• Home
• Bulls
• Riders
• Competition
  • World Champion Standings
  • World Finals Results
  • Daisy Rookie of the Year
  • World Finals Bull Teams
• Activities
• TV Schedule
• Tickets
  • 2009 World Finals
  • 2010 BFTS
  • 2009 Challenger Finals
• Shop
• Sponsors

Dark jewel ABBI Classic champ ‘has everything that you can ask out of a bull’

LAS VEGAS (November 6, 2009) - Since he was a just a small bull, Black Pearl has made the big bucks.

When he was a yearling, the little black whippersnapper caught the attention of co-owner Steve Ravenscroft as he bucked Black Pearl with a dummy on his back. Since then, the Nebraska stock contractor has taken great measures to promote Black Pearl’s development on the Professional Bull Riders circuit.

It has paid off. On Thursday night at the PBR World Finals, Black Pearl  clinched the American Bucking Bull Inc. 2009 Classic Division title and earned his owners the coveted $250,000 prize.

Black Pearl finished No. 1 with a two-run aggregate score of 183.75, 3.75 points ahead of second-place finisher Top Notch.

The Classic rankings were compiled on the basis of aggregate scores that were compiled from the Nov. 1 (long round) and Nov. 5 (short round) performances at the 2009 PBR World Finals. The Classic (short round) featured 20 bulls and was held in conjunction with Round 4.

The Classic Division short go featured 20 of the sport’s top 3- and 4-year-old bovines.

Black Pearl, a 4-year-old black crossbred who weighs about 1,600 pounds, is now owned by Ravenscroft, a Hyannis, Neb. resident, and Brad Boyd and Toby Floyd who are from Stephenville, Texas.

The bull has a predictable bucking pattern of spinning to the left near the bucking chutes with lots of leaping, kick and speed. However, staying on for 8 seconds is a daunting task.

“He’s going to pretty much do the same thing, but he gets stronger as the 8 seconds progresses,” Floyd said. “If they aren't in a perfect spot in 2 seconds, they won’t make it to 6.”

It’s the second consecutive year that Black Pearl has finished in the top two in the ABBI Classic competition at the Las Vegas-based World Finals. Last year, the bull came in second behind Crosswired and earned his owners $100,000.

At the 2009 World Finals, Black Pearl clinched the Classic title after turning in a 92.75 in the Nov. 1 long go and a 91 in the Nov. 5 short go.

Black Pearl also is a serious contender for the PBR’s World Champion Bull title. The bull finished second in the first round after turning in a score of 46.25 at the World Finals on Nov. 1.

Black Pearl marked a 45.5 during his second round outing on Nov. 5. The second round is scheduled to conclude during tonight's Nov. 6 performance.

Groomed for greatness

When Black Pearl began to show great potential as a very young bull, Ravenscroft said he reasoned it was advantageous to move Black Pearl to Texas so his bull could avoid the harsher Nebraska winters and develop his bucking career in a warmer climate. Knowing that Boyd and Floyd and had a notable track record for nurturing young talented ABBI bulls, Ravenscroft opted to send Black Pearl to their Stephenville ranch two years ago.

Floyd said Black Pearl showed great potential early on.

“Black Pearl is a really high-paced, energetic bull,” Floyd said. “When he first came to the house, there wasn’t many pens that could contain him. It took a little while to get him broke because he wanted to jump the fences and leave. But toward the middle and end of his 2-year-old year, he came together and he settled in the bucking chute, and he won the Breeder’s Cup in Stephenville hands-down as a Futurity calf.”

But during Black Pearl’s third year, his owners opted to curtail the bull’s activities on the circuit.

“I bucked him a couple of times with a rider, but I didn’t want to feed him straight to the PBR guys,” Floyd said.

However, Black Pearl’s owners bucked their promising 3-year-old at an ABBI show at the end of the year in Conyers, Ga., which made Black Pearl eligible to perform at the PBR 2008 World Finals in Las Vegas.

Last year, Black Pearl was runner-up for the Classic title behind Crosswired during the World Finals, and earned $100,000 for his owners. That lucrative award came after Black Pearl bucked off Ryan Dirteater in the ABBI Classic short go.

Boyd, who is Floyd’s partner at their Stephenville stock contracting firm, said Black Pearl enjoys his life on the circuit.

“That bull likes to buck,” Boyd said. “He’s got a gigantic heart. He’s very athletic. He’s made right. He just likes it. He likes it every day of his life.”

This year, Black Pearl has commanded respect on both the PBR Built Ford Tough Series as well as the ABBI Classic competitions.

“He has what I call a cowboy-friendly bucking style,” Floyd said “He leaps, kicks and spins all right there close (to the chute) at a fast pace.  He doesn’t have any belly rolls or any sorry,  undesirable characteristics that the cowboys find that they don’t like.

“By comparison, the (1995 PBR World Champion bull) Bodacious was a great bucking bull, but he was very cowboy unfriendly. With Black Pearl, if they do ride him, they’re going to be in the middle 90s.”

Today, Black Pearl is much more settled at home than when he arrived in Texas two years go.  When Black Pearl is on the ranch, he’s semi-relaxed and likes to throw dirt on his back, according to his owners.

But when Black Pearl attends a PBR event, his owners work very carefully to help keep their prize bull relaxed. That means making sure that he has another “roommate” bull near him and then working closely with him in the chute, hoping he’ll make a clean exit.

“Once you bring him to town and get close to a building where there’s lots of noise and fireworks, he gets very stressed out, and gets nervous,” Floyd said. “Last year, the first time that I came to the big lights, I was watching him in the back pen, he would lay down on his front legs like he was hiding himself, trying to hide his head like a cat. He would lay down flat.

“This year, as we hauled him, he got out of that, he settled a little bit, but he still gets nervous,” Floyd added. “But he gives 110 percent and his motor is going 9-0 when it’s showtime.”

Ravenscroft said Black Pearl is one great bull to watch.

“He’s a wild bull,” he said. “When they ride him or don’t ride him, your draw drops when you’re watching him go through his motions.”

One bull to watch

Black Pearl has made an impression on competitors and studious followers of great bucking bulls.

During his first time out on Sunday at the World Finals, Black Pearl helped Brazilian Robson Palermo win the third round with a score of 92.25. And during Round 4 on Thursday, he bucked off Skeeter Kingsolver in 5.8 seconds.

Though he came down 2.2 seconds too early, Kingsolver said Black Pearl is the type of bull that cowboys want.

“That bull is like a dream,” Kingsolver said. “He feels good. If you’re in the right spot, he’s the type of bull that you want to get on every day.”

Kingsolver said he felt like he was in control during the ride, and was surprised that he came loose.

“I have no clue (what happened),” Kingsolver said. “My hand came out (of the rope) out of nowhere.”

Two-time World Champion Chris Shivers said Black Pearl clearly has the qualities of a World Champion Bull contender. The legendary cowboy was bucked off of Black Pearl earlier this year at the Ford Series tour stop in Pueblo, Colo.

“He seems to get everybody to the outside, both right-handed guys and left-handed guys,” Shivers said. “It’s some little trick that he’s got and I haven’t figured it out.”

Throughout the season, Black Pearl also bucked off other world-class cowboys such as Kody Lostroh (in Reno, Nev.) and Rocky McDonald in (Tulsa, Okla.).

Overall, Black Pearl has been ridden three times (scores of 92.25, 86.5 and 90.75) in nine outs on the Built Ford Tough Series in 2008 and 2009. His average bull score is 45.36 and his average buckoff time is 4.65 seconds.

He’s one bull who has impressed three-time World Champion Adriano Moraes.

“I love Black Pearl,” Moraes said. “I’ve  been watching him for the past two years. He gets ranker, stronger and faster as the ride goes on. When Robson Palermo get on him (in the third round), he was ranker when the whistle blew than he was when he first came out of the chute. That says a lot. He’s a bull that tries harder and harder, every time.”

Black Pearl has grabbed the attention of David Fournier, a former World Finals qualifier and one of the early organizers of the PBR.

“He’s a sure enough a rank bull,” Fournier said. “That little bull shows so well. He gets up off of the ground, he kicks and he has some gas about him. He has a lot of juice.”

Cody Lambert, the PBR’s longtime livestock director, said Black Pearl has the basic qualities of an outstanding bucking bull.

“He really has everything that you can ask out of a bull,” Lambert said. “He has the jump and the kick and the direction changes, the intensity and the degree of difficulty all rolled into one. And he seems to get stronger as the ride goes on.

“If you ride him for 4 seconds, it doesn’t mean that you have him. When Robson rode, him he was really incredible at the 8-second mark. He rode him for 8 seconds, but I don’t think he could have ridden him for 9.”

-By Brett Hoffman

Login to add your comment!

Login to Post your comment

Guidelines: Comments should be within the standards established for the PBR community. Failure to abide by these standards may result in the deletion of comments and suspension of posting privileges. Please keep your comments relevant and courteous, and please refrain from posting any personal information.

When logging in you will be using your TeamPBR login Information. If you are not a member of TeamPBR you can join for free at www.teampbr.com

Dont have a TeamPBR login? By going to www.teampbr.com you can find out more of the benefits for joining TeamPBR!

There are memberships for every one from the Toughest Membership to the Free Membership TeamPBR has you covered. Find out which membership fits you today!