Cowboys Eye Payday at Redding (Calif.) Rodeo This Weekend
When bull rider Jordan Spears competes at the Redding (Calif.) Rodeo this weekend, he’ll see plenty of familiar faces.
Spears, 28, lived in the Northern California city for the first 25 years of his life.
“I’ve never won Redding, but I have placed there quite a few times,” said Spears, who now lives in Caldwell, Idaho. “It’s always super exciting to go back home and see all your friends and family and all the people who have seen you since you were little. When they announce your name, you can hear the crowd roar and feel the energy in the arena.
“The hometown rodeo is always a little harder because you want to do well there and not let all your people down.”
Spears is competing Saturday night in Redding and will get aboard Corey & Lange Rodeo’s Big Racks of Money.
“I don’t know much at all about that bull, which I prefer, because you keep it simple and don’t overthink anything,” Spears said. “It is one of Mike Corey’s, and I get on all his bulls and they have great bulls. This time of year, they are usually cracking out some of the younger ones, and I have a good feeling this one will buck pretty hard.”
After being canceled in 2020 because of COVID-19, the Redding Rodeo returns May 13-15.
“I grew up going to the Redding Rodeo,” Spears said. “I dreamed of competing in the PRCA and competing at the Redding Rodeo. There’s so much history there with Lane Frost and Red Rock in the bull riding, and it’s just a prestigious rodeo that’s a huge deal in the town. It would be awesome if I could win it.”
The Redding Rodeo was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2016 and has a storied history.
Originally known as the Shasta County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo until a name change in 1983, the Redding Rodeo saw Frost become the first cowboy to ride ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull Red Rock on May 20, 1988.
The ProRodeo Tour stop will be broadcast live on The Cowboy Channel and streamed on the PRCA on Cowboy Channel Plus App at 10 p.m. (ET) each day.
Five-time world champion steer wrestler Luke Branquinho also is thrilled to be competing in Redding again. The California native has won the event four times (2003, 2010, 2012 and 2014).
“Redding has always been one of my favorites,” said Branquinho, 40, who is scheduled to compete Friday morning. “After you have your great spring rodeos in Clovis (Calif.) and Red Bluff (Calif.) and all those, Redding is kind of the end of the spring run for a lot of guys. It (Redding) is always one I have had success at, and it’s always been one of my favorites.”
Courtesy of PRCA