PITTSBURGH – When Keyshawn Whitehorse climbed into the bucking chute in Round 1 of the U.S. Border Patrol PBR Pittsburgh, presented by Ariat, there was only one logical outcome.

At 13-for-21 (61.9%) on the Unleash The Beast in 2025, the odds were in Whitehorse’s favor.

But more than that, his Arizona Ridge Riders were taking on the Oklahoma Wildcatters in the PBR Monster Energy Team Challenge, presented by Camping World. Whitehorse was the last rider left on the night, and the Ridge Riders trailed the Wildcatters 254.5-168.25.

The bull riding gods would simply not allow that score to stand.

In 2024, the Ridge Riders and Wildcatters faced off four times (including the Ride-In Round of the PBR Teams Championship). Those games were decided by a combined 13.75 points. That’s an average of 3.4 points per game.

Was it cosmically destined for Whitehorse to ride Eyes On Me in Pittsburgh? Maybe, maybe not. But he did, to the tune of 89.75 points.

It earned the Round 1 victory for Whitehorse and the METC victory for the Ridge Riders, 258-254.5.

A difference of 3.5 points.

“Listen, the last game we had with Oklahoma ended just like this,” Arizona head coach Colby Yates said after the game. “Just like this. And Keyshawn Whitehorse was the one who slapped them in the face again. So they have to hate him, or they want him really bad on their team.”

Indeed, the Ridge Riders and Wildcatters faced off to end both teams’ regular season at Ridge Rider Days, and Arizona triumphed with a 263.5-255.5 win – thanks to Whitehorse notching a walk-off 89.75-point ride.

Whitehorse was a solid 13-for-28 (46%) for the Ridge Riders in 2024, but he’s turned up the heat during this frigid stretch of the UTB season and is ranked No. 8 in the standings. In January, he’s 7-for-10.

“He is a complete 180 right now in his career from where he’s ever been,” Yates said. “And he knows it. He’s focused. We’ve been working together for three years, and it wasn’t like that at first. We have a really good relationship, and I think he would be every coach’s dream player. And someone like that would be a dream teammate, too, because these guys, they feel it. When they’re on the back of the bucking chutes, and he’s got to go, and it’s down to him, it’s in his hands, they know that every time, he’s going to fight tooth and nail. It’s pretty cool.”

Of course, Whitehorse couldn’t notch a walk-off win without teammates doing their part as well.

The Wildcatters kicked things off with consecutive rides from Clay Guiton and Guilherme Valleiras, leaving the Ridge Riders in an early hole. Dustin Herman contributed another score for Oklahoma, but the Ridge Riders turned it on late. They first received a ride from Everton Natan da Silva, who was making his Unleash The Beast debut and rode Wicked In a Winning Way for 85.25 points. An 83-point ride on Ram Rod from Luciano De Castro came immediately after.

“Luciano is really doing a 180 now, too,” Yates said. “He’s working with a mental coach, really trying to hone in on the mental game, and it’s working. A lot of it is because this sport is so dangerous. The fear is always going to be there. That’s one thing that we have to get over. But the more confident you are in your ability to do your job, the more that fear minimizes. So as long as you can try to work on the things that can make you confident, you’re going to have fear, but you’re going to be able to handle it very easily. And for Luciano, a lot of that was the fear of getting beat. Typically, he’d get beat by bulls that would go away from his hand. He’d get a little beat, and he’d just, that’s it. Live to see another day. But the fight is now, so he’ll give it a second chance, and when he gives it a second chance, he’s back in. Just refusing to lose. The commitment in this sport is one of the things that separates the champions from the guys that just come on the weekend and the guys that are on and off of this tour.”

The 2024 season was rough for the Ridge Riders, as they went 11-17 to finish the regular season in the No. 9 spot before losing the Ride-In Round to miss out on a berth at the PBR Teams Championship.

But spirits were high after their first game of 2025, and Yates thinks these additional games—the Ridge Riders will face off against the Wildcatters again in Salt Lake City, Utah (Feb. 7) and Palm Desert, California (March 21)—will benefit his squad.

“For our team, anytime that we can get our team together in the offseason, really, for us, is a bonus,” he said. “That’s one thing I think that all teams have typically struggled with the last three years, is figuring out how to keep the team together the whole year, not just during the Teams season. So this will help with that, and it also gives us a chance to get some experience on guys that don’t have that much experience in the Unleash The Beast.

“Also, it’s the individual season, so we don’t get to pick the bulls like we do in Teams, and that really shows us what we need to work on. Once Teams season comes, yes, we do get to pick the bulls, and that’s all great, but they’re bulls. They might do something different, and you’ve got to be ready for it, so this is a good test for them.”

It’s also a test for the coaches. While the rules state that coaches decide whether or not their riders will accept a re-ride, Yates has taken a hands-off approach.

“It’s their season,” Yates said. “So whatever happens, this needs to be whatever they decide, not what I decide. If it makes us lose, it makes us lose. We want to win, obviously, every time. That was another big moment for us.

“But I didn’t feel like that all the way through,” he admitted with a laugh. “All the way through the game, I was like, ‘This is not going the way I want it to go!’ But I specifically stacked up the back half of our game like that, with those heavy hitters, so if that was the case, we had a fighting chance. That’s all you can do. I made as many choices as I could. Luckily, they were the right ones.”

Maybe it was cosmically destined. Maybe it was the product of good coaching and good riding. Who’s to say, really?

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media