Pacheco Redefining What it Means to be the Ice Man

By: Justin Felisko

OKLAHOMA CITY – 2018 World Champion Kaique Pacheco was sitting aboard 2019 ABBI Classic Champion Chiseled inside the bucking chutes on Saturday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena when he closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

It is not uncommon for Pacheco to close his eyes in the moments before he is set to ride. He is focused on himself and the 1,500-2,000-pound bovine opponent that is beneath him.

Pacheco tries to block everything else out of his mind.

It is only man vs. beast.

“When I am preparing for my ride, I just close my eyes and hear everything, but I try not to think about anything else,” Pacheco said. “I am just here, in the moment. I don’t see what happens.”

However, Pacheco is human, and even he could hear the roar of the Chesapeake Energy Arena crowd when 2020 World Champion Jose Vitor Leme rode Top Shelf for 92.5 points to take the lead in the 15/15 Bucking Battle.

Leme’s electric ride was the latest statement from the defending World Champion, who is currently the No. 2-ranked bull rider in the world, that he is on a full-speed march toward winning a second consecutive gold buckle.

The main problem for Leme right now, though, may just be Pacheco.

Pacheco heard Leme’s heroics, but he was unrattled.

It did not faze him one bit. Nor did Joao Ricardo Vieira’s 91-point ride on Diddy Wa Diddy, which Pacheco watched on the big screen in between his stretches on the back of the chutes.

Some could say Vieira and Leme put pressure on Pacheco, yet pressure was far from the world No. 1 bull rider’s mind on Saturday night.

Leme and Vieira’s rides were merely white noise.

So how did Pacheco respond? With the best ride of his premier series career.

Pacheco won the 15/15 Bucking Battle with a career-high 94 points on Chiseled in a true showcase of his cold-blooded approach to the 2021 World Championship race.

His ride was nothing short of a loud response to Leme and Vieira.

“I don’t pay attention to that. It doesn’t matter to me,” Pacheco said. “If I do my job, I get a good score, make points and stay at the top of the standings. I am happy if people think that (I made a statement). All the bull riders here want to be a World Champion. The competition is good too, but we need help. Everybody. We can’t ride our bulls by ourselves. The other guys help you. They pull the rope, spot for you.

“But when the gate opens, it is an individual sport.”

Every rider, though, needs the perfect bovine dance partner, and Chiseled was just that.

Chiseled, who began the night tied atop the 2021 YETI World Champion Bull standings, was marked 45.25 points.

“I am very happy I had the opportunity to ride him today,” Pacheco said. “He is an excellent bull. That is tied for the best score of my career. My first one was (SweetPro’s) Bruiser – 94 (points on the Velocity Tour) – second is Chiseled; 94 too. Both bulls from H.D. Page. He is great. I had an opportunity to pick Chiseled a couple of events ago (in Kansas City), but in that moment, I thought it was better to pick Hocus Pocus.

“Another bull from H.D. Page,” Pacheco added before laughing.

Pacheco tipped his hat to Leme and Vieira on the dirt on Saturday night.

“I am really happy for them guys (Leme and Vieira), too,” Pacheco said. “They make their jobs and make good scores. All the bull riders are here for that. That is the PBR.”

Pacheco put his ride on Chiseled right up there with his previous ride on three-time World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser as the best of his career.

Pacheco rode Bruiser for 94 points at the Stormy Wing / Kasey Hayes Invitational Velocity Tour event in Guymon, Oklahoma, on July 25, 2015.

The ride was a major statement from Pacheco six years ago that he was not your average rookie and that he was going to try to challenge J.B. Mauney for the 2015 World Championship.

In fact, Leme said Pacheco’s ride on Chiseled this weekend is the kind of ride he remembers watching Pacheco make when he was still in Brazil and Pacheco was just beginning to ride in the United States.

“Well, he is not No. 1 in the world for just any other reason,” Leme said. “He is a special guy. He rides really good. Today, he show what he is. This was his best. Before I came here, I saw him ride like this. Aggressive. Then he stopped riding like that. I saw him more aggressive, like today.”

Leme sought out Pacheco in the locker room after the 15/15 Bucking Battle to congratulate him.

“I told him today after the event I see the same thing I saw before I came here,” Leme said. “That is the Kaique Pacheco I know – an aggressive bull rider. That is why he is a World Champion.”

Pacheco is now tied with Vieira for the most 15/15 Bucking Battle career victories (six).

The 26-year-old has been nicknamed the Ice Man during his seven-year career, but Saturday night was next-level Pacheco.

His focus and finish were nothing short of the kind of performance you would expect from him later this season at T-Mobile Arena during the PBR World Finals with a world title on the line.

Pacheco knows his World Championship aspirations rest squarely on his shoulders.

Pacheco’s shoulders, of course, appear very capable of handling any mounting pressure that may be thrown his way in the coming months.

“You just need to focus on your job,” Pacheco concluded. “If you ride your bulls, you will be at the top.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media

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