He’s respected as much for his instruction as he is for the World Championship he won in 1970. Gary Leffew, long since referred to as the bull riding guru, has devoted his entire life to the sport.
At his ranch along the central coast of California, he teaches today’s riders to understand both the physical and mental techniques it takes to be a World Champion.
In the first of a series of scouting reports, Leffew breaks down the Top 10 riders in world.
10. Renato Nunes: He likes to ride in what I call the backdoor, but he’s good at it. He’s definitely going to stay in the Top 10. He’s a rank bull rider. He’s constantly moving and constantly hustling. That style of riding that he’s riding is a little tougher on you sometimes because you’re taking a lot of whip back there. He rides a little more back in what I call the "house of pain," but he’s really good at it. If he can finish out the year without really taking any hard whips and getting drilled into the ground, then he can stay healthy and probably end up in that Top 10. I don’t think he’s going to win a championship riding where he rides back there, because it’s a little too hard on you and it cuts your percentage down.
9. Robson Palermo: He is one of my favorites. I love watching him ride, and he is just such a great young rider. I think Robson’s problem was that he was a little too anxious to come back before he was ready, because this kid is incredibly talented. He has one of the best moves into his hand. He’s pretty darn tough away from his hand too, but he’s much tougher into his hand. He was one of my picks to challenge for a World Championship if he could have stayed healthy.
8. Ross Coleman: I’ve been working with Ross ever since he was 12 years old, and he’s amazing for his size. I think the first five years he was in there he was up in the Top 10. He’s a great talent and then he had a little run of injuries that kind of held him back. Seems like the baby and everything has got him refocused. When he gets his game going, he’s just about as tough as anybody. He never has quite got to that level for a championship, but he’s been close. Going into this end run, it’s just a matter of whether he keeps his game together. When he’s on, he’s super tough—straight forward and straight back, there’s nothing fancy about it. He rides up on his legs where I teach guys to ride. No matter how big you get your riding arm, it’s never going to get as big as your legs.
7. Mike Lee: He got in a heck of a slump last year. He got to what I call Barbie Dolling behind his rope, but when he’s straight forward, straight back, riding up on his legs, I don’t think there’s anybody tougher than him. Obviously he kept that highest percentage for a number of years in ride ratio, but I really don’t know what it was. He changed ropes for a while last year, and that rope was giving him heck and he was having a hard time getting out in front of it. When he’s riding good, you’ll see him moving up on the front end and then sitting down, and then moving back up there. Watch his riding arm shoulder—when it’s moving with him he’ll be tough, but if that arm stays back and he’s not driving with it, he seems to have a little problem because he gets to riding behind his rope. That’s not where he rides good. As of late, it’s hit and miss. One day he’s just perfect and another day he’s popping up and down behind that rope. It could be an injury or a bull rope that he’s having a little problem with.
6. Travis Briscoe: He is one of the best riders there is at riding in what we call the house of pain in between the rope and the flank. If he ever learns how to ride in front of that rope – with the try that he’s got – he’d be unbeatable. The way he rides, he’s catching up with his rope all the time. He’s got a lot of great moves behind the rope, but everybody that I’ve ever studied – and I’ve done a 40-year study of it – who rides behind that rope pays the price by injuries. When you make a mistake they slam you. He probably has more try and more heart than probably anyone I’ve ever seen, and you combine that with a little bit different style of riding and he would win more gold buckles then he would know what with, but, unfortunately, I’ve never seen anyone win a gold buckle riding that style of riding. He has to reinvent his style. He needs to take a style like Justin McBride, who rides up on his legs. It’s a very simple style—it's move up on your legs, ride around the corner and sit down. You’re never playing catch up. You’re always out in front of the bull and he’s pushing you. You can learn a new style by just role modeling, but it takes a little time. It would be hard to do it during the season. It would almost have to be done during the off-season and revamped before next season, because if you get to thinking about riding a new style in the middle of a season, you’re going to get yourself hurt. He could become one of the legends if he would just learn to revamp his style.
5. L.J. Jenkins: He’s having a real good year. He hasn’t had any injuries for a change, because that’s been holding him back, but here’s a guy who I don’t think knows how talented he is. He is one of the premiere rank bull riders in the business, and once he gets it in his mind that he can win a World Championship...I think the only thing holding him back is that he maybe doesn’t realize how talented he is.
4. J.B. Mauney: Would I love to work with this guy. Of all the riders I study, the great ones have a foundation—meaning from the waist down they have the most bend in their legs. They look like a jumping horse rider with a great bend in their leg. J.B. has the best foundation that I think I’ve ever seen in the game. He can sit anywhere on a bull and still have that foundation. He proved last year by how hard he pushed Justin McBride. He just kept raising the bar, so you see how talented the kid is, and everybody runs through great riding streaks and slumps (and he’s one of the Top 5) so if he ever gets his game together, like he did last year, and adds a little more to it, then there has to be a gold buckle in this guy’s future somewhere. He’s got heart and incredible talent, and those are the ingredients that are going to win a gold buckle.
3. Valdiron de Oliveira: He’s long and tall and goes away from his hand and into his hand. I think he’s coming into it again, and if he goes into the Finals (like that) there is not a lead too far ahead of him that is safe. He’s one of those guys who can really get hot and take it all at the Finals as well as the stretch run here because he’s really tough.
2. Kody Lostroh: He probably has the best move into his hand because he rides up on his legs, so he takes the power away from the bulls. His move into his hand is as good as there is out there, and then away from his hand he’s pretty darn tough going in that direction as well. The thing about him is that when he really comes alive is at the Finals. Last couple years he’s just dominated there. I think that if he just keeps up at the pace that he’s going he play along there at number two and make it a really exciting stretch race, which is always the most exciting when you can come from behind. That’s what this could play out to be, is him riding safely along in second place and then, if coming into the Finals Guilherme starts looking over his shoulder, this kid’s got the tools to gather him up ... that mindset to make big rides.
1. Guilherme Marchi: He’s had a tendency to fall apart at the Finals a couple times, especially if he draws a lot of bulls away from his hand, because he rides that style where he drops in and moves out going away from his hand. If bulls do give him trouble, it’s usually away from the hand. His mechanics are great. He has a little bit of a tendency to move in and then drop back out. That works most of the time on bulls away from his hand, but on those ranker bulls it can get to be a problem, especially if he stiffens up a little bit and gets to thinking about who’s behind him. If he just keeps his eye on the prize and never thinks about who’s behind him, then he’s probably going to be all right. If he maintains that consistency then I don’t think he has anything to worry about—nobody is going to catch him.
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