Just a few miles from where he’ll spend his days in retirement, Voodoo Child bucked for the last time.

In the last out of a memorable career, Voodoo Child bucked off Cody Brewer – a relative unknown from Livingston, Tenn. – in just 2.38 seconds on Saturday in the short round at the RMEF Big Bull Touring Pro event in Asheville, N.C.

He was marked 45 points in the last outing of his career.

Afterward, Jeff Robinson, the reigning Stock Contractor of the Year, said it was something he had been thinking about.

After contemplating a few other options, he decided to put him in the draw in what is essentially a hometown performance, however, PBR fans will have one more opportunity to see Voodoo Child in October. Robinson said he’ll be honored at a retirement ceremony during the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.

“He’s at a point in his career he didn’t have anything else to prove,” Robinson said. “We thought, now’s the time to put him out to the ladies.”

Robinson, who also owns Chicken on Chain, called Voodoo Child “a once-in-a-lifetime bull.”

He made his PBR debut at the World Finals in 2007, when he bucked off Scott Schiffner, Tater Porter and Harve Stewart. None of them made it longer than 3.1 seconds.

According to Probullstats.com, Voodoo Child has been ridden five times in his PBR career, with a 92.19-percent buckoff rate. For the few who were lucky enough to say they rode him – Ben Jones, J. B. Mauney, LJ Jenkins and Justin McBride – their average score was in excess of 91 points.

After McBride rode him in 2008 at a Built Ford Tough Series event in Tulsa, Okla., he wasn’t ridden again until March of 2010. McBride scored 94.5 points, while Jenkins posted 94 points.

“You have to put him on the same level as Chicken,” Robinson added, “or almost Bones. He was a two-time PRCA bull of the year, reserve World Champion in the PBR, and he was a favorite for a long time in the year.

“He could have been a World Champion just as easy as not.”

Looking back, Robinson said the one out that stands out was the final round of the 2009 World Finals, when Kody Lostroh rode him for 7.5 seconds.

Had Lostroh, who won the world title that year, stayed on for a full 8 seconds, Robinson said judges would have had to mark the rider at least 48.5 points, to go along with the 47.5 points they gave the bull. The 96 points would have come close to setting a new PBR record.

Statistically, that was the most proficient out of his career.

“He’ll go down as one of the greats,” Robinson said.

NEWS AND NOTES

After two days of competition at the Western North Carolina Agriculture Center, home-state favorite J.B. Mauney won the event in Asheville. He was one of only two riders – Wiley Petersen being the other – to cover all three bulls.

For Mauney, who is currently ranked seventh in the world standings, it was his first Touring Pro win in 2011, and also the first time his daughter Bella attended a PBR event.

Mauney covered Chicken on a Chain for 91.5 points to win the event with a combined 268 points, ahead of Petersen’s 262. Mauney rode Estaban on Friday night for 88 points, before scoring 88.5 on No Doubt in Round 2 to claim the lead going into the final round.

Petersen covered Wilco’s Jacknife for 88 in the short round. He and Mauney were followed by Sean Willingham, Kody Lostroh and Austin Meier to round out the Top 5 in what was widely described by the riders as the most even pen of bulls that they’ve experienced at a Touring Pro event.

— by Keith Ryan Cartwright