It was a wild weekend in Albuquerque. The UTB tour saw its most action-packed and competitive event yet, fitting for the Ty Murray Invitational.

The event featured 10 90+ point scores, with three of them belonging to the winner, Keyshawn Whitehorse.

The athletes, the bulls, and the fans all showed out in The Pit, making it the perfect warm-up to the World Finals in May.

Top Performers

Keyshawn Whitehorse

After a season where Keyshawn Whitehorse could do everything but make a splash in the standings, he got his moment in Albuquerque.

Whitehorse’s season high before Albuquerque was 88.15. He began Round 1 by covering Take Down for a season-best 89.4 and only improved from there. He then covered Magic Hunter for 90.15 in the Second Round and Freightliner Fever for 91.6 in the Third, earning his first and second round wins of the season.

He led all riders through the Long Rounds and chose Lights Out with the first pick, a bull that had already won five events this season.

As the last to ride, Whitehorse needed just 84.2 to claim victory, and in the biggest ride of his career, he delivered. With his family, fiancée, and Navajo Nation cheering him on, Whitehorse fought tooth and nail atop Lights Out, covering him for 90.75.

The first thing Whitehorse did after securing the win, surrounded by a sea of applause, was hug his father, Norbert.

“I’ve dreamed of this moment my entire life,” said Whitehorse, surrounded by loved ones. “No matter what, they had my back.”

Whitehorse became the first rider this season to produce three consecutive 90+ scores. He now sits in second behind Sage Kimzey and his five 90+ scores.

It’s his first win of the season and the fourth of his UTB career. He scored a tour-best 361.9 Aggregate Points over the weekend, earning 191 Season Points. After floating around the high teens and low 20s all season, Whitehorse entered the Top 10 for the first time, sitting in ninth place with 405 total Points.

Brady Fielder

After reviving his season with a win in Indianapolis, Fielder stayed hot, riding three of four bulls and placing fourth in Albuquerque. He’s covered six of his last seven bulls, all for no less than 87.65, including two of his three 90+ point rides this season.

Fielder began with an 89.95 atop Ghost Face and followed it with an 89 on Peso in the first two rounds. He failed to cover Good Riddance in the Third Round but was on his way to a Tour-leading tenth Short Round regardless. He chose Tigger and covered him for 91.15 in a show of focus and control. It was Fielder’s third round win of the season.

He still sits in fourth place in the world rankings but is just 2.5 points behind Leandro Zampollo and 63 points behind Sage Kimzey in second.

Alex Cerqueira

Alex Cerqueira put together an impressive weekend, finishing seventh for his seventh Top 10 finish of the season. He covered two of the four bulls he saw, and both were for more than 90 points. Cerqueira hadn’t scored 90 points yet this season, but he left Albuquerque having doubled his career 90+ ride total.

He failed to convert on either of his first two outs before covering Walk Hard for 90.55, a season high. It snuck him into the Short Round, where he faced Army Slasher, which he rode for 90.25. They were two much-needed qualified rides for Cerqueira as he stays afloat in the Top 10. He’s currently ranked seventh with a 41-point lead on eighth-place Clay Guiton.

José Vitor Leme

José Vitor Leme returned to form after bucking off his previous five bulls entering Albuquerque. He covered three of his four bulls in a major bounce-back performance that keeps him away from the World Finals cut line he’d been hovering around.

Leme covered all three of his Long Round bulls for a total of 268.35 points, including a season-high 90.75 on Felix in Round 3. It was his 100th career 90+ point ride across all levels of PBR competition.

He lasted 5.75 seconds on Eyes On Me in the Short Round and finished the event in fifth place. The stellar weekend moved him from No. 36 to No. 27 in the World.

Perfect Weekends

Besides Keyshawn Whitehorse, two other riders finished their weekends a perfect 4-for-4. Claudio Montanha Jr. and Bob Mitchell filed into second and third place, both with over 350 Aggregate Points.

It was Mitchell’s second perfect weekend of the season, and perhaps his the best weekend of his young career. It was Montanha Jr’s first perfect weekend. He also got his first 90+ ride of the season, covering Bowser for 90.2 in the Short Round.

The riders are currently ranked one after the other, with Mitchell in 17th and Montanha Jr. in 18th.

Records For Bulls and Cowboys Alike

There were a season-high 10 90+ point rides over the weekend in Albuquerque, fitting for the Ty Murray Invitational. Those ride scores go hand-in-hand with the toughest group of bulls the Tour has seen all year.

Bulls scored at least 44 points 30 times over the weekend. They scored at least 45 eight times, and three times they reached 46.

Bucky Nasty, Pegasus, and Fire Zone all earned Bull of the Event for those aforementioned 46-point rsocres.

Team Challenge

The Missouri Thunder won their Semifinal game against the Florida Freedom Friday night, 83.65–0. All 14 riders were bucked off in their initially, forcing extra outs. It took another three buck-offs before the Thunder’s Felipe Furlan covered Little Rip for 83.65, securing the victory.

The Thunder improved to a perfect 5–0 record and advanced to the Team Challenge championship. Strangely, they’ve won every single match this year with no more than a single qualified ride.

They’ll face the winner of the other semifinal between the Austin Gamblers and the Kansas City Outlaws at the final stop of the regular season in Tacoma.