SMACK DOWN

Smack Down in NYC January 2011

This week I thought about Smack Down after writing the piece about his 1/2 brother, Get Smacked, last week.  Both bulls were sired by El Smacko, and Smack Down’s mother was a Katich F1 cow, red Brahma on red Angus.

Smack Down is a great bull!  He finished 3rd in the PBR last year, just behind the great World Champion bucking bull, Bushwacker and 2nd place finisher, Asteroid.  Yet Smack Down doesn’t get the attention and accolades I think he deserves.

A snack on game day at the PBR Finals in Las Vegas October 2011

I decided to do a little digging to see what I could find on Smack Down. So from my own experiences to a fellow member of ProBullStats.com to the folks who’ve hauled Smack Down to two superstar PBR bull riders, this is what I found. 

First, I contacted Paula Saurer, whose boyfriend Brandon hauled Smack Down for Chad Berger Bucking Bulls the past few years.  I asked Paula what funny stories or habits  she could tell me about Smack Down.  Paula said, “I talked to Brandon about your questions on Smack Down.  We couldn’t really come up with anything that stood out about him.  He has no funny habits or quirky things that he does.  He gets along with everyone that we penned him with and no issues with him at all.  Just very easy to keep and very easy to get along with.”

Smack Down (front), Clam Digger, Big Tex and Yellow Jacket Jr. at home on the ranch June 2011

I thought back to two encounters I’ve had with Smack Down.  The first was at the Uncasville, Mohegan Sun PBR event in 2010.  During the Fan Club Bull Housing tour, our group guide, Chad Berger, took us over by his bulls.  Smack Down was penned with Big Tex, Yellow Jacket Jr, Clam Digger and Soulja Boy.  The whole time our group was by this pen, Smack Down was attentive to his pen mates, “affectionate” with each one, rubbing heads and “checking in” with the other bulls, except Big Tex.  (It was just so darn cute to watch Smack Down with his mates!)

Smack Down checking in with Clam Digger

The second encounter was loading day at the Berger Ranch, for a Touring Pro event, in June 2011.  Smack Down, Yellow Jacket Jr and Big Tex were the last three bulls to get loaded on the truck.  When the gate opened, both Yellow Jacket Jr and Smack Down stepped back to allow Big Tex to go out first.  Just seemed like Smack Down knew his place in the “bull order”.

Smack Down waiting patiently for loading time

Next, I compiled some stats on Smack Down.  He’s had 54 outs between the BFTS, Touring Pro events and the PRCA.  He’s got a buck-off percentage of 85.19 (8 rides in 54 attempts).  He’s got 28 scores of 45 points or better.  Wow! that’s impressive! 
So there’s something to this bull!  Why is he so hard to ride? A fellow member on ProBullStats.com, Justin Adams, put it this way, “He looks really strong to me, moves fast around the corner for a big bull.  Kicks hard, has some whip and is built with a cow frame.  He also looks like he might roll his shoulders a bit too.”

2009 PBR World Champion bull rider Kody Lostroh shared this with me about Smack Down. “Smack Down is a great bull because every single bull rider, including myself, knows what he's going to do and he still gets most of us on the ground. He has bucked me off 5 times. And he bucked the exact same way all 5 times. Which is very irritating to me because I'm not sure that any bull has ever gotten me 5 times in a row the same way. He's got a ton of whip to the outside when he spins. And he's built kinda like a cow in the fact that he doesn't have very big shoulders. So his odd build along with the huge amount of whip he has combines to be a very difficult bull to ride. But he CAN be rode.”

PBR Superstar Robson Palermo explains what it was like to ride Smack Down. “Smack Down is a bull that when you see him bucking, looks like he is an easy bull. But when you are actually riding him, he is not that easy. I saw him bucking a couple of times and I thought he would be an easy bull. So, I picked him twice when I was leading the event, but I bucked him off both times. After that I quit picking him on [drafts] at BFTS. When I qualified to the short go at  [the] Chad Berger event in Bismark, I decided to try again. I was mad that he bucked me off in the past and I really wanted to ride him. He jumped and turned to the left. I was [having a] great day this day and I did all movements correctly. I rode him and I felt great! 94 points! The highest score I ever had in my career! I'm not sure if I would pick him again, but I can say that I rode Smack Down for 94 points!
He is a bull that usually turns back left, he drops his shoulder inside and outside what makes the ride really difficult. Besides that, he is really fast and strong.”

So I guess Smack Down just goes along and does his thing, a “blue collar” type bull, without all the flash and attention.  But make no mistake, he’s a GREAT bull who will give a BIG score IF the cowboy can ride him for 8 seconds!

My sincere thanks to Paula Saurer , Kody Lostroh, Robson Palermo and Justin Adams for sharing their thoughts and experiences with me.

All photos by Susan Hanrahan