It comes down to two simple words: bull power.
The quality and depth of bucking bulls at Built Ford Tough Series events is at an all-time high. Ty Murray, who counts two bull riding titles among his nine World Championships, said that was one of the things that most stands out to him this season.
“The bull power is awesome,” Murray said on his most recent podcast. “The guys that are riding in the PBR at the Built Ford Tough Series level are exposed to more rank bulls than anybody has been exposed to in the history of the game. We’re seeing some guys that are rising up; we’re also seeing that it does separate the men from the boys in getting on these rank bulls.”
It’s not just the bulls at the top of the leader board week in and week out – animals like Bushwacker, I’m a Gangster and Smackdown – that give PBR its bull power. You can go pretty deep into the pen at most Built Ford Tough Series contests and find rank buckers earning bull scores of 44 or better.
A 44 for a bull equates to a 90 for a rider – both are exceptional scores.
“There’s just way more good ones than there’s ever been before,” PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert said while working recently on his new ranch in Bowie, Texas. “I’ve said that for a few years now.
“There’s more good bulls available than we’ve ever seen.”
PBR will always have the occasional bull who doesn’t buck up to its standards, and when that happens, the rider is granted a re-ride. Unlike pre-PBR days, when pens were littered with low-scoring bulls, today’s contests are stocked with bulls that, if covered, give every rider the chance to win round money and advance to the Built Ford Tough Championship Round.
Robson Palermo, who captured his fourth victory of the year two weeks ago at the U.S. Air Force Invitational, was the only bull rider to make the eight on each of his four bulls. His reward was a check for $47,555.
“Week after week, we’re seeing maybe one guy ride all of his bulls, so that tells me that the name of the game is to show up and ride your bulls,” Murray said. “Regardless of what they are, you’re going to win a lot.
“That speaks to how far the business has come and the great job that Cody Lambert does in managing what bulls come to these events, and the great job all the owners and breeders are doing and upping the bar of how many great bulls there are out there.”
When Murray and Lambert helped found PBR in 1992, they dreamed of an organization that rewarded riders who rode the best, not the guy fortunate enough to draw a high-scoring bovine.
“When we started the PBR it was our dream as bull riders that you could have a competition that was a riding contest, where every time you get on, it’s about being able to ride, not who draws the best,” Lambert said. “We’ve reached that place.
“It’s kind of exciting to be there because we want everyone to have the same competitive opportunity and the best rider to win.”
— by Chris McManes