Bad Dream, Big Bucks and California Dreamin all scored 45-plus. Pictured here: Big Bucks by Andy Watson. |
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The pen of bulls the Tom and Jerry Bull Show team has assembled is no laughing matter. The only semblance to the classic cartoon is the occasional beating a cowboy takes or the aerial gymnastics one demonstrates after getting launched from a Nelson or Teague bull.
The first PBR Bull Team event took place in Winston-Salem, N.C. and it was Elsie Griffin’s team that was able to lay claim to the first victory of the season, with five bulls scoring a total of 223 points worth $20,000. Griffin, a fan of Jerry Nelson and Tom Teague bulls, drafted a deep pen for her team and should be a formidable force all season long.
Bad Dream, Big Bucks, California Dreamin, Red Light and Wildfire are the Tom and Jerry Show’s starting players. The back-ups are Crooked Tooth, Just A Dream and Invisible Touch. Bad Dream, Big Bucks and California Dreamin all scored 45-plus. Red Light had a 44.5 while Wild Fire had an off-day— getting ridden by L.J. Jenkins and earning just a 41.75, far below his usual score.
Winning $10,000 for second was Carl Nafzger’s Wrangler Bull Team. Nafzger, a former bull rider and celebrated horse trainer of Kentucky Derby Champions, has assembled a great team. They finished just a half-point behind the Tom and Jerry Show. Their stand-out bull in N.C. was the 2007 PBR World Champion Bucking Bull Chicken On A Chain with a phenomenal 47.75, the highest bull score we have seen this year. Other fantastic Robinson/Tedesco bulls on the Wrangler team include Booger Butt and Get R Done (alternate). Roy Carter’s Eddie Munster, Little Mr. T and Fraggle Rock (alternate) adds some seriously solid scoring buckers to the line-up. Sid Evans’s Fear Factor and Lane Foltyn’s Red |
Rooster (alternate) round out Nafzger’s group. Since PBR Bull Team rules allow team owners to switch bulls in and out as needed, “alternate” definitely doesn’t mean second string.
Just a point and a half behind Nafzger was the Big Machine team. Big Machine is comprised primarily of Hebert and Rafter 7 R heavy hitters, as well as Cat Man Do from #10 Bucking Bulls. In fourth was the Boyd-FloydBullCo.com Team with 219.25. Boyd-Floyd’s Camo had a memorable performance, taking Kasey Hayes to a 92 point score that helped him to seal the event title. Camo was marked a 45.5 and was probably not happy to have his 80% buck off rate lowered by the young cowboy from Kansas. Rounding out the participating teams was Twisters in fifth with 207.
This first batch of teams to compete were all very strong, literally if you had one or two animals that had an off day, it could mean the difference of several places.
Remarked PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert, “It was a great event for the first Bull Team Challenge to take place at. The competition in Winston-Salem couldn’t have been any tougher.”
Lambert also said that any of the top four placing performed well enough to win a future team competition. With 16 events to go after The Salem NationaLease Invitational, chances are good we will see some of these teams take home their first, or an additional, a $20,000 or $10,000 check soon. |
