Lambert: ‘It is harder for a bull to make the World Finals than a rider’

By: Justin Felisko

PUEBLO, Colo. – There is going to be no better showcase of bull power than the 2020 PBR World Finals in Arlington, Texas, on Nov. 12-15, and the PBR’s four-legged athletes will certainly not disappoint their fans inside AT&T Stadium.

PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert finalized his list of PBR World Finals bulls for the four-day competition in Texas last week, selecting 96 of the best buckers in the world. That decision was that much harder than past seasons because of the PBR shortening the World Finals from six rounds of competition to five when it had to move the Finals from Las Vegas to the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

“It takes a tougher bull to make it this year,” Lambert said prior to finishing his list. “I normally select 105 to 110 bulls, and this year it is (96). It takes an even better bull this year than any year. There are so many great bulls that won’t make it.

“It is harder for a bull to make the World Finals than a rider to make it.”

That is not a disservice or a discredit to how tough it is for the Top 35 bull riders in the world to qualify for the World Finals, but rather a compliment to the strength of the bull power throughout North America.

Lambert, one of the PBR’s 20 co-founders, has always had one primary objective when it comes to selecting bulls for the PBR’s World Finals.

 
Lambert wants the rankest bulls possible at the World Finals to give the PBR’s best bull riders the greatest opportunity to earn the highest score and win the most amount of money over the course of the four-day competition.

“We just pick the best bulls in the world,” Lambert told Janie Johnson on the Cowboy Channel last week. “Really, that is the foundation of the PBR. We have always promised the best bull riders in the world matched up against the best bulls in the world. We never turn down one because he bucks too hard. We just take the very best there is. This year has been a strange year in every which way.

“It is the toughest year I have ever seen to get a bull to the PBR Finals because we have one less performance, so we don’t have as many outs. That is what it is.”

The ABBI will also send its Top 15 bulls to buck at the PBR World Finals following the 2020 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals on Nov. 6-7 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Top 3 bulls in the ABBI Classic standings heading into the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center are Woopaa (Barker Bulls), Ridin Solo (Cord McCoy/Steve Best) and Top Shelf (OK Carralis / Gordon / D&H Cattle).

Reigning Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Berger leads the way with 17 of his bulls making Lambert’s list for the World Finals. Leading the pack for Berger and his partners is No. 2 YETI World Champion Bull contender Smooth Operator, who is making his seventh appearance at the World Finals.

 
“I am just so glad we are having a Finals,” Berger said. “This has been a crazy year with everything. I hope we don’t have to go through anything like this one again. Arlington will be just fine, but I guess I just love Vegas. I have been pretty spoiled there, getting a ride right up to the front door.”

Next in line for most bulls selected is J.W. Hart and his partners at Hart Cattle Company with 11. I’m Legit Too (Hart Cattle/Hale/Bloyd), who is No. 4 in the World Champion Bull race, will be attempting to make a late push at the World Championship, or potentially the $25,000 Bull of the Finals event title, at his third World Finals appearance.

I’m Legit Too ended the regular season with an impressive 46.25-point score against J.B. Mauney (7.25 seconds) in Nampa, Idaho.

D&H Cattle Company rounds out the Top 3 with 10 bulls selected, including YETI No. 1 World Champion Bull Contender Chiseled and the legendary, three-time World Champion SweetPro’s Bruiser. Chiseled won the PBR’s $25,000 regular season bull title and was most recently named the PRCA’s Bull of the Year. The 5-year-old may become the third bull all time, joining Bruiser and 1995 PBR World Champion Bodacious, to win championships in both associations in the same season.

Chiseled and Smooth Operator will enter the World Finals as the top two ranked bulls on the planet, separated by a slim 0.03 points. Chiseled holds a 46.16-point world average, while Smooth Operator’s average at the conclusion of the regular season was 46.13 points.

The 2020 YETI World Champion Bull receives a $100,000 bonus. The champ will be the animal with the highest average bull score from their top eight regular-season outs and two outs at the PBR World Finals.

Meanwhile, Spotted Demon will be the oldest qualifier this year at 12 years old. This will be his seventh, and last, PBR Finals after qualifying for his first in 2013.

Big Black of K-Bar-C Bucking Bulls is headed to his fourth World Finals after putting up four 90-point rides on the premier series in 2020, which is tied with Sky Harbor of Berger Bucking Bulls for the most in the PBR this season.

 
The complete list of 2020 PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast bulls, with the exception of the to be determined ABBI Classic animal athletes are:

Lonesome Fugitive (Bierema Rodeo Inc.)
Sugar Boom Boom (Cornwell Bucking Bulls/Circle G)
The Undertaker (Cornwell Bucking Bulls)
Secret Weapon (444 Bucking Bulls/Stockyards/Winston/Durham/Davis/Melton)
Party Animal (Stockyards/Pritchett Ranch/Melton Bull Co.)
Soy El Fuego (Stockyards/Scott Winston/Melton Bull Co.)
Boogie Bomb (Bland Bucking Bulls/Cooper)
Monkey (Cooper/Scruggs Bucking Bulls)
Jasper (Wentz Bucking Bulls/Aces Wild Pro Rodeo)
Red Clark (Wentz Bucking Bulls/Aces Wild Pro Rodeo)
War Fury (Diamond G Rodeos Inc.)
Skeeter Peter (Owens/Wyatt/Smith)
Bullseye (Mears/Owens)
Two Socks (Owens/Wyatt/Smith)
Crossover (Hodges/Shuler)
Magic Poison (Frontier Rodeo Company)
Hooch (Frontier Rodeo Company)
Strange Cargo (Jane Clark/Gene Owen)
Zorro (Jane Clark/Gene Owen)
Lil 2 Train (Jane Clark/Gene Owen)
American Gangster (Jane Clark/Gene Owen)
Struttin Stuff (Jane Clark/Gene Owen)
Fearless (D&H Cattle/Buck Cattle/Tommy Julian)
Ain’t Easy Being Me (D&H Cattle/Craig Moore)
SweetPro’s Bruiser (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.)
Heartbreak Kid (D&H Cattle/Buck Cattle/Erwin Cattle)
Frequent Flyer (D&H Cattle/Erwin Cattle)
Chiseled (Flinn/D&H Cattle Co.)
Hocus Pocus (D&H Cattle/Almand/Lone Star/Outlaw)
Flight Risk (D&H Cattle Company)
Sharon’s Lil’ Twister (Glover Cattle/D&H Cattle Co.)
Honey Man (D&H Cattle Co./Buck Cattle Co.)
Choctaw Bingo (Rickey West Bucking Bulls/Hatcher Porter)
Bullseye (Rickey West Bucking Bulls)
Night Hawk (Martinez Bucking Bulls, LLC)
Born To Sin (Martinez Bucking Bulls, LLC)
Bronstad’s Boomer (JD Nix Rodeo Co.)
Sugar (JD Nix Rodeo Co.)
Spotted Demon (Julio Moreno/Dallas Schott)
Marquis Metal Works Bill The Butcher (Paradigm Bull Co./Marquis Metal Works)
@PBR on TikTok (Paradigm Bull Company)
Zero Time (Paradigm Bull Company)
Total Feeds Bushwacked (Ohl/Herb/McDowell/Comozzi)
Buckin’ For Cash (Paradigm Bull Company)
Hostage (Hart Cattle Co./Hale/Randy Wood)
Uncle Gangster (Ogden Ranch/Hart Cattle Co.)
Silent Night (Hart Cattle Co./Randy Wood)
Canadian Mist (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.)
Louisville Slugger (Hart Cattle/Ogden/Generations)
Oz (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.)
Smooth Over (Hart Cattle/GT Bucking Bulls)
I’m Legit Too (Hart Cattle Co./Hale/Bloyd)
CopperPoint Swagger (Hart Cattle Co./Hale)
Medicine Man (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.)
Milk Man (TNT Bucking Bulls/Hart Cattle Co.)
Big Black (K-C Bucking Bulls/Joe & Nina Webb)
Preachers Kid (K-C Bucking Bulls/RD Cattle)
I’m A Secret (K-C Bucking Bulls/Bull Creek Bucking Bulls)
Apper’s Mind Freak (Jo-Z Bucking Bulls/K-C Bucking Bulls/Spark-Lin Acres)
Bezerk (BMC Bucking Bulls/Jenkins Cattle Co.)
Night Shift (L&E Bull Company/Crazy 8 Cattle/FT Bulls)
Drago (M Rafter E Bucking Bulls)
Vertigo Spy (Vold Rodeo)
Jayded (Vold Rodeo/Prescott)
Mr. Clean (Cottonwood Bucking Bulls, LLC)
Mr. Majestic (Cord McCoy/Bruce Wold/HR Bulls)
Blue Crush (Cord McCoy/Chad Reese)
Rocky (Cord McCoy/Ronnie Chism Farm & Ranch)
Shownuff (Blake Sharp/Henry Wilson)
Slingin Tears (Blake Sharp/Henry Wilson/Caveman Bucking Bulls)
Millennium’s Buck (Torres Brothers Bucking Bulls LLC)
Rebel Call (Torres Brothers Bucking Bulls LLC)
Drifter (Nunes Livestock/L&B Bucking Bulls)
Solid Iron’s Hammer Down (Triplett Bucking Bulls/Bergadhl Bucking Bulls)
Bentley (Viducic Bucking Bulls)
Slingin Lead (Viducic Bucking Bulls)
Smooth Operator (Dakota Rodeo/Julie Rosen/Clay Struve/Chad Berger)
Short Night (Dakota Rodeo-Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Ken Barnhard)
The Right Stuff (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Diamond Willow)
Sky Harbor (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Wilks Ranch)
Red Dawn (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls)
Trail of Tears (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/MAGA Cattle/Roper Angus)
Biker Bob (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/H&C Bucking Bulls)
Soup in a Group (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Wilks Ranch)
Jive Turkey (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/MAGA Cattle/Roper Angus)
Safety Meeting (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Hruby/Kainz)
Stretch (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls)
Foghorn Leghorn (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/WSM Auctioneers)
I’m Busted (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/L5 Bucking Bulls)
Good Night Robicheaux (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Diamond Willow)
Speed Demon (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls)
Talking Smack (Dakota Rodeo-Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Ken Barnhard)
Big Black Cat (Dakota Rodeo/Chad Berger/Clay Struve/Heald Pro Bulls)
Nailed (Kruger Bucking Bulls)
Chain Smoker (Kruger Bucking Bulls)
Losing My Religion (Kruger Bucking Bulls)

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