Frost Ready for Dream Matchup Against Ridin Solo
By: Justin Felisko
FORT WORTH, Texas – Josh Frost stood on the back of the bucking chutes inside Dickies Arena on Friday night and glanced up towards the rafters where 19 banners hung from the ceiling with pictures of every World Champion in PBR history.
Frost is competing at the PBR World Finals for the first time in his career, and he became the first rider to record a qualified ride at the inaugural World Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, when he rode Big Wave for 88.75 points to finish Round 1 in sixth place.
“It’s awesome. There is a lot of energy in this building,” Frost said. “This is what you dream of since you were a little kid. This is what you dream of and visualize. You’ve got all the World Champions I grew up watching hanging up in the rafters. I had a good bull. He wasn’t as smooth as he was in a couple of videos I’ve seen – he threw a little at me, but this is where you hang it all out on the line.
“You can use the energy of this place to supercharge you, and I feel like that’s what I tried to do, and it worked out alright.”
The No. 3-ranked bull rider in the PRCA and 2021 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo bull riding event winner qualified for the World Finals last weekend with a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.
There is always intrigue and curiosity whenever a PRCA bull rider competes in the PBR, especially when a rodeo rider first dips their feet into the PBR water.
However, there have been plenty of instances in recent memory where riders with PRCA experience thrive in the PBR setting. Two years ago, Boudreaux Campbell, then the No. 3-ranked bull rider in the PRCA, went 4-for-5 to win the PBR World Finals and 2020 Rookie of the Year title.
No bull rider has qualified for both the World Finals and the NFR since Campbell pulled off the impressive double.
“I don’t know if I would say there is a target on my back, but there is dang sure the stereotype that rodeo guys don’t get on as rank of bulls as PBR guys, but we see the same bulls all the time,” Frost said. “At the NFR, every bull there has PBR outs or been to the PBR Finals. It is nothing I haven’t been on before. If anything, it is the bulls I dream of drawing. I am super blessed to be here.”
On Saturday night in Round 2 of the PBR World Finals (8 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network), Frost now has the chance to make quite the statement after selecting co-world No. 1 YETI World Champion Bull contender Ridin Solo with the sixth pick of the draft.
If you want to talk about rank bulls, look no further than Ridin Solo.
The Cord McCoy superstar bull has bucked off six cowboys in a row and is in thick competition with Woopaa for the 2022 YETI World Championship. Ridin Solo has only been ridden twice this season in 11 outs and seven times in 42 outs at all levels of competition in his career.
“I’ve been seeing him for a long time, and he’s one I think’s going to fit me super good,” Frost said. “He’s real electric in the gate to the left and probably going to switch directions. I’m here to win first, and I think he’s the one to do it on.
“Whenever you get a chance to get on a great bull like that, it’s what you dream of. I did it on Chiseled, did it on Hocus Pocus. I’ve been in this situation several times before, and that’s why I picked him. Because there’s no better feeling than picking the rankest bull in the pen and sticking it on him.”
Ridin Solo and Woopaa are tied with a World Champion Bull average (Top 6 outs) of 46.29 points from the regular season.
The 2022 YETI World Champion Bull will be the animal with the highest average bull score from their top-six regular-season outs and two outs at the PBR World Finals.
Woopaa has a monster matchup against 2019 Rookie of the Year Dalton Kasel in Round 2.
McCoy, though, believes Ridin Solo and Frost may also be good watching.
“Josh is coming in on a hot streak, and he picked him,” McCoy said. “Josh has the confidence I think it takes to ride Solo. Frost vs. Solo is going to be one heck of a matchup. Both athletes are at the top of their game. This just may be the first of several matches over the next several years between these two.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media
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