Granger hoping to defend MegaBucks crown Event to award top prize of $10,000

WINDOW ROCK

Justin Granger made quite an investment at last year’s MegaBucks Bull Riding.

The Tuba City, Ariz., cowboy paid the $165 entry fee and earned the top prize of $15,000 after scoring an 87-point ride aboard “Ricardo Cartel” in the winner-take-all format.

Naturally, he’s hoping to see the same result come Saturday night at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena in Window Rock. This year the bull riders will be vying to qualify for Saturday night’s short go round with the overall winner taking home $10,000. The event will pay the top six bull riders.

“It’s still a lot of money to win MegaBucks,” Granger said.

In last year’s event the quality of bulls made it tough for all the short round qualifiers as Granger and three other riders got bucked off so the incentive for this year’s event is to ride both bulls.

“To be a real champion you have to ride two,” he said.

The annual event is scheduled for Friday and Saturday with the show starting at 7 p.m. Tickets for the event can be purchased at Boot Barn in Gallup as well as Navajo Arts & Crafts in Window Rock.

The two-day event will feature some of the top bull riders competing in in the PBR tour division as well as the local circuits.

Event promoter Tye Arviso stated that past winners have used his event as a launch pad for what they have scheduled for the rest of the year.

“Hopefully they can use the winning to succeed and do other good things such as make the Indian National Finals Rodeo or maybe the PBR Finals,” Arviso said. “That money can get them down the road but of course it helps their confidences.”

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