Competing in the final performance of La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros on Saturday, a day before Sunday’s short go-round, is a lot like batting in the bottom of the ninth inning or having one last two-minute drill with the game tied or being last to act in a hand of five-card stud.
It’s all upside.
And for bullrider Jeston Mead of Garden City, Kansas, Saturday was about more than just the luck of the draw.
Mead knew exactly what number would be enough for him to qualify for Sunday’s huge payday. And competing so close to the finals gave him the chance to learn a little bit about his opponent.
Mead’s counterpart Saturday was vanilla-skinned with speckles of brown and snot dripping out of its nose. Mead had never seen Salt River Rodeo’s Boss Baby in person, but through the magic of social media, he got a good look at the giant bull well before Saturday’s ride.
Like in bareback riding — where Earl Tsosie Jr. conquered Rocky Mountain’s Lightning for an 81 — and in saddle bronc riding, where Taos Muncy bested Beutler and Son’s Nutrena’s Painted Flower for an 81, Mead sat back, waiting his turn, then pounced.
“Chance Ekins rode my bull two or three days ago, and I looked him up online, and I saw his Instagram, and he got a 79 on him,” Mead said. “You can visualize that bull and get a game plan. I was able to watch his ride and see what my draw did.”
Clayton Tuchscherer from Las Cruces, New Mexico, competed in steer wrestling during February’s La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.
Armed with a bit of added knowledge on his snorting competition, Mead took that into the cages, and the chess match commenced.
Or, rather, it didn’t.
You can’t predict what a bull is going to do out there; more importantly, you don’t want to.
“Them bulls are so smart,” Mead said. “They can feel a fly on their back, so you know they can feel every twitch of you. If you’re trying to overcompensate or act too soon — they say it’s a lot like a dance, you know, he makes a move and you’ve got to follow. But you can never lead. If you lead, whichever direction, he’s going the other. He’ll leave you standing there look at the ground wondering what just happened.”
For Mead, who has a wife and two kids and is not on the PRCA circuit full time, returning home to Kansas when he’s not competing, drawing a Saturday competition was a small win in the first place. He’ll be able to sleep well knowing what he’s hunting after Sunday in a loaded bull-riding field.
A new horse for his 7-year-old daughter, who is already rodeoing. With a win, maybe even a trailer.
“Tucson would be a good solid win,” he said. “It would boost me in the standings. Not like winning Houston and cashing $50,000, but you can win $10,000 or $12,000.”
For the former Professional Bull Riders tour competitor, who finished 11th in the Canadian standings and 43rd in the world in 2011 and has cashed in several top rodeos, Tucson would be a nice feather in his cap.
Connor Murnion from Jordan, Montana, is kicked off of Mad Max while competing in bull riding at the 95th La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.
For Muncy, it would be a nice bounce back after a so-so year.
Muncy tries not to put too much stock into which stock he draws, nor the day of the week. But he couldn’t help but smile Saturday.
“I was real tickled to have him,” Muncy said of Nutrena’s Painted Lady. “I’ve been struggling a bit, so it was nice to see a name I knew.”
Not just knew.
Last year, Muncy won his round in the vaunted San Antonio Rodeo atop Painted Lady. On Saturday, he won the rematch, too.
“To me, it really don’t matter when I’m up,” Muncy said. “You just want to do as good as you can. It’s nice if you have a horse you don’t know and maybe he won an earlier purse and you can get a game plan.
“You can’t really look at scores and worry about what other people are doing. It’s a judged event, and you’ve got the draw. You really can only do what you can do. You can only control yourself. You have to ride the rank ones and the bad ones. You try to win on all of them.”
That’s the working theory at the Tucson Rodeo, at least, where the animals are all of the highest quality.
Taylor Santos of Creston, California lassoes a calf during tie-down roping at the 95th La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo, on Feb. 22, 2020.
“There is a benefit to going on Saturday in Tucson but not in a lot of rodeos,” general manager Gary Williams said. “We’re so deep, you have the same chance of making the short round on the livestock you’ve drawn for any performance. A lot of rodeos, no one wants to go the day before the short-go, because you know they’ll save all the good animals for Sunday and you’re going to get a bunch of dinks.
“It doesn’t matter what performance you draw in Tucson, you’ve got a shot at getting to the finals.”
