FORT WORTH, Texas – When stock contractor Cord McCoy got his prize bovine Ridin’ Solo on the road at the start of 2023, he had one mission: to make a run at a second consecutive YETI World Champion Bull title.

After Solo won the 2022 World Championship, McCoy gave the bull a nice long rest. He competed at a few rodeos in May, got back into things in November, and had two outs at the National Finals Rodeo in December.

Solo made his Unleash The Beast debut in Albany, New York, in December, already behind the 8-ball – the season was already five events deep.

“Some of the bulls had six scores stacked up there,” McCoy said. “So I feel like Solo had to go harder than everybody else to put up the numbers, and I felt like I was cutting the bull short if I wasn’t giving him the opportunity to be there.”

So McCoy put the rubber to the road, hauling Solo to 13 regular-season events in 2023, from Georgia to Washington and everywhere in between.

And Solo made sure it paid off.

When the dust settled at the PBR World Finals in Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, no bull stood taller than Solo, who won both the YETI World Champion Bull title and Bull of the Finals honors.

“Amazing,” McCoy said from the dirt, holding a gold buckle and a big check. “When we come into today, it still felt like everybody’s chance. The No. 1 bull coming in here (Cool Whip) had moved to fourth, and you’ve got Ricky Vaughn, that, at one time, threw up the best numbers of the year. (UTZ BesTex) Legend was kind of picking up his momentum. It felt like whoever was the champion today was going to be the World Champion. It felt like we still had a little bit of a hiccup there, and I was worried that it didn’t come through. But man, Solo, even though he was in a bind leaving the chute, just finishing the jumps, seemed to pull it off.”

Legend ultimately finished in a tie for No. 2 with Flapjack, followed by No. 4 Cool Whip and No. 5 Ricky Vaughn.

RELATED: Ridin Solo wins 2022 YETI World Champion Bull title

Indeed, Solo’s last out in Fort Worth was his weakest, ending in a re-ride for Braidy Randolph, but he still put up a strong 45 points in 1.95 seconds of work. He had issues leaving the chute clean, which he’s dealt with all season.

PBR Director of Livestock Riley Lambert, in fact, had called McCoy before the regular-season finale in Louisville, Kentucky, to tell him that if Solo got a re-ride there, he wouldn’t even be invited to the World Finals.

“I guess I didn’t care,” McCoy said. “I felt like I had the best bull in the world, and I wasn’t going to back down. I look at the chute deal like Michael Jordan having trouble with free throws. You don’t take him out of the game for that. Each rider kind of nods his head at a different situation, but man, we do what we can every time to prep him to leave there good and clean. But shoot, he won. He put up the best ten outs this year, so he gets it.”

McCoy says that Solo has the mindset of an elite athlete. He knows how to perform on the biggest stage of them all, scoring 46 points against Dener Barbosa in Round 2 and 46.5 points against Chase Outlaw in Round 4.

“There were several weekends I didn’t want to drive that far and go to that many events, but would’ve sure cut Solo short,” McCoy said. “He’s a special bull. Even some weekends, we would go to the event and come home and get new bulls and fresh legs for the other bulls, but Solo would turn around and get back on again and still outscore the other ones. He’s a special bull. He loves the game, and he’s got a crazy knack of knowing how to turn it off and relax and let people pet him and eat good and travel good. And then, when he gets in the chute, he knows what he’s got to perform and do.

“He is a dream. He’s less than a once-in-a-lifetime for us. I wouldn’t even believe that we would ever own two like him.”

McCoy admits that he was incredibly nervous for weeks leading up to the World Finals. But Solo knew what to do and has a history of success in Fort Worth. In 2022, he put up two bull scores of 47 points to win his world title.

“He didn’t need a warmup for Fort Worth, and I think that’s what won it, when he come in at 46 the first round and just used that momentum to buck again on Thursday,” McCoy said. “He came in with winning on his mind, and we just tried to stay out of his way.

“Solo, he likes to win, so really, it’s just give him the best opportunity that we can. That’s what you tell yourself this morning: don’t do anything different than you did in New York or Milwaukee or Las Vegas. Just try to match what you’ve been doing all year.”

With two World Championships, Solo joins an elite list of bovines, including fellow two-time winners Dillinger, Bones and Smooth Operator. The only bulls to have three World Championships are Little Yellow Jacket, Bushwacker and SweetPro’s Bruiser.

But more important to McCoy is how special Solo is and how many people love him.

“Solo’s got so many fans. It makes my day,” McCoy said. “They give the tours, and so many people send selfies and videos of Ridin’ Solo, and how many messages you get cheering him on. And Lord willing, next year, we have a bunch of little Solo babies that everybody on TV gets to be introduced to. He’s already changed our life in the last five years, and I think for the next decade, he’s definitely going to change the world.”

However, three world titles sure would be nice, and McCoy believes that if any bull can do it, it’s Solo.

“Gotta go for it,” McCoy said. “Until Solo says slow down, we’ve got to go again.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media