PUEBLO, Colo. – Chase Dougherty would have thought he was inside a football or baseball stadium if not for the bucking chutes, animal athletes and a sea of cowboy hats that were all around him four years ago at the Days of ’47 Arena in Salt Lake City.
Dougherty was not qualified for the historic rodeo, but his traveling mate at the time, Jordan Spears, was competing, and he decided to tag along to the event.
“I know what that arena looks like and stuff,” Dougherty told PBR.com while making the drive to Salt Lake City on Tuesday. “It is badass, and I am super excited. It feels like you are in a baseball stadium. It is not too big, but it is not too little. The way it is set up, it feels like a professional sports stadium. It feels like you are at an NFL or MLB game, but you are at a rodeo. Utah has some of the loudest and greatest fans of rodeo.”
Dougherty begins his quest for a Gold Medal at the Days of ’47 Wednesday night when he joins seven other bull riders during the second performance of the five-day rodeo in Salt Lake City.
Fans can watch all the action from Days of ‘47 for free exclusively on RidePass on Pluto TV (Channel 720), beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET.
RELATED: Check out what’s on RidePass on PlutoTV for free!
Also slated to compete Wednesday night at the WCRA Major Rodeo is No. 3 rookie Jesse Petri, 2012 PRCA champion Cody Teel, Caleb Christian, Dakota Adams, Dalton Rudman, Rylan Wright and Wade Berg.
Dougherty, who needed only one event nomination to qualify for Salt Lake City through the WCRA’s virtual qualifying system, has slowly been chipping away at the PBR Rookie of the Year race all summer.
The No. 2-ranked rookie in the PBR has posted three consecutive Top-5 finishes at PBR Touring Pro Division events to get to within 76 points of Rookie of the Year leader Colten Fritzlan, but he has yet to put together a perfect weekend this summer in the PBR.
Dougherty will need to be flawless at the Days of ’47 Arena if he hopes to leave Salt Lake City with his first WCRA victory and at least $25,000.
“I feel like I am riding really good right now, probably the best I have all year so far,” Dougherty said. “I’ve got my head screwed on straight. I’ve got a great wife, and I’ve got a baby on the way. It couldn’t be a lot better for me.”
Dougherty has also been competing at select PRCA rodeo events this summer. The 2018 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo bull riding winner wanted to make sure he kept himself in riding shape throughout the summer break. So if he was not competing at a PBR event, he made sure to fill out his weekend schedule with a rodeo or two.
Days of ’47 will be his 12th PBR or PRCA event. According to Prorodeo.com, Dougherty is 5-for-8 on the rodeo trail this summer, including a 90-point ride on Time in a Bottle to split the victory at the Mandan Rodeo Days with Josh Frost.
“More or less, I wanted to stay busy enough to feel like I could stay sharp, but not go hard enough where I could hurt myself going into the fall season,” he said.
Dougherty has been a road warrior in his sprinter van. Last week, he drove more than 1,000 miles and more than 15 hours from his home in Decatur, Texas, to Casper, Wyoming, for a rodeo. He then headed an additional 150 miles north to Sheridan, Wyoming, for another PRCA event before driving another 450 miles to Livingston, Montana, for a Touring Pro Division event on Saturday.
Following a two-day siesta with a family friend in Belgrade, Montana, Dougherty got back behind the wheel Tuesday for his 400-plus-mile journey south to Salt Lake City.
Dougherty will then possibly head back to Montana for the Big Sky PBR Touring Pro Division event, which begins Thursday night, depending on how he does at Days of ’47. He said that if he were to advance to the Gold Medal Round, he would still consider riding in the first two rounds of competition in Big Sky before heading back to Salt Lake City.
“These last two weeks have been the busiest I have been all year, and I still have some days off,” he said.
Dougherty may jump into the driver’s seat for the Rookie of the Year title with current No. 1 Colten Fritzlan’s immediate future in jeopardy.
Fritzlan is waiting to get an MRI done to see if he needs to undergo reconstructive left shoulder injury immediately or if he can put the surgery off until after the season.
Fritzlan was first injured on May 19 when he was bucked off by a practice bull in Granbury, Texas. He returned to competition at the end of June with a 79.5-point ride on Record Rack’s Overpass at the Greeley Stampede. He then rode for another 79 points (Pass the Booze) before being bucked off Badger at the Cody Stampede.
“I’m trying not to go down the road (of surgery), but if it needs to be done, it needs to be done,” Fritzlan said.
Dougherty said he benefits from having a rider such as Fritzlan pushing him in the Rookie of the Year race.
“It is going to really suck for me if he is out,” Dougherty said. “Colten is a great guy to be around, and he is great competition. He is not an easy opponent, but the whole time he wants you to do good. Everybody can feed off that, especially great riders like him.”
Dougherty, though, knows there is a growing list of challengers in the Rookie of the Year race. There are currently eight riders eligible for the Rookie of the Year title, including Jesse Petri, who is also competing at Days of ’47 on Wednesday night.
Petri is 132.42 points behind Fritzlan in the Rookie of the Year race, but he has only gained 1.75 points this summer in four events (3-for-10).
Top 5 Rookie of the Year Standings
1. Colten Fritzlan (339.50)
2. Chase Dougherty (-76 points)
3. Jesse Petri (-131.42 points)
4. Austin Richardson (-163 points)
5. Marcelo Procopio Pereira (-190.5 points)
Dougherty and Petri often joke about how, if one of them wins Rookie of the Year, then the other will have to be looking up to him for the rest of his life, Dougherty explained with a laugh.
“We are always giving each other shit about who is better and who is going to win,” Dougherty said. “I am really excited for it. There are 13 (Unleash The Beast) events left, and the Finals, and there is plenty of points.
“It is very wide open for sure.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media