FORT WORTH, Texas – One of the most venerated records in PBR history has just been tied.

On Sunday afternoon, in Round 4 of the 2024 PBR World Finals – Eliminations at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, Cool Whip dispatched Alex Cerqueira. It was his 42^nd consecutive premier series buckoff, tying three-time YETI World Champion Bull Bushwacker’s legendary streak.

“It is a neat deal because he’s in elite company,” said stock contractor HD Page. “Any bull that can even buck on the PBR tour that many outs is a great bull. Every week, he had to face a guy that was on top of his game that weekend. And normally, they hang on with their left hand, which is the way he turns. So he’s had a narrow window of great guys to have to try to buck off, and he’s been able to get that done. So it’s a pretty good accomplishment, I’d say, for him to be able to do that.”

The last time a rider made the 8-second whistle aboard the stout bovine was more than two years ago when Joao Ricardo Vieira rode him for 82.5 points in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“My cheeks are starting to hurt (from smiling),” owner Staci Addison said. “I’m just so proud of him.”

The man of the hour is already a celebrity as his reputation has grown over the years. The 2022 ABBI Classic Champion draws attention wherever he goes, from back pen staff to other stock contractors.

In the morning before Cool Whip’s Round 2 out at Eliminations – he disposed of Boudreaux Campbell in 1.58 seconds – Addison was out in his pen when she was approached by a truck driver for another stock contractor.

“He said, ‘Is that Cool Whip?’” Addison recalled. “I said, ‘Yeah! You know Cool Whip?’ He said, 'I’ve been hearing about that bull for a long time.’

“I said, ‘Yeah, this is Cool Whip. Come up and scratch him.’ He kind of scratches him for a minute and he goes, ‘That’s cool,’ and turns around and walks off. He’s so loving. He’s such a gentle giant, and I wish everybody got to interact with him because it’s really, really special.”

While Cool Whip is known for being not at all rider-friendly in the arena, he’s like a big dog in the pens. His job is getting riders off his back, but Addison jokes that his love language is physical touch.

“He’s so cute,” Addison said. “His eyes will get dirty or crusty, and a lot of bulls won’t let you touch their face, but he’ll let me clean his eyes and clean his ears. That’s a really big deal, to be able to have him shut his eyes and let my hands rub across his eyes.”

She also spends event mornings out at his pen, giving him not just scratches but deep-tissue massages.

“I spend probably 20 minutes working from one shoulder to his backside and down his butt on one side, and when I get done, I don’t even have to ask him. He turns around, and I start on that shoulder and go back the other way and down again,” Addison said with a laugh. “He loves it. He loves scratches, period, but I really do try and massage him. His muscles will twitch when you hit a spot, and you know that’s something that needs to be worked out. So I get the heel of my hand in there, my thumb in there, and then when that twitching stops, I move on.”

Addison also talks to Cool Whip and shows him videos of his outs to break down strategy. Are these the keys to his success? Perhaps, but he also has some physical attributes and athleticism that help him out.

“He has such a long body, and he’s so wide,” Addison said. “Obviously, he’s very, very powerful. If you ever look at his feet, they look like dinner plates, the circumference of his foot. So he has so much space to hit the ground and push off, and then you add a long, wide body, and that first jump out is so wicked. And it’s not that it’s so steep, it’s so powerful that when the bull rider pulls up on his rope, it sets them back. It doesn’t matter if they’re a right or left-handed rider. And then it’s almost impossible to pull yourself back up from that very first jump.”

Cool Whip will look to make PBR history in his next out with his 43^rd consecutive buckoff. When that'll happen remains to be seen, but it could be on Championship Sunday of the World Finals, May 19, at AT&T Stadium.

“I’m not nervous,” Addison said before pausing. “Well, yeah, I am. But I’m more excited and I’m more proud of him.”

HD Page is simply pleased to watch his prized bovine do what he does best.

“I enjoy watching bull riding and I get butterflies and I get goosebumps, still, from watching great bulls and great cowboys perform at a high level,” Page said. “If they crack him, it’ll be good. I’ll be happy. If they don’t, I’ll be happy.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media