SACRAMENTO, Calif. (January 12, 2010) - It almost seems a foregone conclusion that whoever has the first pick in Friday’s $10,000 winner-take-all challenge between Kody Lostroh and J.B. Mauney will select Troubadour, especially after both riders admitted as much this past weekend.
“Any time we’re first, we always pick Troubadour,” Mauney said. “I figure this will probably be the same way—whoever’s winning when we get to it will pick Troubadour.”
Lostroh, who has ridden Troubadour four times in the past two years, agreed with Mauney.
The two will go head-to-head in the challenge immediately following the opening round of the Sacramento Classic on Friday night at ARCO arena. The rider with the highest or longest buckoff time in Round 1 will have first pick between Troubadour and Necessary Evil.
Lostroh is the reigning 2009 World Champion and Mauney is currently ranked No. 1 in the 2010 world standings. Both believe the two bulls selected for the challenge give them a chance at the bonus money.
“First of all, you’re going to have to draw good in the long round that day to get the first pick,” Mauney said, “but either way, both those bulls they’ve got in there, you can win on either one. I’d say Troubadour’s a hair better, but you’re going to have to draw good and ride good.”
Lostroh said it won’t matter which one of them has the first pick.
“It doesn’t really play a factor, because both those bulls that are in there, Troubadour and Necessary Evil, are both going to be about the same type of bull,” he said.
Troubadour has had more outs, and both riders are obviously familiar with him. In fact, he’s been ridden 11 times in the past two years, and seven of those scores were earned by Lostroh (4) and Mauney (3).
Troubadour is known as an “honest” bull with a predictable pattern, and riders love him because those who make the whistle are going to be 90-plus points. After going unridden in 2007, he had an average of 94.25 points in 2008. In six total scores in 2009, the riders averaged 91.84 points.
“He’s got really good timing, bucks really hard and he’s a blast,” Lostroh said. “He’s really a fun bull to ride. He can spin either way, but it’s always going to be with a lot of kick and a lot of gas.”
“If you stub your toe he’ll throw you off,” said Mauney, who said you couldn’t ask for a better bull.
Troubadour has bucked off 59 percent of those who have attempted to ride him – including two-time World Champion Chris Shivers, Ross Coleman, and Valdiron de Oliveira.
“I love to get on Troubadour every chance I get,” Lostroh added. “He’s a phenomenal bull, so obviously, in that aspect, I’d like to get on him, but as far as winning the deal goes, it really (doesn’t) matter. They’re both really the same type of bull.”
“I’ve seen (Necessary Evil) a handful of times,” Mauney said. “He’s a real fast spinner. He (doesn’t) have quite as much kick as Troubadour does, but he’s a lot faster than him … he’s away from my hand, and I’ll just have to stay the same speed as him, because he’s going to get it on right there.”
Mauney said that because of his speed, he won’t try spurring Necessary Evil for any additional points. “I’ll probably stick with just trying to ride him first,” he said.
The challenge can be seen Saturday afternoon on NBC. Check local listings for times in your area.
