At an ordinary PBR event, roughly 40 percent of the bulls are ridden. At the World Cup, each team captain is tasked with coaxing a 60 percent average out of his team – or as close to it as he can get. This seems like a simple task. It is not. It also seems impossible, given the numbers. But it is not impossible, either. Two teams, Brazil and the USA, have a chance to get six out of 10 bulls ridden each night with a little help from lady luck … and their captains.

Since I don’t know what bulls will be matched with what riders, we will just cover the best strategies for each team and its pool of bulls for that round. The official buck order could change this somewhat, and I am not sure if the team captains will be aware of what the buck order is before they match their riders to their bulls.

The Teams

Team USA: The most important factor captain J.W. Hart will have to deal with is that his entire team rides left-handed. He will need to draw away from several bulls that are bad for left-handed riders. Fortunately, there are more bulls around that are favorable for lefties than vice-versa. Hart also needs Travis Briscoe to be hot, McKennon Wimberly to be healthy, and Ryan McConnel, Austin Meier and Mike Lee to be themselves.

Team Brazil: The big question for Team Brazil: How good is Paolo Ferreira anyway? If team captain Adriano Moraes chose him over Fabiano Vieira, he is probably no slouch. I did find out that Ferreira is a lefty, and that is good for the team. The better news is that Team Brazil is so strong, they can win this event even if Ferreira goes 1-for-6. Moraes has a lot of options, and he may choose to use Ferreira and Silvano Alves against the tougher bulls and save the wear and tear on Guilherme Marchi and Robson Palermo, who are sore coming in. After all the controversy about Renato Nunes being on the team, it turns out he will be a pivotal player. If he rides 4 of 6 here in Vegas, chances are that Team Brazil will win this event easily.

Team Canada: The biggest difficulty for Team Canada to overcome is that they only have one rider, Aaron Roy, with a career riding average of more than 40 percent. Roy will have to carry the team if they are going to be any kind of challenge to the USA or Brazil. Newcomer Tyler Thomson will also have to come up big, because he is the only left-handed rider on Team Canada, and they will need him to come through with scores on bulls that are easier for lefties.

Team Australia: Other than the fact that most of their riders are not quite as strong as those on Team USA or Brazil, Team Australia is well-balanced. They have a very good right-handed rider in Brendon Clark, and although they have two guys who are below a 30-percent career riding percentage, one of them, Pete Farley, has a history as a giant killer.

Team Mexico: With Hugo Pedrero unable to compete due to injuries, Team Mexico is lacking in depth. I don’t know anything about newcomer Lorenzo Rios, but both he and Gustavo Pedrero will need to really shine here to keep Team Mexico out of last place.

************************************************

Round 1

Team Brazil’s Bull Pool for Round 1
Team Brazil didn’t draw the best pool of bulls for getting scores here, but they are strong enough to post three scores in any pen.

4795 Husker’s Terror: This is an obvious choice for Renato Nunes. Moraes needs to put a left-handed rider on him, and Nunes has already ridden him twice in three attempts.

518 MoeBandy.com: This bull has a tendency to go either way. The past two times he was ridden he went to the left, and was really good. Right-handed riders have had a lot of success on him as well. This should be a good match for Robson Palermo.

612B Insaniac: This bull hasn’t faced any left-handed riders, but he’s been ridden 3-for-7 by right-handed guys. Marchi may be a good fit here for a sure score.

606 Oscar the Grouch: We know very little about this bull, other than that he was 45 points in Fresno against Stormy Wing. The best bet may be to match him up with Alves, because they need a lefty on Paycheck.

532 Paycheck: Moraes needs to put a lefty on this bull, because he is going to be a tough task for any right-handed guy. He doesn’t really fit Nunes, and he is going to be strong, so you need the healthiest lefty, er, left, and that’s Ferreira.

Team Canada’s Bull Pool for Round 1
Team Canada captain Cody Snyder will look at this pool and wish he had two Aaron Roys. And if that’s possible, why not make Aaron Roy 2.0 ambidextrous? But even without that, Team Canada has a good chance to get three bulls ridden here, and they need to jump on it.

514 Top Notch: Team Canada drew well in Round 1. They need to use their big gun here. Aaron Roy was 91.75 on Top Notch at the World Finals. Roy has also ridden Hot Tamale and has come down from two other bulls in Canada’s Round 1 pool.

-17 Drill Baby Drill: This is a bull who is a much better fit for a left-hander, so they will need to use Tyler Thomson here. Right-handed guys are 0-for-15 on Drill Baby Drill.

421 Velvet Elvis: This is one bull they really need to exploit for a score. He is the best bull to ride in their pool, and is better for right-handed guys. It’s on team captain Cody Snyder to distribute his three guys over the three remaining bulls, but he needs to err on the side of making sure this one gets ridden.

32S Hot Tamale: Like Velvet Elvis, this bull is pretty good to ride, and should be a good fit for whomever is available.

CC Chicken on Chain: This bull isn’t really a good fit for anyone on this team. He’s tossed Vince Northrop and Roy before. The best rider available for him is Northrop, but if I were picking, I might put Scott Schiffner here and use Northrop on Velvet Elvis. Schiffner has the most experience out of this group, but his career riding percentage is the weakest.

Team Mexico’s Bull Pool for Round 1
Team Mexico could come out of Round 1 with only one ride, but they need to make sure they get at least one. The rest of their bulls are not pushovers.

300 Foolish Pride: For Team Mexico to keep up with the other teams, they need to make sure this bull gets ridden. He is their best shot at a score, and they need a right-handed guy on him.

31 Far West: and -22 Cooper: These two bulls have almost identical stats, and Team Mexico needs to use a lefty on both of them. Neither one will be easy to ride, and if they want to have a real shot at getting Carrillo Cartel ridden, they may decide to save a lefty for him.

618 Carrillo Cartel: Bucks off 80 percent of righties, and 67 percent of lefties. Compared to some of the other high-end bulls in this round, this is a good one to have in your pool.

T47 White Clay: Not a lot of history on this bull, but he has only been ridden once – last week in Nampa, Idaho, by Alves. He won’t be easy to get a score on – maybe the toughest in this round.

Team USA’s Bull Pool for Round 1
There’s no need for Hart to worry about which bulls might be better for right-handers, because he doesn’t have any. Fortunately, he has a reasonably good pool of bulls for the riders he has, and he has the best shot to get the best bull in his pool ridden. If Team USA can get three scores, they are likely to come out with the highest total on three bulls of any team.

325 Hot Stuff: Hot Stuff is a bull they need to get ridden here, but Briscoe has bucked off of him twice in the past year. McConnel or Wimberly might be a better match for him.

524 Bandolero: This bull has very little history, and hasn’t been ridden in six attempts. No one from Team USA has been on him before.

822 Mac-Nett’s Man Law: Man Law sports a 90-percent buckoff average, and he’s thrown off both Meier and Briscoe. Lee did ride him two seasons ago, but it might be a better strategy to save Lee for Black Pearl.

034 Say When: Meier is one of only five guys who have ridden this bull in 39 attempts.

250 Black Pearl: Lee is the man for this job. He has been riding well, and he rode Black Pearl for 91.25 points in Oklahoma City.

Team Australia’s Bull Pool for Round 1
Like some of the other teams, Team Australia needs to jump on every opportunity to post scores. They don’t have a lot of opportunities in this pool, and for them to stay off the bottom, a couple of guys will have to step up here.

404 Brass Cat: This is Team Canada’s best bet to get at least one bull ridden. Captain Troy Dunn needs to put a righty on him, and Ben Jones rode Brass Cat just last month in Kansas City, Mo.

W55 Real Moody: Real Moody doesn’t play favorites – he just throws off everyone. No one on Team Australia would be favored to get him ridden.

K55 Smackdown: Smackdown needs to be matched with a left-handed rider, and that means either Jared Farley or David Kennedy.

513 Class 6 Kat: This bull has only a slight statistical preference for letting left-handers make the whistle. Only three guys out of 18 have ridden him, and two of the three were lefties.

W23/3 Charlie Bullware: Charlie Bullware is another bull that no one here would be favored to ride. He doesn’t really favor right-handed or left-handed guys, but Matt Bohon is the lowest rated rider ever to get a score on Charlie Bullware. The other five guys are all statistically among the Top 50 riders in the world in terms of their career numbers. The only guy on Team Australia who has those kinds of numbers is Clark.

************************************************

Round 2

Team Canada’s Bull Pool for Round 2
The nice thing about Round 2 for the Team Canada is that Roy has been on all but one of the bulls in their pool … some of them multiple times.

42 Bird Creek: Bird Creek is a very lefty-friendly bull. Lefties ride him 70 percent of the time, and right-handed riders just never ride him at all. That suggests that Thomson ought to be the man here.

K47 Nasty Town: This is another bull who is usually a little better for left-handed riders, and Team Canada doesn’t have any to spare. However, Roy has been on Nasty Town twice, ridden him once, and took him 7.9 seconds the other time.

R16 Check Out: This bull needs a right-handed rider, and Roy has been on him three times, but has only ridden him once.

K93 Major Payne: Whichever one of these guys is best at riding gigantic bulls who leap higher than an elk on a trampoline needs to be matched up with Major Payne. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.

494 Mac-Nett’s Pinball Wizard: Pinball Wizard is almost nothing like Major Payne. He’s small, not terribly powerful … more of a pattern bull. But he is every bit as good at throwing guys off. He just isn’t a good bet to get ridden by anyone.

Team Mexico’s Bull Pool for Round 2
This pool may be the best chance all weekend for Team Mexico to put scores on the board, and they need to take advantage of it.

412 Big Iron: Don’t forget – for Teams Mexico, Canada, and Australia, it’s important to make sure they get a score on every “rideable” bull they draw. In this round, this is the bull they have to make sure to get ridden. McDonald has ridden him before.

427 Sooner Shaker and 403 The Iceman: Both these bulls are absolutely great draws for Team Mexico. They are both better suited for left-handed riders, and are very rider friendly.

537 Jawbreaker: This is the PBR debut for Jawbreaker. He is a Terry Walls Rodeo Bull – raised by Bob Wilfong. He is unridden in 16 outs on the rodeo circuit, and the expectation is that he won’t get ridden at this event either. Longtime PBR fans may remember a bull called Prime Time from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. This bull is expected to be something of a light version of that. Lots of air, and lots of action.

+123 Voodoo Child: This is another Wilfong-raised bull, and frankly Team Mexico should probably just surrender here and focus on riding the three easier bulls in this pool and getting scores. The odds of Team Mexico getting a score on Voodoo Child would fall in the extreme-long-shot category.

Team USA’s Bull Pool for Round 2
Team USA has had a lot of experience on their pool of bulls in this round. Just about all these bulls have gone against one or more of these guys.

H50 Hank and 501 Pistolero: Team USA needs to make sure both these bulls get ridden in this round. Hank is a little easier, but they really need both these scores, because it just gets uglier for them after these two.

01B High Octane Hurricane: This bull has only been ridden by right-handed riders, and lefties are 0-for-6 on him. He’s tossed Wimberly and Briscoe in the past year.

136 Silver Wings: With a 97.73-percent career buckoff average, this bull is just about a guaranteed goose egg for Team USA, or for anyone for that matter.

433 Big Tex: Again, Team USA has a shot at getting a score on the best bull in their pool. They are likely to use McConnel here, because he rode Big Tex in Baltimore, and was 7.2 seconds on him a year earlier in St. Louis.

Team Australia’s Bull Pool for Round 2
This is a tough pool for Team Australia, because they need lefties to face four of their five bulls, and they only have two lefties.

569 Mission Accomplished and 517 Kool-N-Sexy: Both of these bulls are their best bets to get scores on, but both bulls’ numbers heavily favor left-handed riders.

07 Lone Star: Lone Star also favors lefties a little bit, but is a tougher bull to ride all around.

5403 Perfect Poison: PBR riders are only 1-for-7 on him, the one being McKennon Wimberly in St. Louis.

309 Spitfire: Need a right-handed guy here, likely either Jones or Clark.

Team Brazil’s Bull Pool for Round 2:
Team Brazil has a great opportunity to post three scores in this round, and they need to jump on it. The team that makes the most of its opportunities is likely to come out on top.

63 Airwolf and 42 Braveheart: Both these bulls are unridden. It’s hard to say who would be best to face them, but Team Brazil’s other three bulls are pretty decent to ride. If they get one score out of these two bulls, they will post three scores in this round with incredible ease.

421 Kabookie: Marchi rode Kabookie at the World Finals. He likes going to the right, and Marchi is sure to get the call here.

53 Surefire: Both Palermo and Nunes have ridden this bull before, although he is not ridden all that often.

147 Zip Code: We may see Alves here. This bull is pretty good to ride, and they need to make sure they get a score on him. Both Surefire and Kabookie are more difficult bulls, and right-handed riders are 2-for-3 on Zip Code.

— by Slade Long
(Slade Long, PBR Web Developer and Statistician, has been crunching the numbers on bucking bulls for 11 years.)