Aussies Abroad: April 10th 2024

 

With the Unleash The Beast tour rolling into Sioux Falls across the weekend, it was a tale of ecstasy and agony for our Aussies in the majors. With only six regular season events remaining before the PBR World Finals, every ride counts.

Get all the latest news in this week's edition of Aussies Abroad.

Unleash The Beast Tour: Sioux Falls, SD

With the UTB tour now entering the home stretch, it was a fantastic opportunity to keep pushing for our two Australians on opposite ends of the spectrum regarding their ticket to Fort Worth in May.

Callum Miller was back on the main tour after missing the cut the previous two weekends. With fellow Queenslander Brady Fielder holding the 11th position in the standings, he was looking to shore up that number or even improve it higher out of reach of that #15 cutline.

It was Miller who was first to not his head in Round 1, with Commander (Universal Pro Rodeo / Rachel & Dustin Powell / Delmas / Williams) unfortunately stumbled after some issues with the head rope, so with Miller taking the re-ride option, he was tasked with sharing the chute with Mahan (Jane Clark / Gene Owen) who had a day out, dislodging Miller in 2.17 seconds for a 43.5 Bull Score. 

Fielder also suffered a similar fate in the opening stanza inside the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, being married up on the daysheet with Sky's The Limit, also from the Jane Clark / Gene Owen pen, who had only been covered 3 times from 24 trips. 

The bovine was able to add another buck-off to that list, with Fielder comfortable away from his hand for the first five and a half seconds until the bovine turned back to the right and the direction change proved too much for the Texas Rattler to handle, called at 5.95 seconds.

When night two rolled around on a brisk Saturday evening in Sioux Falls, rolls reversed with Fielder the first to call for his bull during Round 2 facing Full Throttle (Classic Jack Cattle / Viducic Bucking Bulls). This was another win for the bovines against the Aussies in the UTB, with Brady falling to the inside of the spin and unable to contain the low spinner, with his seat uprooted at 4.33 on the ride clock. 

The next ride on the chute next to him, Miller was also looking to break his event duck with another outstanding up-and-coming bull on the tour, Bugatti, from the Phenom Genetics / Dragonetics / Sankey / Wallace bull roster. 

With the animal athlete absolutely roaring out to the chute gate with two massive kicks and then around to the left, Callum was unable to find any timing or balance and found himself in the dirt in 2.26 seconds. Bugatti picked up a 43-point reward for his effort. 

Heading into championship Sunday, it was more misery for the Warwick native Miller, with his weekend ending at the hands of Hunting Trip (Dozier Cattle Co / Martinez Bucking Bulls) having a rare off day, scattering out of the chutes towards the arena boundary fence before settling into his usual clockwise spin and doing enough to get Callum down in 3.93 seconds and send his home empty handed with three no-scores across the event.

Fielder, on the other hand, had much more luck on the final day at Sioux Falls, punching himself a short-go opportunity in Round 3 when he was able to find some form and, more importantly, the whistle, becoming the first rider to cover Gaucho from the Lucas Manning Bucking Bulls pen. 

Brady Fielder 84 points on Gaucho- Rd 3 Sioux Falls

Gaucho came out with two or three half-turn jumps to the left before deciding to chuck the trip in reverse and send Fielder into his hand on a tricky trip with no consistency. However, the #11 bull rider in the world was able to weather the storm and gain himself an 84-point score. 

Heading into another championship round of the 2024 tour, Brady was tasked with Big Bank (Universal Pro Rodeo / Rachel & Dustin Powell / Delmas / Williams), his dance partner for the money round, and it proved to be a fantastic matchup for Brady. 

Able to stay composed through the early duration of the trip with a few tricky rare's that brought him close to the front end, he was able to find the middle and work his outside leg to go all the way for 89 points and set himself at the event lead at that stage of the night.

 

Brady Fielder 89-point ride on Big Bank: 
Rd 4 Sioux Falls 

Cassio Dias was able to cover his last bull and push Fielder down to third on the event, but it's an excellent result for Brady to now sit firmly above the cut line in tenth position with 425.7 UTB points and is riding at 36% on year to date (18-50).