GLENDALE, Ariz. – Brady Fielder may have bucked off the only bull he got on Saturday night at Ridge Rider Days, but that was immaterial.

With just a few bulls remaining in the 2024 PBR Camping World Team Series regular season, Fielder has clinched the Great 8 award as the rider with the highest riding percentage with at least 20 outs.

This season, Fielder is 24-for-33 for a stunning 72% riding percentage.

“Awesome!” the softspoken Australian said with a grin as he learned the award was his. “I’m very thankful for it, and very thankful for the season I’ve had so far, and thankful for my team and everybody that’s helped me along the way.”

The Great 8 award is new in 2024, and Fielder is the first to etch his name in the history books with this honor.

The only other rider to date who has won regular-season individual honors is Jose Vitor Leme, a two-time World Champion. Fielder is also just the third rider in PBR Teams history to finish a season with a riding percentage above 70%, joining Leme in 2022 (73%) and 2024 World Champion Cassio Dias in 2023 (71%).

“It’s a great achievement, I suppose,” Fielder said. “To me, it’s what I expect, and it’s what I do for a living. It’s an everyday thing for me. Bull riding comes to me fairly normal, so I expect to ride every bull I get on.

“I’ve always known I could do it and was feeling good about the season. I set goals with that expectation, to achieve those kind of things, and I just thank God for his guidance each and every day. It helps a lot.”

While this is undoubtedly Fielder’s breakout season, he’s been slowly climbing into the limelight for the last year. He finished seventh in the 2023 PBR Teams MVP race as his Texas Rattlers stormed to the championship, and then won two Unleash The Beast events in 2024, finishing the season ranked No. 8. He’s the first Australian to win a UTB event since 2015.

“I knew all along (I could do it), but getting started, it just kept getting better and better for me,” Fielder said. “I’m just thankful for how it happened, really, and becoming better in myself and in my bull riding.

“It’s just living and learning as I go, becoming better each and every day, and following God’s guidance that he continues to give me. I’m very thankful for it. And putting in the work each and every day has been a great help – leaving nothing left out on the table.”

Fielder says he works out daily and rides horses as much as he can to stay in shape during the week.

“It’s all related to bull riding, and that’s what helps me stay focused,” he said. “Seeing it and feeling it during the week every day, that’s what helps when it comes time to ride.”

While the Great 8 is an individual award, Fielder credits his Rattlers teammates and head coach Cody Lambert with helping him get there. All season long, the team has allowed Fielder to get on extra bulls in the Shootout Rounds after wins, giving him additional chances to ride and chase not just the Great 8, but the MVP award.

“I’m very thankful for these guys to allow me to have that opportunity to have a chance of achieving what I want to,” Fielder said. “I wouldn’t be able to do it without them.”

It’s his teammates stepping aside that has given Fielder that extra bit of motivation to chase his goals.

“It is like a little fire that’s lit in my belly, really,” he said. “Just having to want to do it. When they allow me to get on them extra-out bulls, it’s kind of like, ‘How bad do you want it?’ And that’s what gives me that bit of fire and drive to do my job.”

Lambert is matter-of-fact when he discusses his superstar rider.

“That’s how he rides,” Lambert said. “He’s getting to the point where he realizes that, and we all realize that, and now everyone else is realizing it, too.

“We talk every day, and it’s about who he is and riding for the love of the game and with love in your heart. He loves his job, and he’s a great example for all bull riders and all people because he chooses to have a good day every day.”

Saturday night wasn’t the best, as Fielder was bucked off by Desperado in an agonizing 7.3 seconds as the Rattlers lost to the Carolina Cowboys, 345.75-168.5.

But Fielder was pleasant as ever, even after the only man ahead of him in the MVP race, John Crimber, knocked down a 90.25-point score on High Ball in the Florida Freedom’s losing effort against the Kansas City Outlaws.

When the two passed each other in the locker room area, congratulations and mutual well-wishes were shared.

“It’s been very fun,” Fielder said of the MVP race. “John’s a damn good bull rider and fun to watch. I’ve just got to keep doing my job. I’m running my own race, and with that goal in place, there’s nothing between me and what I want to do and where I want to be and what I want to become. So I just leave it all in God’s hands, and however it works out, I’m going to be thankful for it because I’m willing to get better each and every day.”

Both the Rattlers and the Freedom play on Sunday in Glendale, the final day of the regular season. If both teams win and send Fielder and Crimber to the shootout round – which they certainly would – each rider will have a maximum of two bulls left to attempt.

Crimber is ahead by 147.25 points, so Fielder must ride two bulls to have a chance. If he rides but the Rattlers lose to the New York Mavericks, Crimber is the MVP.

The stakes are high, and there’s no room for error, but Fielder is as calm, cool, and collected as ever.

“Just stay focused and let go of what’s happened tonight,” Fielder said. “How I respond to what’s already happened is what’s going to help me with what’s yet to come.”

Photo courtesy of Todd Brewer/Bull Stock Media