BELMONT PARK, N.Y. – Seeing Trey Holston in Carolina blue covering Mighty Mouse in front of a raucous Friday night crowd last weekend in Greensboro was a long time coming. Not because Holston can’t cover a bull — but because, for nearly a year, he lived every cowboy’s nightmare: a broken back.

When the Carolina Cowboys traded for Holston from the New York Mavericks, the move was met with curiosity. Could the second overall pick in the 2025 PBR Teams Draft, sidelined by injuries, finally deliver on his potential? Carolina fans didn’t wait long for an answer. In his debut, Holston gave them exactly what they’d been waiting for, sticking Mighty Mouse for 84 points to open Cowboy Days and tilt momentum toward the home side. The Cowboys never looked back, sweeping their homestand 3-0 for the first time.

“Those guys took me in like I’d been there all year,” Holston said. The debut may have come with its share of nerves, but it was the kind of nervous energy that made the ride all the more fun.

Now, the Kansas cowboy finds himself staring down a showdown in New York that two weeks ago he thought would be his homestand. In a twist of fate, Holston will ride against the Mavericks — the team that drafted him, the team that once claimed him as their future cornerstone. Under the Friday night lights at UBS Arena, Holston is set to climb aboard Simon in Game 5 to close out the night, potentially perpetuating the Cowboys’ hot streak to 4-0. It’s a Big Apple spotlight moment, but it’s a long way from Kansas, Toto.

But getting here wasn’t easy. On July 1, 2024, Holston went 88 points on Tatonka in Prescott, Arizona, a ride that should’ve been the highlight of his summer. Instead, it became the start of a nightmare. A few days later, his body didn’t feel right. He took a plane, no train, and an automobile to the next rodeo — but something was off. Holston called his trainer, trying to shake off what he thought was routine soreness. When the trainer asked him to do a plank, Holston couldn’t even hold himself up.

“It’s definitely unfortunate,” Holston told U.S. Cowboy at the time. “But what I’m going to do about it is more important than what happened to me.”

The broken back sidelined him for 10 months, but it was only the beginning of a rough stretch. Since then, Holston has also undergone wrist surgery and battled a groin injury — an unfortunate series of setbacks that would test even the toughest cowboy.

Still, he kept clawing back. Ten months out of the arena meant battling not just physical pain, but mental doubt. Holston turned to what he could do — reading, studying fundamentals, doing sit-ups when his wrist was broken, rehabbing piece by piece.

“One of the biggest things I’ve learned about injury is that it slows you down, no doubt,” he said. “But you’ve got to put your best foot forward with what you can do. My wrist was broken, but I could still do sit-ups. My back was broken, but I could still read and stay sharp until I was ready to get back to full workouts. Injuries suck, but at the end of the day, you just keep moving forward so when you come back, you’re as good as you can be.”

That mindset is exactly what drew Carolina Cowboys head coach Jerome Davis to the young bull rider.

“He’s got a good air about him in the locker room,” Davis said. “He gets along with the guys, and that’s a lot of what he brings to the team. And the guy can ride. My part as a coach is just learning how to put him in the right spots to give him that confidence.”

Confidence was on display in Greensboro. Holston’s ride on Mighty Mouse wasn’t just points on the board — it was proof that his comeback wasn’t just about healing bones. It was about reestablishing himself as a rider who can deliver under pressure, for a team that needed him.

Now, in New York, Holston will try to do it all again — this time against the Mavericks, the team that once called his name with the No. 2 pick in the draft. The showdown at UBS Arena is a chance to keep Carolina’s hot streak alive and show just how far his comeback has carried him.

The action heats up Friday night at 7:45 p.m. ET, streaming exclusively on Fox Nation. And as the lights dim and Game 5 begins, Trey Holston will close out the night in a different shade of blue — one that’s already starting to feel like good luck.

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media