Decatur to Showcase BFTS Caliber Bulls
By: Slade Long May 30, 2014@ 10:00:00 AM
Pound the Alarm is scheduled to buck at the J.W. Hart PBR Challenge Saturday night. Photo by Andy Watson / BullStockMedia.com.
PUEBLO, Colo. ― When J.W. Hart kicks off his annual PBR Touring Pro Division event in Decatur, Texas, tomorrow, fans in attendance or watching on PBR LIVE will get to see a first class set of bulls.
There is a fundamental difference between PBR Built Ford Tough Series events and TPD level events, and that is that the bulls as a group are typically much better at the highest level. Most of the PBR’s best bulls do go to Touring Pro events from time to time, but typically you will only find one or two BFTS short-round bulls at the average TPD event.
Hart’s event is one of the few TPD level events that feature a full-blown set of the highest quality bulls around. Hart has consistently tried to use the rankest bulls he can get, and the J.W. Hart PBR Challenge has become known for the strength of the bulls in the draw.
“That was always my mentality when I rode,” Hart explained. “I wanted to get on the best bulls. When I started putting on bull ridings, I wanted to put the best bulls in there. The bulls are just as big a part of bull riding as the cowboys and I want as rank a pen of bulls as I can get. I don’t want to put together an average set of bulls and try to sell it as something more.”
The bulls set for the short round in Decatur represent a “who’s who” of Built Ford Tough Series short-round caliber bulls including Jack Daniel’s After Party, David’s Dream, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, Pound the Alarm and Stone Sober. Hart sees Stone Sober as a potential contender for World Champion Bull once Bushwacker and Asteroid retire.
“He’s got every tool that it takes to be world class,” said Hart. I don’t know if he has the mindset sometimes, but he’s just 5 years old. He’s got all the potential in the world, but he’ll be tested in the years to come, and he’ll have to learn to finish as well as he starts. I saw him earlier this month in Stephenville and he was really rank there – as good as I’ve ever seen him be.”
One less experienced short-round bull has an interesting story. Jerome Davis’s up-and-coming bull Freakster has a little history with Hart.
“Jerome was out here about five years ago and he picked up a heifer he had bought from somewhere in this area,” said Hart. “He stayed over at my house before heading back, so he brought the cow with him, and we put her in a pen to stay while they were here. Well, before they loaded her up to go home, it turns out she had a baby calf. So, they put the baby calf up in the neck of the trailer and hauled them back to North Carolina. And it turns out that the baby calf they had here grew up to be the bull they are bringing to be in the short round in Decatur tomorrow.”
The long round at Hart’s event will be an ABBI Classic round, typical of the ABBI classic rounds we see at some Built Ford Tough Series events, and the top ABBI 3- and 4-year-old bulls are all going to be in Decatur, including the Page’s Long John and Margy Time, and Jared Allen’s Magic Train. The top three bulls from the ABBI Spring Fling in Stephenville will also be in Decatur. Boyd & Floyd’s Pearl Harbor and two more Page Bulls – Brutus and Dumber – will be ones to watch.
On top of all that, Asteroid and Shepherd Hills Tested will face J.B. Mauney and J.W. Harris, respectively, in a special match ride. So, if you’ve been missing the top PBR bulls, be sure to catch them in Decatur, Texas, or on PBR LIVE Saturday at 8 p.m. CT.
Follow Slade Long on Twitter @ProBullStats.
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