No Concern About Airtime and Magic Train

What an eventful weekend out in Charlotte ​for the PBR, by now most everyone has heard about the drama with the venue and most avid bull riding fans know some other drama played out.

With the race being on, for the top cowboys to position themselves for the race to finals it is very similar in the bull world. Going into Charlotte everyone who follows bull riding knows that Jared Allen's Pro Bulls 4 legged phenom Airtime was in the drivers seat as the top bull in the business.

Matt Scharping hauled his collection of amazing bucking bulls to include the infamous Airtime and Lane's Magic Train out to Charlotte for the event. This trip was scheduled to possibly  be the final out to qualify these bulls for a shot at bucking bull of the year, later this year in Las Vegas.

The trip to Charlotte didn't go as planned for the JAPBT, Airtime drew outside of the standard name for cowboys which may have directly effected his performance for the night. During a conversation with Matt this week we asked him how much the draw influenced Airtime's out, "The draw is critical for a bulls performance, when you draw a JB, or Kaique, or Jess, they believe and want to ride this bull, the understand how important it is". With Airtime drawing as he did the question comes that how much intimidation factor could play into how well a cowboy performs on a bull that is recognized as one of the best.

We went out and talked to a large group of bull riders, all the way from your weekend amateur to some top level bull riders in the game.  We specifically asked each one how would you feel about drawing a bull with as much power as Airtime. Nearly everyone confirmed our suspicions that there is a major intimidation factor with a bull as rank as Airtime.  This very well could be a reflection of how things proceeded in Charlotte.

Another bull from the JAPBT had a non typical out during the event in Charlotte, Lanes Magic Train was ridden for the first time this year. We asked Matt about this ride as well as how it feels when what you believe to be one of your strongest bulls gets ridden. Matt went on to say "That was not a typical out for Magic Train, I am pretty disappointed in the results. This means we have to evaluate what went wrong and what went right so that we can continue Magic Trains growth. I do know that these bulls are like any other athlete, after a bad performance they are motivated to get it right the next time. I feel sorry for the next man to get on Magic Trains back because he is going to be out for revenge."  As for how it feels to see your prize athlete get conquered this is how Matt put it, "you never want to see your prize athlete not succeed, but it is the nature of the business and it is how it goes, Magic Train will come back from this and be as strong as ever."

During our talk with Matt we asked if he felt this would have any influence on the push toward the champion bull race in Las Vegas. Matt went on to say "It will not have much influence at all, both of my bulls have there outs and there average should be where it needs to be to put them in the race in Las Vegas. Once you get there it is a clean slate and it all comes down to those 2 outs at World Finals". 

When asked if we will see either one of these superstar 4 legged athletes again this year this Matt Stated, "we have talked about taking them out to Idaho which may still be the case, going out there could give Magic Train a chance to wipe out this low bull score. Ultimately we have to make the decisions that are best for the bulls. They are like my children and anything from feed, to exercise, to when and where to travel has to be decided on what best for them. We will make those decisions when the time is right, for now we are regrouping and going to make sure everyone is healthy and ready". 

For all of you bull riding fans you will just have to wait and see if these to magnificent bucking bulls make another showing this year, but you can guarantee that come time for world finals in Las Vegas both of these 4-legged athletes will be ready to go and have their game faces on!
By: Phillip Kitts Staff Writer The Pepper Stewart Show