by Terry Lidral
For Julio Moreno, it’s no surprise that 2018 PRCA Champion Bull 35 Spotted Demon is headed back to compete in this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Spotted Demon racked up the big numbered bull scores over the course of yet another very successful season.
“He’s had a really good year,” said Moreno of the bull he co-owns with Dallas Schott. “He’s coming on 12 and he looked every bit as good this year as last. I was thinking he could win it again (PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year), but he came in third.”
Spotted Demon started out with the same big scores he’d ended his season with last December at the WNFR. In January, he won Arizona’s PBR Premiere event, with a high bull score of 45 points. And it seemed that he was back on a roll. But, as has happened in the past, Spotted Demon came up with foot problems.
“He’s got problem feet,” explained Moreno. “We had a wet winter and that bull loves to stay out in the rain and the mud. I have a nice covered place for him, but he just wants to stand in that mud. All that wet caused him to get an abscess and he missed some events in the spring.”
Returning to competition, Spotted Demon put up an event winning bull score of 46.5 at Red Bluff, and he seemed his healthy self. But Moreno was taking no chances.
“I took him to Red Bluff in April. And then I took him back home to rest.”
The rest paid off and Spotted Demon had another outstanding summer. At the top of the highlight reel was J.W. Hart’s out on Spotted Demon in Reno that gave the bull a whopping 47-point bull score and Hart a 5.12 second buck-off.
Checking back through the scores, it seems that there’s something special about Reno for Spotted Demon. The bull has put up monster scores at that event – a 46 score in 2016, a 48 score in 2018 and a 47 score in 2019.
“He likes Reno,” said Moreno of the bull who has won Reno the past three times he’s bucked there. “He always seems to do great. I don’t know what it is, but it’s something.”
But over the course of the summer, there was a difference from last season for the big, strong, spotted bull. Last year he wasn’t ridden until October in the finals at the PBR UTB event in Nampa, Idaho. This year, there were two qualified rides during the summer. The first, a 93-point ride for Dalton Kasel in the final round of the PBR Touring Pro Event in Santa Maria, California was an event winning 45.5 bull score for Spotted Demon. But an 89-point ride by Jordan Spears at the Ellensburg, Washington Xtreme Bulls Event left Spotted Demon at the bottom of the event top ten list with a bull score of 44.
“Spotted Demon got rode in Ellensburg. He hit a hot rider in Jordan Spears and the bull was a little weak,” explained Moreno, indicating the bull hadn’t bucked up to his usual standards. “I think that ride might have been the reason Spotted Demon came in third. I thought he’d win another championship, but I think that out made the difference.”
Moreno may be disappointed that he’s not taking the champion bull to the WNFR this year, but overall, he’s proud of what his 11-year old bull has done. He is keeping Spotted Demon fit but it’s a routine Spotted Demon doesn’t always meet with enthusiasm.
“I keep him in shape with regular exercise. I work him with my horse or a 4-wheeler. He hasn’t slowed down, but now he’s getting a little lazier, kind of like me,” chuckled Moreno. “I have to work him into it. But then when we’re done and I turn him back out, he’ll buck and play.”
Moreno is also trying to call in a little championship bovine motivation. But he doesn’t seem to be getting any cooperation.
“I have Spotted Demon next to Bushwacker,” said Moreno of penning the two champions side by side. “I keep telling Bushwacker to give Spotted Demon some tips. But all Bushwacker wants to do is fight,” he said with a big laugh.
Moreno is well aware that his star bull is not going to want to buck forever. As to when Spotted Demon will be retired, Moreno is going listen to what his bull is telling him.
“I’ve been around bulls a long time and I know that they tell you how they feel if you listen. When Spotted Demon had bad feet, he didn’t want to do much. Kinda like me when I had a bad knee,” Moreno told us with seriousness in his voice. “He didn’t move very fast and he didn’t want to get on the trailer when I’d load up for events. That told me what I needed to know.”
Moreno and his partner Dallas Schott have been thinking about the future as Spotted Demon approaches the age of 12. One of the considerations for Moreno is the right place to announce the retirement of his very popular bovine athlete.
“I think about Reno because he’s won it three times. But he’s special to people in other places like Ellensburg. I just don’t know.”
And of course, Spotted Demon just might one day give Moreno the sign when it comes time to get on the trailer.
“If he just doesn’t want to get on the trailer and he’s healthy, then I’ll know it’s time. He’s telling me he’s done.”
As for life after retirement, Spotted Demon will spend his days with the cows. Moreno and Schott already have plans.
“Dallas bought a set of 20 cows off Tom Teague when he sold out. Teague had put together a good herd and Spotted Demon will be put out with those Teague cows. I’m excited to see what we get.”
Yet, for Moreno, there is unfinished business. His 2018 champion has the potential to put up THE big score in Vegas at the WNFR. And for an 11-year old bull coming on 12, that in itself is something to be proud of.
Author: Terry Lidral
Terry Lidral is a western writer/journalist who lives in Idaho. She is the publisher and editor of the online magazine Bucking Stock Talk and the online magazine Western Living Journal. Her publishing credits include Storyteller for Real American Cowboy Magazine, writing feature articles for Humps N Horns Magazine as well as a wide variety of national and international web sites, historical magazines and news publications. She is known for her "up close and personal" profiles of celebrities and industry moguls such as NPR's Tom Bodett; PBR's Wiley Petersen and D.H. Page, PRCA's Sammy Andrews, Cindy Rosser and Julio Moreno to name a few. She has been applauded for her way of making a personal connection between her readers and her subjects. She indulges in her love of rodeo by serving as an associate board member for the Caldwell Night Rodeo. She is also an accomplished trainer and handler in dog agility. Her shelties Amelie and Milo are titled in NADAC, USDAA and AKC.
