News

Prescribed Byrne

Canadian bullfighter makes first string at Finals

LAS VEGAS (October 23, 2009) - Jesse Byrne can finally get some sleep.

For the past couple of weeks, the 23-year-old bullfighter from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, has been riled up with nerves.

It had nothing to do with fighting the rankest bulls and protecting the best riders in the world. It was instead the anticipation of learning whether or not he had earned a spot in Las Vegas at the 2009 PBR World Finals … and subsequently the 2010 Built Ford Tough Series.

“It was definitely a nerve-wracking couple of weeks of weeks leading up to that,” he said. “I didn’t get much sleep, but when I saw [Sr. Vice President of Competition] Jay Daugherty’s phone number come up on my phone, I got pretty excited.

“Yeah, I guess, really, that’s the phone call that I’ve always wanted to get. The Finals is something I dreamed of being a part of since I was a little kid, so to be able to have that as a reality is a pretty good feeling.”

Byrne, who filled in last year during the Finals as an alternate when Joe Baumgartner was injured, is the first Canadian to be voted in as one of the Top 4 bullfighters in the world.

Bullfighters aren’t graded or arbitrarily selected by the PBR. Instead, they are voted on by the very men whose lives they are entrusted with saving.

“When you put it that way, it’s a great feeling,” Byrne said. “It’s always been a dream, and for them to validate that is, well, hard to even put words to, really.”

Byrne was voted along with Baumgartner, Shorty Gorham and Frank Newsom, with Darrell Diefenbach serving as the alternate for next season.

A sophomore majoring in finance at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Byrne not only grew up around the sport of bull riding, but he’s the son of a bullfighter.

His father Ryan was the first and only Canadian to fight bulls at the NFR.

The younger Byrne readily admits the phone call home to share the news was a great moment, and he added that his parents – Ryan and Kelley, a former barrel racer – quickly made plans to be in Vegas the first weekend.

Earlier this year, Byrne fought bulls at the 2009 PBR World Cup in Barretos, Sao Paulo, Brazil, so aside from lower-level experience and numerous Canadian events, he has proven his skills alongside some of the best in the world.

Though he called the 2008 experience at the Finals a “whirlwind,” he learned a lot from Gorham and Newsom, whom he said made him feel like he was at home. But it was funnyman Flint Rasmussen who helped him “get organized” and settled once he arrived.

“It was definitely not like anything I had done before,” said Byrne, who later added, “Once I got out there in the arena – got in on the action on those first few bulls – everything kind of settled in to your regular groove.”

But in hindsight, Byrne jokes about how nervous he was just making his way into the Thomas & Mack Center for the first time.

“I knew I could fight bulls – I wasn’t worried about that – but I was more worried about screwing up the opening,” he said with a laugh. “There were so many instructions for the opening that I was thinking that would probably be the thing I would screw up, if anything.”

This year he knows what to expect and, more importantly, he knows he belongs out in the arena with the best.

He also knows enough to “not over-think things and let them happen as they will.”

NEWS and NOTES

CBS Sunday: Be sure to catch the Built Ford Tough Race to Vegas this Sunday on CBS. You'll be treated to the best rides, the worst wrecks, and a buck-by-buck review of the closest season in PBR history. Check local listings.

Road to Vegas: All roads are leading to Las Vegas! At this time of the season, the PBR is all about the World Finals, which is Oct. 30 through Nov. 8. Call  866-PBR-SHOW  866-PBR-SHOW  for ticket information or log onto www.unlvtickets.com to order your tickets for what will be one of the tightest finishes for the world title.

Winter reading program: The PBR has released a new 176-page hardcover coffee table book, “The Official Guide to the Toughest Sport on Earth,” this month through Triumph Books.

The book is available wherever books are sold. It retails for $29.95, and will available at all PBR merchandise stands throughout the upcoming World Finals.

In fact, plans are in place for an official book launch signing featuring Flint Rasmussen. Other signings are also in the works with various bull riders competing at this year’s Finals. The book, which is illustrated with 211 full-color photos, was authored by Jeff Johnstone and Keith Ryan Cartwright. Ty Murray wrote the forward.

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright