Scaredy Cat Passes Away at 16 Years Old

PUEBLO, Colo. – Guilherme Marchi arrived at the Thomas & Mack Center in 2008 with one goal.  Marchi was ready to finally get over the hump and win that illusive PBR World Champion gold buckle that had evaded him since he first arrived in the United States in 2004.

Marchi got things started at the 2008 PBR World Finals with an emphatic 90.25-point ride on Scaredy Cat in Round 1, setting the tone for the rest of Finals and showing everyone in attendance that 2008 was finally going to be his year.

“Scaredy Cat was a really good bull,” Marchi recalled on Friday morning from Brazil. “I remember in 2008, I chose him for my draft and I rode him for 90.25 points. He was a really good bull. He was a bucker. He was right around there and blew up with a lot of kick and a lot of air.

“He was a nice bull.”

Reigning Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Berger announced on Friday that Scaredy Cat (Berger/Struve/Denny Hawks) had passed away this week because of natural causes.

Scaredy Cat was 16 years old.

“He was one of the coolest bulls I ever owned,” Berger said. “I have so many photos of him at home with him bucking as high as the bucking chutes.”

Marchi was one of the many riders that benefitted tremendously whenever they nodded their head aboard Scaredy Cat (26-36, BFTS) inside the PBR arena.

Riders averaged 88.12 points per ride in the 36 qualified riders Scaredy Cat surrendered.

Seven riders earned 90 points or higher, including L.J. Jenkin’s 92-point ride at the 2008 BFTS event in Des Moines, Iowa, and an additional nine riders scored in the 89-point range.

Sean Willingham (91.25 points), Valdiron de Oliveira (90.5 points), Wiley Petersen (90.5 points), Mark Lopes (90.25 points) and Justin McBride (90 points) also reached the 90-point level with Scaredy Cat.

2011 PRCA champion Shane Proctor rode Scaredy Cat for 90 points at the 2009 Touring Pro Division event in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Marchi explained Scaredy Cat was a bull that riders loved to get on.

“He was a bull the riders wanted to draw every time,” said Marchi, who was 3-for-3 against Scaredy Cat. “You knew if you rode him, you would get a good score, like 88-89-90 points, all the time.”

Berger retired Scaredy Cat in 2011 following a six-year career on the Built Ford Tough Series.

Scaredy Cat debuted on the BFTS in 2005 at the Grand Rapids, Michigan, with a 4.3-second buckoff of 2004 World Champion Mike Lee.

“He was so showy,” Berger said. “He would leap so high into the air. He rode good. They rode him a lot. He was in the (championship round) most of the time. The only knock on him was he was a little small. He never got too wide or big.”

Scaredy Cat qualified for the PBR World Finals four times and averaged 43.86 points during his BFTS career. He also competed once at the National Finals Rodeo, bucking off Jarrod Ford in 2006.

According to ProBullstats.com, Scaredy Cat produced six round wins for riders.

He hit the 46-point threshold once in his career when he bucked off Dustin Hall in 2.1 seconds in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 2006.

“He was quite the animal,” Berger concluded.