NAMPA, Idaho – Julio Moreno thought he would be taking a backseat when it came to hauling champion bucking bulls two years ago when his PBR World Champion Bull contender Roy passed away at only 6 years old.
Moreno figured he was a few years away from contending again, and that he would need to wait for his Bushwacker calves to develop into potential superstars.
Low and behold, a phone call from his partner Dallas Schott offering Moreno the opportunity to haul Spotted Demon for him changed it all.
Moreno quickly got to work with Spotted Demon, giving him the full Julio Moreno championship treatment.
The Oakdale, California, bull man slowly adjusted Spotted Demon to the same feed program that he used for Roy and his legendary, three-time World Champion Bull Bushwacker.
Instead of giving Spotted Demon two-and-a half cups of his feed and nutrients program, Moreno upped it to three cups seeing as Spotted Demon is two years older than Bushwacker.
“Julio hand-feeds his bulls himself all the time every morning, and every night that he’s around he does the feeding he talks to the bulls,” Schott said. “He can tell when something is wrong by how they act and they mean as much to him as they do to me.”
Moreno – one of the more superstitious stock contractors in the game – even moved Spotted Demon into Bushwacker’s large pen in California to help breathe some champion swagger into the 10-year-old bull.
“I am a real superstitious guy,” Moreno said on Saturday morning in Nampa, Idaho, after feeding Spotted Demon. “Bushwacker has been giving him some tips on the side.”
Those Bushwacker Wheaties must have done the trick as Spotted Demon has qualified for three consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeos under the care of Moreno.
Most of all, Spotted Demon can pump his chest out high as a champion now after being voted the 2018 PRCA Bull of the Year this week.
2017 PRCA champion and two-time PBR World Champion Bull SweetPro’s Bruiser finished second in the voting.
“Well, he had a good year this year,” Moreno said. “He bucked really good in the PRCA. I knew he had a chance this year. Last year he was second. The cowboys recognized him out there every day, and him being a 10-year-old.”
There may be more accolades coming for Spotted Demon before the year is over.
Spotted Demon is the No. 3 active bull in the 2018 PBR World Championship Bull race.
The bovine is 6-0 this season on the PBR premier series, and Moreno is going to buck the veteran bovine athlete twice this weekend at the DeWalt Guaranteed Tough Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, to ensure Spotted Demon is eligible for the 2018 PBR World Championship at the PBR World Finals on Nov. 7-11.
The PBR World Champion Bull is based on a bull’s top eight outs during the premier series regular season, and any rounds designated by the PBR, and two outs at the PBR World Finals. The bull with the highest average bull score across those 10 outs will be crowned the champion.
“I thought it was over with until Bushwacker’s little young ones started coming on,” Moreno said. “Now that Demon is doing it, it has me fired up.
“I just need for him to have two good outs here and two outs at the Finals and I will be right there playing with everybody.”
Spotted Demon squares off against Marco Eguchi in Round 1 on Saturday night at the Ford Idaho Center. He will then buck in the championship round on Sunday afternoon.
Fans can watch all of Round 1 exclusively on RidePass beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Two successful outs from Spotted Demon in Nampa would make him the top sleeper contender for the PBR World Championship.
If No. 1 active bull SweetPro’s Bruiser or No. 2 active bull Smooth Operator hip themselves or underperform at T-Mobile Arena, it could open the door for Spotted Demon to use two good outs and become the oldest PBR World Champion Bucking Bull.
No. 1 regular-season bull Pearl Harbor is ineligible for the World Championship because he will not qualify with two outs at the World Finals.
Spotted Demon currently has a World Champion Bull Score average of 45.04 points compared to Bruiser’s 46.28.
“He is going to be there in the race, but it is hard to beat Bruiser,” Moreno admitted. “He is an outstanding bull. Spotted Demon is kind of like Bushwacker in the chutes. He does not move. He comes to play. He just stands still and looks back and gets ready for them to do what they have to do.
“I am not sure if he can compete with Bruiser, but he dang sure will give it a try.”
Spotted Demon bucked off Tanner Byrne in his last PBR premier series out, disposing of the Canadian in 5.91 seconds at Last Cowboy Standing for a season-low 43.75 points.
Spotted Demon finished the PRCA regular season on quite a run, though, with three consecutive outs marked 45.5 points or higher. According to ProBullStats, Spotted Demon earned a 46.5-point score for 2.92 seconds of work against Garrett Tribble in Ellensburg, Washington, on Sept. 1.
He also bucked off Boudreaux Campbell for 46 points in Bremerton, Washington, and Billy West for 45.5 points in Canby, Oregon, in August.
Spotted Demon is one of the oldest Bulls of the Year in PRCA history, but he is not the oldest. According to ProBullStats’ historian Slade Long, Red Rock was 11 years old when he won the 1987 championship.
Regardless, Spotted Demon’s resurgence during the past three years has been impressive.
Not many people expected the 10-year-old to have the kind of 2018 season he has had thus far.
Spotted Demon is unridden at all levels of competition in both the PBR and PRCA.
He bucked off world leader Kaique Pacheco in 4.23 seconds at the Tacoma Invitational in April.
“Kaique told me maybe he would be another 90 or 92. Then he came back and said, ‘Whoa, he bucked,’ Moreno said. “That was good to hear that from him. As hot as he is and stuff.”
Pacheco is the last rider to cover Spotted Demon in PBR competition, doing so for 90 points at the 2017 Last Cowboy Standing event.
Spotted Demon is 12-0 at all levels of PBR competition since then. Tyler Taylor is the only rider to have ridden Spotted Demon since Pacheco, covering him for 89.5 points at the California Rodeo Salinas in July 2017.
Brennon Eldred was bucked off by Spotted Demon in 3.5 seconds in Anaheim, California, earlier this season.
Spotted Demon was marked a season-high 46 points.
“That (PRCA Bull of the Year) is probably pretty deserving,” Eldred said. “He slammed me this year. He’s a bucker for sure. He’s old and still harder than ever. We will see what he’s made of this weekend going back-to-back.”
PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert did not select Spotted Demon for the 2017 World Finals last year after the bull had two sub-par outs, including a 41-point score in Nampa, Idaho.
“At the end of the year, he looked like he was giving it up to me,” Lambert said. “I didn’t take him to the Finals. His last two trips he swung his head and didn’t buck as hard. Julio told me he had an abscess in his foot and he needed a break anyways so he could heal up for the NFR.
“He did, and he was really good at the NFR. They gave him another month in between and he has been really good all year.”
Moreno admits even he has been surprised with how well Spotted Demon has bucked in 2018.
Even though he can’t pinpoint exactly what the change was, he is OK with that.
Moreno has no doubts about the bull contending now.
“Maybe Spotted Demon just had another deep breath and decided he wanted to compete with those guys,” Moreno concluded. “We got one title. I am going to see if we can get two now.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
