McCoy Rodeo’s Pegasus was named Bull of the 2025 National Finals Rodeo after bucking off Stetson Wright in the fifth round and Tristen Hutchings on Night 10 in a combined 7.02 seconds. The nearly 1,700-pound gray bull had suffered an infection and had his right horn removed. Pegasus recovered well enough to join the elite field of athletes in Las Vegas, then outshined them all.
(PRCA PHOTO BY CLICK THOMPSON)

 

OKLAHOMA CITY – As he was inside the yellow bucking chute synonymous with the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, the gray bull without a right horn stood motionless.

Pegasus was familiar with his surroundings. It was the 8-year-old bull’s third straight December being at ProRodeo’s grand finale, and he’d shown off his athleticism once five days before, when he overpowered 10-time world champion Stetson Wright in 4.99 seconds.

“He’s been the rankest bull of all 10 days,” said Don Gay, an eight-time bull riding world champion and television analyst said before the 1,685 pounds of explosive bovine muscle exited the chute Dec. 13, the final night of the NFR and the 2025 season.

Pegasus was poised, much like a prize fighter in the corner before the referee calls the combatants to the center of the ring. On his back was Tristen Hutchings, a 25-year-old Idaho cowboy who just happens to be the only man to have lasted a qualifying eight seconds on the gray wonder during the bull’s ProRodeo career. That happened during the 2023 NFR, when Hutchings won the eighth round after posting an 89-point ride.

The four-time qualifier to the sport’s biggest stage didn’t stand a chance. Pegasus looked out the opening between the slats before Hutchings nodded his head, a call to open that yellow gate and allow the bout to begin. The animal leapt out of the box and made one and a half revolutions to the left while jumping and kicking three times.

That’s all that Hutchings could handle, and he hit the ground 2.03 seconds after the chute gate opened. In his two performances at the most recent NFR, two of the greatest bull riders in ProRodeo lasted a combined 7.02 seconds. For that, Pegasus was crowned the Bull of the NFR, an honor when considering only the top 100 bovine athletes were featured in Sin City.

“That is one special animal,” said Brandon McLagan, the voice of the Oklahoma City ProRodeo presented by Tractor Supply Co., set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23-Saturday, Jan. 24, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 25, at OG&E Coliseum inside OKC Fair Park in Oklahoma City; tickets are available at McCoyRodeo.com. “The McCoy Rodeo gang never ceases to be amaze me that when there’s a good bull out there, they’re going to get him.”

From the McCoy Ranch in the southeastern Oklahoma community of Lane, it’s a 1,255-mile quest to the desert city of Las Vegas. Pegasus made that journey just a few weeks ago with a couple of pasture-mates, Blue Duck and Ugly This. They are just a trio of the top bucking athletes from Sara and Cord McCoy, the latter of whom is a retired bull rider with his own pedigree.

The six-time PBR World Finals qualifier who earned the right to compete at the 2005 NFR, Cord McCoy has transitioned from being an elite athlete to raising them. His most popular bull is Ridin Solo, which was selected as the PBR’s Bull of the Year twice and was also featured at the NFR.

While Ridin Solo rode off into the sunset of retirement, Pegasus has stepped in to fill that void in a big way. He will be one of many McCoy bulls to help kick-start the first ProRodeo inside OG&E Coliseum in a couple weeks.

“That bull got a horn infection, and they knew something was wrong,” McLagan said. “Once they got that horn removed, that bull has come back stronger than he was before.”

It’s a heroic tale of overcoming adversity to thrive in the spotlight. It’s akin to quarterback Alex Smith returning to the NFL after suffering a lower leg fracture and a life-threatening infection, but this episode came in a man-vs.-beast sport.

In the fifth round of this past NFR, Pegasus was the barbarian, but Wright was just as beastly as the winningest cowboy of this generation. If his gold buckles, three have come in bull riding, including the 2025 title; one came in saddle bronc riding; and he’s won six of the last seven all-around titles – since 2019, the only year he didn’t win the all-around was 2024, when an injury that almost ended his career sidelined Wright for the entire campaign.

Through that nearly five-second battle, Pegasus’ power was overwhelming, as the G-force generated was too much for Wright. The bull had already overcome the challenge of the infection, so the greatest cowboy in the game today was just another hurdle he cleared.

“To have that adversity with the horn infection and have surgery to remove it, it says something about that bull to get back to being healthy in order to make it back to the NFR,” McLagan said. “To win the Bull of the NFR on top of that is very cool.”