Buller saves best for last at Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Cody Buller made sure that all those among the sellout crowd of 7,396 who stuck around to the very end of the Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo were rewarded for their support.
Buller, who is – what else? – a bull rider, was the last competitor of the last event in the three-day, five-performance rodeo on Feb. 6 and came up with the winning ride when his turn finally came.
Buller, of Glendive, Mont., earned 88 points on Burns Rodeo Company’s Kid Twist, three points better than Kanin Asay’s leading mark and good enough to get him the win in this first Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Silver event of 2010, presented by Justin Boots.
“I was excited to draw this bull,” Buller told the Rapid City Journal. “I’d seen him a couple of times, and I knew he was a proven performer. I was kind of prepared for him when he came out spinning and moved forward on me. Sometimes being ready isn’t enough, though, so I was lucky to be able to stay with him.”
Kid Twist bucked off 10 of 12 riders a year ago, including Colin McTaggart and Jesse Bail in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, and Buller’s 88 was the highest-scored ride ever managed on the animal.
The new team roping pairing of Clay Tryan and Travis Graves, already atop the PRCA World Standings at the start of the rodeo, added to their earnings total by winning the average title.
Tryan, of Billings, Mont., and Graves, of Jay, Okla., placed in both rounds to finish with an average time of 10.3 seconds and edge Jesse Sheffield and Wes Miller by six-tenths of a second. They each banked checks totaling $4,929.
Kaycee Feild, who shared the bareback riding title at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center last year with Tom McFarland, was all alone on the victory stand this time.
Feild’s 87-point ride on Hard Times of the Southwick Rocky Mountain Rodeo string was two points better than Canadian Matt Lait and paid a rodeo-best $5,643.
The other Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo champions were steer wrestler Nick Guy (7.4 seconds on two head), saddle bronc riders Cody Martin and Cody Taton (81 points), tie-down roper Josh Peek (18.3 seconds on two head) and barrel racer Tammy Whyte (24.76 seconds on two runs).
114th Fort Worth Stock Show has decidedly Cajun flavor
FORT WORTH – There was a whole lot of celebrating going on in Louisiana Sunday night after the New Orleans Saints’ big win in Super Bowl LXIV. The small towns of Sulphur and Golden Meadow had double the reason to celebrate after the results came in from Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo CXIV.
Shane Hanchey from Sulphur, La. (population 20,512) added to his lead in the tie-down roping world standings with a win over reigning World Champion Trevor Brazile in a head-to-head matchup in the Will Rogers Coliseum that paid $10,681.
Bull rider Lucas Guilbeau, originally from Golden Meadow, La. (population 2,193), pulled off the biggest surprise of the 30-performance show, winning the average title over 2007 World Champion Wesley Silcox. Guilbeau won the final round with an 89-point ride on Rafter G Rodeo’s Big D and finished with 248 points to Silcox’s 246.
Guilbeau’s paycheck of $9,173 nearly doubled what he’d earned in his first three years as a PRCA competitor.
“It was a good day for Louisiana,” Hanchey said. “This is the biggest win I’ve ever had in my life. Having the Saints win the Super Bowl was the icing on the cake. I probably won’t sleep tonight I’m so excited.”
Guilbeau has been coming to Fort Worth since he was a child, and winning the bull riding here was almost beyond his comprehension.
“I’ve been dreaming of this my whole life,” he said. “Then the Saints win the Super Bowl … this is one of the greatest days in Louisiana history.”
Shaun Stroh took some time off after qualifying for his fourth Wrangler National Finals Rodeo last December. Fort Worth was his first rodeo of 2010, and he made the effort worthwhile, winning the saddle bronc riding title. Stroh had a total of 253 points and earned $13,009.
In 2009, Kaycee Feild came into the finals leading the average, but didn’t have a qualified ride and watched the championship buckle presentation from behind the chutes. Feild once again came into the final round as the leader, but this year he made it stick.
It was sweet revenge for the second-generation cowboy and two-time Wrangler NFR qualifier from Payson, Utah. Feild made himself a promise this year to stay mentally and physically focused and strong, so he would leave the Will Rogers Coliseum as the champion.
The last of the top 12 to ride, he came out spurring the Rafter G horse, Assault, for 85 points, giving him a total of 334 on four horses and the title. Feild collected checks totaling $11,185, and he did it after flying back from the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, where he had managed an 83-point ride earlier on Sunday.
He also won the bareback riding title at the Jan. 4-6 Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo in Rapid City, S.D.
Fellow bareback rider Clint Cannon, who set a regular-season earnings record for any event last year, suffered a broken collarbone in Fort Worth and may be facing surgery.
The other Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo champions were steer wrestler Cash Myers (11.8 seconds on three head), team ropers Joel Bach and Paul Eaves (16.1 seconds on three head) and barrel racer Tana Poppino (51.21 seconds on three runs).
This year’s rodeo saw more than 1,200 contestants competing for $550,671, up more than $20,000 from 2009.
San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo airs live on the Internet
ProRodeoLive.com, the official Internet and radio broadcast provider for the PRCA, will air the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo live on Feb. 17-20. The final four performances of the rodeo begin at 7 p.m. (CT) Feb. 17-18 and at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 19-20. Veteran PRCA rodeo announcer Steve Kenyon will call the action and also will broadcast the Seminole Hard Rock San Antonio Xtreme Bulls Tour event, presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, set for 1 p.m. on Feb. 20. Broadcasts will begin 15 minutes prior to the performances to kick off the coverage.
2004 World Champion Elliott claims San Antonio Xtreme Bulls title
SAN ANTONIO – Since his twins, Ethan and Emma, were born, bull rider Dustin Elliott has participated very little in ProRodeo events and learned to lower his expectations just a bit.
“Come in and stay on my bulls was all I wanted to do,” Elliott said of his Feb. 4 entry into the Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls Tour event in the AT&T Center. “My goal this year is to ride every bull one at a time, no matter what the outcome is.”
The outcome was a good deal better than just staying on for the 2004 world champion.
Elliott had an 88-point ride on Andrews Rodeo’s Bootlegger in the first round and then backed that up with a score of 88.5 points on Beutler and Son’s Scent Loc – a bull he knew all too well.
“I got him a couple years ago, and he bucked me off and separated my shoulder,” Elliott said. “I wasn’t on him very long. Today, that bull was weird. He would leap and spin real quick and then leap and roll. You really had to track him. He had some stuff to him that made him a little harder, but I just kept scuffling.”
His 176.5 points on two head was enough to hold off 2007 World Champion Wesley Silcox and 2008-09 World Champion J.W. Harris.
Elliott walked away with $18,617, the Xtreme Bulls Tour money lead and a new goal: his fourth Wrangler NFR qualification.
“I’m going to go to as many rodeos as I can,” he said. “I love rodeoing. Rodeos are good because they’re committee driven, and those people are so happy that you’re at their rodeo. I don’t have many years left. I’m 28 now, so I need to capitalize while I can. I don’t want to be broke down when I quit. I want to be able to do things when I quit.”
Fort Pierre, S.D., cowboy Taylor Cowan suffered a broken femur when he was stepped on by a bull during the competition at the AT&T Center. Cowan underwent successful surgery that night and was released a day later, an official with the Justin Sportsmedicine Team said.
The competition was the third of the 2010 Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls Tour season and the first of two San Antonio stops. The other will be held at 1 p.m. (CT) on Feb. 20, and it will be audio Web cast live on ProRodeoLive.com.
The Feb. 4 San Antonio Xtreme Bulls event will be broadcast on ESPN2 at noon (CT) on Feb. 14 and re-air on ESPN Classic at 11 p.m. March 12 and at 3 p.m. on May 1.
www.prorodeo.com/XtremeBulls.aspx
ProRodeo Livestock video available for free
A 20-minute video titled ProRodeo Livestock is available free of charge to rodeo enthusiasts through the PRCA Industry Outreach Department in Colorado Springs, Colo. The educational video covers rodeo history, livestock care, PRCA stock contractors’ born-to-buck breeding program and PRCA rules that govern the safety of animals in competition.
PRCA stock contractors Dona Vold Larsen (Triple V Rodeo Company) and Jim Korkow (Korkow Rodeos) speak in the video, and several cowboys talk about the athletic ability of bucking horses and bulls and also discuss rodeo equipment.
Three-time and reigning World Champion Bareback Rider Bobby Mote, 2006 World Champion Bull Rider B.J. Schumacher and 19-time Wrangler NFR saddle bronc qualifier Rod Hay are among the cowboys featured in the video.
Representatives of rodeo committees, rodeo clubs, Western youth groups and other organizations wishing to get a copy of the free video may call PRCA Industry Outreach Director Cindy Schonholtz at 719.593.8840 or e-mail requests to animalwelfare@prorodeo.com.
Next Up
Feb. 8 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, ongoing
Feb. 11 Bell County PRCA Rodeo, Belton, Texas, begins
Feb. 11 Dixie National Rodeo, Jackson, Miss., begins
Feb. 12 PRCA Championship Rodeo, Bismarck, N.D., begins
Feb. 12 Coors Pro Rodeo, Gillette, Wyo., begins
Feb. 12 Rotary Classic Rodeo, Starkville, Miss., begins
Feb. 12 Yuma (Ariz.) Jaycees Silver Spur Rodeo begins
Feb. 18 San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo begins
The PRCA, headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo., is the largest and oldest rodeo-sanctioning body in the world. The recognized leader in professional rodeo, the PRCA is committed to maintaining the highest standards. The PRCA, a membership-based organization, sanctions more than 600 rodeos annually, and there are nearly 30 million fans in the U.S. The PRCA showcases the world’s best cowboys in premier events through the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour presented by Justin Boots, and its subsequent Justin Boots Playoffs, the Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, the PRCA’s bull riding tour; and the world-renowned Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Action from PRCA-sanctioned rodeos and its premier events appears on ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPN Deportes. Each year, PRCA-sanctioned rodeos raise more than $26 million for local and national charities. www.prorodeo.com
