The goal? Work only eight seconds a day.
In the world of professional bull riding, riders have a minimum of eight seconds to cling to bucking beasts to move on in the ranks, and to get paid potentially big bucks. Justin Patton, 23, has been riding professionally for 2 years, but is only a week into his first tour with the Professional Bull Riders 2016 Tour. The Nero, Australian native grew up on a ranch, and his father and older brother were bull riders as well. While Patton says Bull Riding is getting more popular in Australia, the United States brings bigger, more regular crowds.
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A bull peers behind his holding cage prior to the event. Tonight, Patton has been paired with the bull Slick Rick, whom he’s ridden before but says it was “unsuccessful.”
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As a pre-party raged on in the Madison Square Garden theater, Justin Patton stretched in a quiet spot behind the main stage. Patton says he doesn’t have any pre-show rituals or superstitions, just likes to stretch and gather his thoughts.
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Patton stretches in his spurs before he takes the main stage. He explained that the tape on his wrist is precautionary and not from an injury.
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Madison Square Garden was nearly packed to its eighteen thousand plus capacity during the The 2016 Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series. Justin Patton has toured in the Untied States as a Bull Rider before, but this is his first time in New York City.
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Out of the gate, Justin Patton and Slick Rick battle it out.
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Unfortunately Slick Rick defeated Patton once again, throwing him off in the first round of the event. Patton has two more nights of the New York event to win it back, and 8 more months of this riding season.
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Justin Patton looks up at the replay of his ride and heads back to the locker room.
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Thousands of New Yorkers, many of which donning cowboy hats, watch as the rodeo plays on.
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