ProRodeo Sports News | 2020 Year-End Edition | Dec.18, 2020

STOCK OF THE YEAR

Top Flight, Womanizer, Chiseled tops

BY TRACY RENCK S tanding out among a crowd of exceptional roughstock requires a perfect balance of animal athleticism and the cowboys capable of showcasing that talent. The 2020 Pendleton Whisky “Let ’er Buck” Stock of the Year recognized Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Top Flight for Bareback Horse of the Year, The Cervi Brothers’ Womanizer for Saddle Bronc of the Year and Powder River Rodeo’s Chiseled for Bull of the Year. TIME FOR TAKEOFF Top Flight is a cornerstone of Pickett Pro Rodeo. The 2020Wrangler National Finals Rodeo marked her 11th

CERVIS WIN WITH WOMANIZER

ProRodeo Hall of Famer

Mike Cervi purchased the original Cervi Championship Rodeo string in 1967. Since 2005, Cervi’s sons Binion and Chase have been running Cervi Championship Rodeo and Cervi Brothers’ Rodeo. Womanizer, 9, is the first Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year for Binion and Chase. “Being in the rodeo business as a stock contractor, there’s no greater feeling than to win this award, especially because it took years to get to that level with an animal,” Binion said. “We have a slower process with our animals than most people. We don’t take them down to the biggest rodeos in the world like San Antonio and Houston until they are 7.” Womanizer was voted the

top saddle bronc horse of the 2019 NFR and the top saddle bronc horse of Round 5 at that year’s Finals, when she bucked off J.J. Elshere. Brody Cress won Round 10 onWomanizer with a 91-point ride at last year’s NFR. Chiseled, 5, is owned by H.D. Page of D&HCattle and bucks under the Powder River Rodeo umbrella. SweetPro’s Bruiser, whom Page also owns, came in second in the voting. “This is pretty gratifying for sure,” Page said . “It is one of the most prestigious awards I think you can get in our business. Chiseled has a ton of athletic ability and kick and all that stuff. I guess his intensity is what knocks him off the charts and separates him. He’s so intense CHISELED IN BRONZE

Top Flight has been selected for 11 straight trips to the Wrangler NFR. Ric Andersen photo

consecutive trip to the Finals. Last year, Tim O’Connell had a 91.5-point trip on Top Flight to place second in Round 10. Ty Breuer split second in the finals at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, Feb. 22, with an 89-point ride on the 16-year-old bucker who finished third in the 2019 Bareback Horse of the Year voting. “It means a lot to get this award,” said Cullen Pickett, owner of Pickett Pro Rodeo since its inception in 2008. “We have won a lot of things, but we have never won first (in Stock of the Year). This is a very hard award to get. I almost gave up on her (Top Flight) winning first. “We felt like for several years she was good

2020 TOP STOCK BAREBACK RIDING 1. Top Flight – Pickett Pro Rodeo 2. Virgil – C5 Rodeo 3. (Tie) Gunfire – Frontier Rodeo OLS Tubs Stevie Knicks – Northcott Macza SADDLE BRONC RIDING 1. Womanizer – The Cervi Brothers 2. Medicine Woman – Frontier Rodeo 3. (Tie) Onion Ring – Korkow Rodeos Lady Vain – Bar T Rodeo BULL RIDING 1. Chiseled – Powder River Rodeo 2. SweetPro’s Bruiser – Powder River Rodeo 3. Magic Poison – Frontier Rodeo

when he’s up in the air and kicking, and he probably weighs 1,800 pounds. He bucks likes he weighs 1,000 pounds. He gets in the air and really kicks hard.” Chiseled had four outs in the 2020 season and bucked off each cowboy. “He’s a big ol’ pet, a quirky clown,” Page said. “He’s like a big ol’ dog. He’s kind of scary. He’s so big, and he’ll come trotting up to you wanting you to pet him and he’ll stop about an inch before he knocks you down. Then, when his adrenaline gets to pumping, he blows up and turns into a different animal. His neck fills out and his blood gets to pumping and he turns into this beast. “Then, five minutes later, he’s back there licking his lips and chewing his cud back to his old self.” SweetPro’s Bruiser was the 2017 Bull of the Year. Page’s bull Shepherd Hills Tested was the 2013 Bull of the Year.

enough, and you felt like she doesn’t have to win it to prove it to you. This is the icing on the cake for her. I told somebody the other day I don’t know if I deserve this honor, but I know for sure she deserves it. “She can sleep in my house if she wants to.” Pickett said Top Flight’s personality doesn’t change regardless of the situation. “Her demeanor is really good,” he said. “She stays pretty much the same whether we are at a rodeo or at the house (in Fairfield, Texas). She is even- keeled. The only time her demeanor changes is when she gets in the chutes she knows it’s ‘Go Time.’ “She is a one-of-a-kind personality. She doesn’t mess with anybody, but nobody messes with her. She still likes to go (to rodeos), and we will probably buck her maybe another year or two.”

ProRodeo Sports News 12/18/2020

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