Brennon Eldred on 602 Special Effects:

This bull only has one out on record from a few weeks ago in Salt Lake City, but as it happens, Eldred is the guy who had him there, and he was 88.25 points to split the opening round win. If he gets the same score here, he may have a hard time beating Leme in this round, but the key thing for Eldred is consistency and stringing rides together. An opening-round score is a good start.

Cody Teel on 208 Why Hell Ya:

Teel should have his way with this bull. Why Hell Ya likes to go to the right. He can be salty right out of the gate, much like Milk Man – a bull Teel has a good history with. Further into the 8 seconds, he may settle into a smooth spin. Look for Teel to get on the board here after getting blanked in Fort Worth.

Jose Vitor Leme on 51 Safety Meeting:

Leme was 90 on this bull back in April in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Safety Meeting is a near perfect fit for Leme, mostly because he’s a near perfect fit for everyone. He’s one of the best draws around for any rider, but especially for lefties. High probability of a round win with this matchup.

Dener Barbosa on 540 Swagger:

Barbosa is back in the states for the first time since March, and he has a good draw. Swagger has been pretty good to left-handed riders. This matchup involves a rider from Brazil and a bull from Canada meeting up in Montana.

Ramon de Lima on 522 Vertigo Spy:

Vertigo Spy has one of the lowest difficulty ratings in this round. Like Barbosa, Lima has been in Brazil since March, and he’s just now returning to face a bull coming down from Canada. Before he left, Lima was doing pretty well. He had an event win in Little Rock, Arkansas, early this season.

Cooper Davis on 43X Short Pop:

This matchup favors Davis by a slim margin. Short Pop is rideable for right-handed riders, but he’s erratic enough to make him tough for everyone. He is a solid long round quality bull with short round type difficulty. Davis is coming off a qualified ride on Preacher’s Kid last week, and Preacher’s Kid is quite a bit harder to ride than this one.

Mason Taylor on 1409 Smoke Signals:

This is one of the nicer bulls available in the round. He’s been ridden in about half his career outs, and he has great timing. Taylor rode him for 86.25 points in Sioux Falls in 2019.

Jess Lockwood on 401 One for the Money:

The current world champ is returning to action in his home state after missing a lot of time this season due to injury. He has a good Canadian bull here. He probably can’t win the round, but he should get a score. Lockwood is still in contention for a title this year, and he can definitely trade blows with Leme on equal footing. The reality check is that because Leme has been so dominant, he has a huge standings lead. Lockwood needs to finish the season like J.B. Mauney did in 2013, and he needs to have a World Finals like he did last year with 90-plus-point rides in four straight rounds to have any kind of chance to catch up. He has to maximize every remaining opportunity on the season, and that’s a tough job.