SAN ANGELO, TX – Toby Deudney isn’t just carrying the Australian flag as he rides bucking horses in the United States.
He’s trying to create something back home while competing 8,500 miles away. He crossed a hemisphere and the Pacific Ocean to live out his dreams.
“There’s not very many bareback riders in Australia,” said Deudney, 20, of Tumut, New South Wales. “I’m hoping to build a legacy for bareback riders in Australia so we can have some more. I’m hoping everyone at home can look and think, ‘OK, we’re from Australia, but we can make it.’ ”
Deudney is making it so far. He arrived in the United States two and a half years ago. On Saturday night, he scored the biggest ride – and the biggest win – of his young career during Saturday’s San Angelo Cinch Chute-Out. The driving force was his dance partner, Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Night Crawler, the 2023 and ’24 PRCA Bareback Horse of the Year.
The match-up was worth 93 points.
“I had some nerves, but I was really excited,” said Deudney, who attends Odessa (Texas) College and sits No. 2 in the Caprock Region’s bareback riding standings. “It was just a blas the whole time.
“This will be one to remember.”
The Aussie entered the weekend No. 6 in the Resistol Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year Race. The $7,500 he earned in San Angelo will move him into the top five. He is not among the top 50 in the world standings, but he will be next week.
“It’s been kind of a rough year,” he said. “I’m just trying to build on it. I bought my card, because I thought it was time. Well, it’s time. I guess that was just the right time, and now I’m just going to build it from there.”
Night Crawler is an electric bay that has been featured in the “TV pen” of bareback horses at the National Finals Rodeo. Deudney was the first contestant out in the championship round, setting the tone early. He’d like that to continue so he can join the Pickett horse in Las Vegas soon. The last Australian bareback rider to make it to the NFR was Jamie Howlett. The 35-year-old from Roma, Queensland, qualified in 2020.
“I’m planning on making them yellow bucking chutes,” Deudney said. “I hope to be a world champion.”
Other winners were steer wrestler Tyler Waguespack (3.9 seconds); tie-down roper Tom Crouse, who won the tie-breaker with Kyle Lucas, (7.5 seconds); barrel racer Jana Bean (14.35 seconds); team ropers Nelson Wyatt/Jonathan Torres (16.1 seconds); saddle bronc rider Blake Steuck (88 points on J Bar J Rodeo’s Straight Moonshine); and bull rider Tristen Hutchings (86.5 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Bone Tomahawk in the first round; none of the bull riders had qualified rides in the chute-out round).
San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo
Cinch Chute-Out
Bareback riding: First round: 1. Keenan Hayes, 93 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Nite Faded; 2. Brayze Schill, 90; 3. Toby Deudney, 88. Championship: 1. Toby Deudney, 93 points on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Night Crawler, $7,500; 2. Brayze Schill, 90.5, $3,000; 3. Keenan Hayes, 87, $2,000.
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