BIG CABIN, Oklahoma — 2013 PBR Canada Bull of the Year and Bull of the Finals, 917 Pound the Alarm formerly owned by Wild Hoggs Bucking Bulls and Corey Chmelnyk has been sold to Jimmy Roth owner of JARS Bucking Bulls and Gene Owen Bucking Bulls of Oklahoma.
“I had bulls at the PBR World Finals and saw him in the short go there,” said Gene Owen this past October when Shane Proctor rode him for a 90 point score. “I didn’t have any idea that he was for sale. I was talking to Cody Lambert and he brought that bull up, he knew I was looking. Jason (Davidson) kinda put the deal together and he showed up in Oklahoma yesterday morning.”
“This is what makes the PBR superior in the bull riding industry. It is a direct benefit to our PBR Canada stock contractors breeding programs when bulls are purchased by the PBR’s BFTS stock contractors,” Davidson added.
“We’re pretty excited and pretty glad we got him,” said Owen. “We did all the research and looked at all the videos of him.”
“He’s the partner that made this happen,” Owen said of JARS Bucking Bulls and Roth. “We have bought other bulls over the past few weeks and are negotiating on others right now. I look for big things out of him. He’s really excited and trying to do some good stuff.”
Every day there is more and more interest in the PBR.
“Gary Stevens called and left me a message one day and it didn’t ring a bell. Gary Stevens is a pretty common name and I didn’t realize who it was. He said ‘Cody Lambert will be calling you,’ so in a few minutes Cody Lambert called and said ‘Gary Stevens, you know who that is?’ And I said ‘Well not off hand’ Cody said ‘Are you familiar with Horse Racing?’ Well as soon as he said that it rang a bell,” explained Owen. “He’s probably one of, if not the best jockeys ever. If you’ve seen the movie Seabiscuit when Red breaks his leg and the other jockey rides the horse, that’s Gary Stevens, he’s playing the part in the movie but that’s who I’m talking about.”
Stevens is good friends with Jimmy Roth according to Owen.
“I talked to Gary and he told me Jimmy is wanting to get into the bull business and he gets us hooked up together and it’s taken off from there, so Gary’s kind of involved in it also,” said Owen.
“The thing that really impressed me was that he (Pound the Alarm) was just a four year-old last year and Cody picked him to be one of the top 15 in the world,” said Owen.
For Pound the Alarm, there were a lot miles traveled in that week, from the PBR Canadian Finals in Saskatoon, SK on Friday and Saturday to Las Vegas to buck on Thursday and again on Sunday this past October. One way from Saskatoon to Las Vegas is nearly 1,400 miles and that doesn’t include travel to and from the bulls’ former home of Marwayne, AB.
“To survive all those miles and make it to Sunday, as a four year-old, there’s only been three or four bulls ever that could have done that in my opinion,” said Owen.
Sellers, Justin Volz from the Wild Hoggs crew and his partner on 917, Corey Chmelnyk weighed in on the decision.
“We didn’t really want to sell him but at the same time I think it’s good for the bull to go and compete against the best bulls and best cowboys in the world. Hopefully he makes the best of it,” said Volz. “We wouldn’t have had the opportunity to let him do that. He went to a good place where he can do that and be a better bull in the long run.”
“It’s still going to be like we almost still own him but we don’t, it’ll be good to see him,” said Chmelnyk.
Gene Owen knew Volz from his riding days, but didn’t know Pound the Alarm was raised by the former bull rider.
“I knew him when he rode bulls, I didn’t know that was his bull. Jason handled all that. I heard it was Wild Hoggs, then when he got here I realized it was his bull,” Owen said.
The white, red and brown spotted bull’s new home is in Big Cabin, Oklahoma, about 45 miles northeast of Tulsa.
“It’s pretty cold here this morning. Everything is all cold and hunkered up except Pound the Alarm, he thinks it’s springtime. He’s trotting around like the sun is shining,” Owen laughed.
When asked about 917’s name, Owen said it would remain the same.
“We haven’t discussed changing it and I don’t know why we would. That one is a little different. He’s kinda known by that name, unless someone comes up with a lot of money and a sponsored deal, that’d be the only way we change it.”
Pound the Alarm may make his Built Ford Tough Series regular season debut as early as next weekend in St. Louis.
“I’ve got him with another bull here at the house, Southpaw, he was crippled most of last year, but the year before he was in the Championship Round at the PBR World Finals in 2012. His first event back was in Oklahoma City the other day,” told Owen. “They are penned together, you know, getting them to buddy up. If he’s eating well, that’s the main thing, they’ve got to eat to survive on the road.”
“If he settles in and he’s eating well, and seems to feel ok, because there’s a lot of difference between where he’s at and where he came from. We don’t want to rush him but we are going to take him for sure to Arlington (Iron Cowboy V). But I’d like to buck him once before just to kinda get accustomed to him for myself.”
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