PUEBLO, Colo. – An old foe of 2021 YETI World Champion Bull Woopaa may be set to push the defending champion once again.

Two years ago, Ridin Solo and Woopaa were battling it out for the 2020 ABBI Classic title, which Woopaa eventually walked away with at the 2020 PBR World Finals.

This year, it looks like Cord McCoy has Ridin Solo to a point where he is ready to challenge Woopaa for the 2022 YETI World Champion Bull title.

Ridin Solo erupted for a second consecutive 46-plus bull score this past weekend as the soon-to-be 6-year-old bull sent Mason Taylor flying across the Enterprise Center dirt in 3.69 seconds at the PBR TicketSmarter Invitational, presented by Cooper Tires, on Saturday night.

Ridin Solo was marked 46 points to increase his World Champion Bull average to 45.75 points to tie Woopaa atop the World Champion Bull standings.

"Man, he just never really weakens," Taylor said. "He's going to get really high in the air and you don't know what way he's going to go, but you just know if you ride him, you are going to be a lot of points."

The 2022 YETI World Champion Bull will be the animal with the highest average bull score from their top-six regular-season outs and two outs at the PBR World Finals. With the reduced number of UTB events in 2022, the PBR lowered the minimum number of outs a bull needed to qualify for the World Championship this year compared to the standard eight of past seasons.

Ridin Solo placed fourth last season in the 2021 YETI Champion Bull race with a 45.43 World Champion Bull average. Woopaa won the title with a 46.93-point average.

Previous No. 1 Moonlight Party took a step back in St. Louis after falling over during his out in the championship round with Brady Oleson, resulting in a 39.75-point score. Moonlight Party is now sitting 17^th in the standings, but he should be able to drop that lower score and get back into the title mix this season.

Here are some other noteworthy stats from this weekend in St. Louis.

3: Ridin Solo is the third bull this year who has posted two or more 46-point bull scores. Last week, Ridin Solo was marked 46.25 points when Jose Vitor Leme rode him for 94.75 points in Oklahoma City. Woopaa and Moonlight Party have each had two 46-plus bull scores so far this season.

8: Daylon Swearingen is the eighth different event winner of the 2022 season and will head into Los Angeles 61.34 points behind world No. 1 Joao Ricardo Vieira. Swearingen is also one of eight riders who have won two or more rounds on the UTB. Stetson Lawrence leads the PBR with three round wins.

6: At 22 years old, Swearingen is one of six riders inside the Top 10 of the world standings who are 25 or younger. Fellow 22-year-old Mauricio Moreira went 2-for-3 in St. Louis to finish runner-up to Swearingen and move to No. 5 in the world standings. There are three riders 30 or older – world No. 1 Joao Ricardo Vieira (33), No. 4 Stetson Lawrence (33) and No. 6 Eli Vastbinder (30) – in the Top 10.

3: Swearingen is the third rider to win multiple rounds in a single event this season. Stetson Lawrence (Chicago) and Kyler Oliver (New York) have also won two rounds in an event this year. 

58: Kaique Pacheco’s first round win of 2022 (88.75 points on Mike’s Effect) helped him jump 58 positions in the world standings (109 to 51). Pacheco is not at risk of being cut from the UTB just yet. He has one more guaranteed exemption to use for Tuesday night’s PBR Pluto TV Invitational in Los Angeles and an additional five World Champion exemptions.

16: Rafael Henrique dos Santos went 2-for-3 in St. Louis, and his third-place finish helped him jump from No. 34 in the world standings to No. 18. Santos ended his weekend in St. Louis with 87.5 points on Test Drive. The championship round and 15/15 Bucking Battles is an area Santos needs to improve in to take the next step in his career. His ride on Test Drive makes him 4-for-18 (22.22%) in championship rounds and 15/15 Bucking Battles.

45.5: Big Black had an eye-opening, 4.17-second buckoff of reigning two-time PBR World Champion Jose Vitor Leme during the championship round for a 45.5-point bull score. The 8-year-old bull has not been scored that high since posting two 46-point scores in October 2018.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media