-year-old this year and he just leaps into the air and spins to the left and he likes it. The only guys that have ridden him so far are great World Champion contender left-handers. Those are the only guys that have ever ridden him. He has only been ridden four times in his career and is probably a 91 average score. He has been ridden three times on the Built Ford Tough Series. He has great timing and great process. A lot like Long John, if they do things wrong he is strong enough to fling the rider from the back end over the front end. There is a little bit of intimidation there, but the great ones should really want to get on him.”
Stone Sober
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 5 (0)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 45.05 points
Lambert’s Take: “Stone Sober is one I don’t like. I don’t like him for a couple of reasons. He is claustrophobic in the chute. He hates the bucking chute. That is one thing. The other thing I don’t like about him is he has no break over. He leaps off his back feet and is way up in the air and turning back, but his front end doesn’t drop before his back. He has a flat drop. All four feet hit the ground at the same time, so that makes him not necessarily easier to ride, but it makes him a different style of a ride. It is not one that jerks riders down. It is a pogo stick type bull. He is flashy, but he is phony to me because of those two things, and I think he will give up if they ride him. He will take off. I don’t trust him. There are lots of people that love him and are real high on him. I would rather see one that isn’t as wild and impressive and won’t jump out of the chute and has 8 seconds in him. … He has such ability and such a wow factor watching him that he needs to be in the championship rounds.”
Boot Jack
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 12 (1)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 44.56 points
Lambert’s Take: “Boot Jack is just strong and kicks. He is not flashy like Stone Sober, but you can trust him. He is going to kick and spin to the right. He has a little bit of drop in his front end and he has a lot of whip to the outside. If they feel part of the inside, he will move out and drop them off the inside.
Brutus
2015 BFTS Outs (Ridden): 2 (1)
2015 BFTS Average Score: 44.88 points
Lambert’s Take: “(Bruiser and Brutus) are 4 and both are the same. You can say the same thing about both bulls. Brutus is strong up and down around the left, can go the other way and he just gets the job done every time. If they ride him, they are going to be 90 or really close, but most of them aren’t going to ride him.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
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