Bull riders Ride For Redemption at Cowtown Coliseum

Riding For Redemption at Cowtown Coliseum (Photo by Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media)

Dawson Branton advanced his hopes for reaching the Championship round of the PBR World Finals by winning Wednesday’s first round of Ride For Redemption at Fort Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum.

Ride for Redemption is the second phase of the three-phase, tournament-style PBR (Professional Bull Riders) World Finals: Unleash The Beast. Phase one was last weekend’s Eliminations at Cowtown Coliseum and the final phase is the Championship to be held Saturday and Sunday (May 18-19) at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

The Top 5 riders after two rounds of Ride For Redemption will advance to the Championship phase. No Unleash The Beast points are awarded during Ride For Redemption but riders are competing for a share of the $45,000 purse.

Branton was paired with Rowdy (Ogden Ranch/Hart Cattle Co.) as the first-ever ride-in to bull riding’s most prestigious event got underway. The Jefferson, Oregon, rider remained in perfect time with the animal athlete, reaching the requisite 8 with ease.

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As the crowd inside PBR’s most intimate venue erupted in cheers, Branton was awarded what proved to be an unrivaled 87.75 points. Branton led a contingent of six riders who delivered a score in the opening round of Ride For Redemption.

Vitor Losnake (Piratininga, Brazil) made the most of his re-ride draw, conquering Tijuana Two-Step (Blake Sharp/Michael Floyd) for 86.5 points to finish second.

Third was Rafael dos Santos (Quitman, Georgia), who earned his spot on the podium for Round 1 of Ride For Redemption by besting Suffering Succotash (Hart Cattle Company) for 85 points.

An 84.75-point effort atop Shot in The Dark (Leffew/Meza/Castillo/Gutierrez) placed Paulo Eduardo Rosetto (Colorado, Brazil) fourth on the event leaderboard.

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Rounding out the Top 5 was Daniel Keeping (Montague, Texas). Keeping’s rode Grey Fox (Universal Pro Rodeo/Rachel & Dustin Powell/Delmas/Williams) for 83.5 points.

While Bob Mitchell (Steelville, Missouri) was successful in Round 1 of Ride For Redemption, he will be in a must-ride position when the ride-in round resumes. His 81.25-point ride atop Bubba G (Dakota Rodeo/Brian & Ashley Pintar/Clay Struve/Chad Berger) currently ranks him sixth in the event.

The remaining 32 riders all begin the final round of Ride For Redemption with no score, each facing a must-ride situation to keep their 2024 PBR World Finals – Championship hopes alive.

Ride For Redemption continues with Round 2 tonight (May 16) at 7:45 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at PBR.com/WorldFinals, CowtownColiseum.com and AXS.com, or by phone at 1-800-732-1727.

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PBR RidePass on Pluto TV will offer re-airs and on-demand replays of every PBR Unleash The Beast event. PBR RidePass is available on desktops, laptops and mobile devices via www.pluto.tv.

(Information for this article was provided by PBR.)

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