Cashing in at Vegas

Julio and Cindy Moreno are dancing their way to the bank to the tunes of Troubadour, a 4-year-old bucking bull that just cashed in on a kind of PBR futurity.

“He is one of the last calves from Whitewater ... and is out of a Typhoon daughter. Typhoon is another bull we owned that went to the PBR Finals,” said Cindy Moreno in a phone interview Tuesday from Las Vegas, Nev.

Vegas is currently hosting the PBR Finals, and it is there Troubadour, which has yet to be ridden in 21 rides this calendar year and has an average score of 22.51 out of a possible 25 points each ride, earned his mark.

Troubadour also earned the Morenos $250,000 as the top-ranked bull in the 3-4 age division, combining scores from the first two rounds at the Finals and two scored events in Enid, Okla.

The Morenos share ownership in another bull, Charlie Bull Ware, which finished ninth in the judging.

The competition was sponsored by the American Bucking Bull Inc. - a bull breeding and registration organization Julio Moreno and Flying U Rodeo patriarch Cotton Rosser helped form - in conjunction with Professional Bull Riders.

Troubadour was in second in the competition coming out of Enid. Troubadour earned the top rating after the first go-round at the Finals in Vegas and was the second-rated bull after the next go-round.

That’s when the Morenos started dancing.

Troubadour also won ABBI events in Albuquerque, N.M., and three rodeos in Texas: Stephenville, Decatur and Huntsville. They were all part of the qualifying process to the final competition in Enid and Vegas.

The Finals performances earned him a spot in Sunday’s championship round of the PBR, Cindy Moreno said.

“We actually have five Whitewater bulls here,” Moreno added. “We are very proud of that.”

Whitewater is, in essence, the sire of the successful breeding program at the Flying U Rodeo.

That stable also includes unrelated champion bulls Reindeer Dippin’ and Werewolf.

American Bucking Bull Inc. is an organization that registers bulls with a DNA identity.

The organization has members who actually have cloned bulls, and Cindy Moreno said there has been some pressure on them to clone Whitewater, who recently died.

The Morenos have not gone in that direction.

“First of all, you can’t register them,” said Moreno, explaining how a clone’s DNA signature will be an exact match to the DNA of an existing registered bull.

“And there is no way a clone will ever be as good as the original,” added Moreno, not only because of the scientific holes in the process, but the intangibles of individual animals.

In short, it is more than genes that make a champion.

Moreno said is costs about $10,000 to clone a bull. The price tag rises to $150,000 to clone a horse.

It is at the other edge of the spectrum to other similar sports.

Thoroughbred racing, for example, does not even allow artificial insemination.

“Julio has even said maybe (rodeo) should go back to just turning the bulls out in the pasture,” Moreno said.

If nothing else, Troubadour is proving the current system is working just fine.