Tuff Hedeman Taps Unridden Bull for $10,000 Bounty in Season Opener

Red Wilks Construction Bull Bash presented by the South Dakota State Fair

HURON, South Dakota – (August 28, 2017) – Four time World Champion bull rider, Pro Rodeo Hall of Famer, and CBR Chute Boss, Tuff Hedeman, announced today he has selected the unridden 243 Breaking Bad owned by Lyndal Hurst (Hurst Pro Rodeo Bulls) for the CBR Bounty Bull on night one of Wednesday night’s competition of the Red Wilks Construction Bull Bash at the South Dakota State Fair in Huron.

An eight second ride aboard the famed Texas bucking bull will earn the top scoring bull rider in the Wednesday night’s performance a $10,000 paycheck that Tuff Hedeman and the CBR are anxious to award to the first bull rider who hears the whistle while still on this famed bucker’s back.

On the record there are 25 recorded professional outs on this bull including two unridden attempts at the CBR World Finals at Cheyenne Frontier Days where Denton Fugate and Cody Jesus bucked off of him. Six time World Champion Sage Kimzey bucked off 243 at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. Fugate has the longest recorded pro out on the bull when he rode him 6.22 seconds in Cheyenne in July of 2016.

“Watching a bull being born on our ranch that we raised from its first trip as a two year old and now at the top of his career is the most rewarding feeling ever, watching him work his way thru the system – that is the most rewarding feeling ever,” said breeder, owner, and trainer – Lyndal Hurst of Lubbock, Texas.

CBR will bring 24 of the best bull riders in the country and pit them against the top bulls on tour to kick off their 2016-17 Road to Cheyenne nationwide televised tour and for the twelfth consecutive year CBR selected the South Dakota State Fair as their first event for the new season.

The Red Wilk Construction CBR Bull Bash presented by the South Dakota State Fair will begin on August 31 at 8 PM with the CBR Horizon Series event which will include a long round and Breaking Bad as the bounty bull worth $10,000 to the bull rider if he can hang on for eight seconds.

Thursday night’s lineup will follow the CBR’s three round tournament style format which is popular with fans as it allows them to see their favorite riders challenge as many as three bulls in one night. As the bull riders progress each earning money for their qualified rides, the final four man Shoot Out round determines the winner.

The action gets underway at 8 p.m. with 24 bull riders doing their best to stay on for eight seconds

243 BREAKING BAD

In July he was the CBR World Finals Bounty Bull and last December he represented Hurst Ranch at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas where he bucked five time World Champion Sage Kimzey off in round 2 in four seconds and again he triumphed in round 8 against Tim Bingham – again in four seconds.

In livestock terms one would describe this 2017 CBR bucking bull of the year nominee bovine athlete as a “double bred Hurst.”

Ask a bull rider you will hear some combination of the following facts – he is a five year old bull out of Lyndal Hurst’s favorite home grown bucker and famed sire Mooseknuckle. If you draw him it probably doesn’t matter if you are left handed, right handed, a rookie or a veteran – it is highly unlikely you will ride him and according to Hurst he is unpredictable.

“He will have one of three trips – either one with two big jumps out of the chute – but he can go to the right or to the left – or he can turn back hard and fast upon leaving the chute,” said Hurst.

Tuff Hedeman thought enough of this bull to nominate him for CBR Bull of the Year. Bull riders who have had a shot at 243 while competing in CBR over the past two seasons include CBR World Finals Event winner, Cody Jesus, Horizon Champion Koby Radley, 2014 CBR World Finals average winner Neil Holmes, Wyatt Rogers, Denton Fugate, and CBR’s #2 gunner, Eli Vastbinder who was the first attempted rider in 2016 in El Paso.

243 bucked in Window Rock, Fort Worth, Del Rio, and Cheyenne on the 2017 CBR Road to Cheyenne and the longest recorded attempt in CBR competition was 4.43 and came from Neil Holmes at the Fort Worth CBR in April.

“He got stronger and stronger this season and in the last CBR event in Del Rio on April 29, he was the best I have seen him – he just got better and better with each rotation,” said Hurst in describing his last out against Koby Radley.

Serving as this year’s poster child for Lyndal Hurst’s thirty year old bred to buck program, 243 Breaking Bad is a son of Mooseknuckle, a grandson of M-17 – sired by Houdini. Hurst 243 is the damn.

Veteran CBR rider Cody Rostockyj has seen this bull go several times and says left handers might have a better chance of riding him, but the bull remains unridden after 25 recorded professional outs in three different associations. He has never been covered in a professional sanctioned events including CBR, PRCA and PBR attempts.

While it is difficult to measure an unridden bull, statistics show two of his rankest trips have been his most recent. He posted a 47 bull score at the PRCA Extreme in San Antonio when Adam Lucero attempted him in February and he marked a 46.5 in Del Rio in April while bucking off top ten CBR cowboy Koby Radley.

“He will have one of two trips, he will either blow big coming out and then go left and just buck with good timing, or he will throw in a belly roll, which got me loose, and then he beat me around the corner,” said Wyatt Rogers after losing the contest with 243 on the Road to Cheyenne tour event in Window Rock, Arizona.

Eight times the big white bull has round wins with his best recorded out being 47 points in San Antonio at the San Antonino Livestock Show and rodeo sanctioned by PRCA.

The best advice from the bull riders who have attempted 243 is to stay small and stay close to him as possible, until you make the corner – where he usually levels out – with the emphasis on the word usually.

Who does Lyndal Hurst think might be able to ride the bucking beast from Lubbock, Texas?

“It’s hard to say, Denton Fugate is riding really well and had the longest trip on him here last year, Boudreaux Campbell has not been on him and he’s riding hot right now too, but I really think a smaller bull rider like Sage Kimzey and Chandler Bownds fit him because of his speed and intensity as he turns back,” said Hurst upon hearing Hedeman had selected his bull for the prestigious position in Cheyenne.

The Red Wilk Construction Bull Bash will be held at the South Dakota State Fairgrounds, 890 3rd Street SW, Huron, SD 57530. Tickets start at $12 for youth and $17 for adults and are available by calling 866-605-FAIR, or online www.sdstatefair.com. For more information regarding CBR and for media credentials or interviews please contact Leigh Ann Schroeder, 940.902.1112 or leighann@theshortround.com.

Editor’s Notes: The rider who is the highest average score Wednesday night will be the bull rider to advance to attempt 243 Breaking Bad. If he rides him for 8 seconds he will be awarded a $10,000 check from CBR.

Courtesy of CBR