DES MOINES, Iowa (April 29, 2010) - Coming off one of the most exciting Built Ford Tough Series events of 2010 – in which yet another rider took the overall lead in the world standings – PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert said that “we’ve got a really good set of bulls” this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Built Ford Tough Championship Round on Saturday night will be highlighted by the likes of Super Duty, Smack Down and Yellow Jacket Jr., along with Who Dat, a bull raised by PBR co-founder David Fournier.
Who Dat scored 45 points in bucking off world leader Renato Nunes in New Orleans.
“He looked special, but that was his first big event,” said Lambert, in his weekly Podcast posted at www.pbr.tv. He records “In the Bull Pen” every Thursday prior to a BFTS event.
After debuting his bull in New Orleans, Fournier sold Who Dat and another bull, Upper Cut, to K-C Bucking Bulls in Ohio. The company will be making its first BFTS appearance in Des Moines.
Meanwhile, Shad Smith is hauling three bulls – Blue Duck, Wired and Cash Box – 170 miles northeast from his home in nearby Sidney, Iowa, along the Nebraska border on the west side of the state.
“I heard really good things about him,” Lambert said. “Some guys that have watched them at the Touring Pros said they were really nice bulls, but I haven’t seen them. And so I’m going off of some of my spies’ word.”
Lambert recalled using Blue Duck in 2007 at a BFTS event in Columbus, Ohio. He was ridden there by Paulo Crimber and Corey Melton, for 87.25 points each. In fact, he was ridden in all four BFTS out he had that year, and had been scored higher with each out.
“That’ll be interesting to see how good he is,” said Lambert, who added that his aforementioned “spies” told him, “He really bucked at a Touring Pro in Indianapolis in January.”
Levi Smith will be there with Anchor Man. David Bailey, who spends most of his time on the rodeo trail with his stock, will make one of his occasional appearances. He’ll have five bulls in the pen.
Three-time Stock Contractor of the Year Chad Berger recently purchased Wild & Out, who will be in Des Moines as well.
Lambert said he thought Wild & Out looked good in both Nampa, Idaho, and Billings, Mont., where he bucked off Sean Willingham and Jared Farley. He also bucked off Stormy Wing in Nampa and was scored 45.25 points, but he did have one off-day in January, when J.B. Mauney rode him for 84.25 points.
“If those guys would have ridden him in Nampa or Billings they would have been right there with Travis Briscoe,” Lambert said, “around 93.”
During his 17-minute interview, Lambert also talked about Brazilian phenom Silvano Alves, and looked ahead to his own scouting duties this summer as he keeps up with the development of the rankest bulls in the world.
NEWS and NOTES
PBR NOW on RFD-TV: Hosted by J.W. Hart and Justin McBride, “PBR NOW” is a weekly live one-hour TV series that airs every Thursday on RFD-TV at 10 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to call a new number – 877-731-6733 – or send questions to a new email address: pbrnowshow@pbrnow.com.
TV Guide: The final two rounds of this weekend's Des Moines Invitational will be aired Sunday, May 2 at 4 p.m. Eastern on Versus. The three-hour broadcast will also feature a segment hosted by Rocket Ismail, who recently spent time with the Brazilians at Adriano Moraes’ 40th birthday celebration.
And be sure to catch a special re-airing of the action from last week’s event in Billings, Saturday night at 11 ET on Versus.
Event Center: Follow all the action from this week’s BFTS event in Des Moines, Iowa, by logging on to www.pbr.com and entering the “Event Center,” which is accessible from the tab located at the top of the main Web page. The Event Center provides live scoring, live blogging and event-related Podcasts and interviews.
These boots were made for walkin’: The PBR is giving away 30 free pairs of Ariat boots in April. All you have to do to have a chance to win is become a friend of TeamPBR on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TeamPBR, or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/teampbr.
