Champion Horse Continues Winning and Gears for Guymon

F O R I M M E D I A T E

R E L E A S E

Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo

Where Champions Play the First Weekend in May

For information

(660) 254

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1900

Contact Ted Harbin

[email protected]

Champion horse continues winning

GUYMO

N, Okla.

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Dirty Jacket is one of the most decorated bucking horses in ProRodeo.

The 11

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year

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old bay gelding from Pete Carr Pro Rodeo is the reigning Bareback Horse of the

Year as voted on by members of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He also

has been one of

the top three horses in the year

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end voting each of the past three seasons.

At the 2014 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December, the athletic horse proved the

accolades, guiding cowboys to go

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round victories both times he bucked inside

the Thomas & Mack

Center: Richmond Champion of The Woodlands, Texas, won the fifth round, while Caleb Bennett of

Tremonton, Utah, claimed the 10

th

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round title.

“There’s not another horse like him,” said Champion, who also won the Cheyenne (Wyo.)

Frontier

Days title after a 91

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point ride in July. “Dirty Jacket might’ve even looked better than he did

that day in Cheyenne.”

The fifth and 10

th

rounds featured the greatest bucking horses in rodeo, an elite list of

phenomenal athletes. Even then, Dirty Jacket st

ood out. Now he will have a chance to stand out again at

the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo, set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 1; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2;

and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 3, at Henry C. Hitch Pioneer Arena.

It’s a place where he’s guided cowboys to

t

he prestigious Guymon title four times in the last seven years.

“There wasn’t a bad horse in the pen, but to have Dirty Jacket again at the NFR and to win the

round was awesome,”

said

Champion

, who shared the Guymon title last year on Fancy Free, another

great Carr bucking horse

. “There’s not another night that you get to walk down the alley with that

caliber of horse standing all next to each other.

“That same feeling runs in all of us to see that kind of horse lined up for us, just standing outside

the

Thomas & Mack. That’s what dreams are made of in this sport.”

It’s the same feeling Bennett had when he prepared for the final night of the competition. It had

been a rough week for the Utah cowboy, who had placed in just one round prior to the 10

th

night

.

“I couldn’t have been more blessed and ask for anything more than to end it the way I did on

Dirty Jacket,” he said. “It’s a phenomenal horse and definitely one of the ones you want to have in this

round.”

The powerful gelding is one of four Pete Carr

horses that have received the top honor in

bareback riding, joining pasture

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mates like Real Deal, Big Tex and MGM Deuces Night. In 2013, when

Dirty Jacket was named Reserve World Champion Bareback Horse, he helped cowboys to at least a

share of the title 1

2 of 13 times he performed during the regular season. In 2014, his wins were just as

miraculous.

Champion’s 91 in Cheyenne was one of two of the highest marked rides of the campaign. The

other was by Steven Dent, who rode Dirty Jacket for a matching 91 on

the final weekend of the regular

season at the Cowboy Capital of the World Rodeo in Stephenville, Texas, in September.

“Any time you can draw one that everybody wants, you’re happy with it whether you’re in that

situation or it’s a regular

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season rodeo,”

said Dent, a seven

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time NFR qualifier from Mullen, Neb. “You

don’t have the opportunity to get on a horse that you can be that many points on and that’s that fun to get

on very often in your life, much less the last week of the year when you’re trying to

make the NFR.

“That is a really great horse. There are not very many of them like him that do it every time, that

are that electric, jump that high in the air and that you can be that many points on.”

The horse has been selected to buck at the NFR each of

the past seven seasons. Earlier this year,

Jessy Davis scored 93 points during the Cinch Shootout at the San Angelo Stock Show Rodeo.

“He has a

huge frame, but he’s so athletic from nose to tail. He just looks like an athlete. If you

could pick a horse o

ut of a herd that could jump nine f

eet in the air, he’s that horse,” Champion said.

“If

you’re going to win a big rodeo, that’s the horse you want.”

Dirty Jacket is powerful, athletic and consistent, but what makes him a proven winner year after

year is i

n the effort he puts forward every trip. He has the heart of a champion.

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