Magrath bull retires from PBR competition

Posted on March 23, 2023 by admin

By Justin Seward

Southern Alberta Newspapers

After 56 rides with professional bull riders since 2018, Magrath bull Catch My Drift retired after his last buck at the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) South Country Co-op Showdown at the Enmax Centre earlier this month.

“We’ve been coast-to-coast in Canada and all the way to Las Vegas, going south,” said Josh Berezay, Catch My Drift owner.

“He’s been a good one on the truck for a long time.”

Berezay did not think it would be that emotional on after his last ride.

“But I could feel the emotion when they had a tribute video for him, and after he bucked the last time, and then they presented me with a painting of him and it was pretty great,” said Berezay.

Berezay made the decision to retire his bull a few months back and making sure the Lethbridge event was his last one.

“Like I said, he’s nine years old, and he was a bull that you could be 90 plus points on if you rode him,” said Berezay.

“So you know it’s age. Like any great athlete, he started to slow down a little bit, kind of lost the fire, where the mark, if they rode him, was say 83 (or) 84 points. I just don’t believe that we needed to keep bucking him to where he was not (at) that high level.”

Catch My Drift earned the 2020 PBR Canada bucking bull of the year.

“He’s very well decorated and we don’t want to see him go out as a loser; I want to keep him a winner, ” said Berezay.

“So I made a decision and told him that would be the last time that they would see him, (and it) would be in Lethbridge because it’s our hometown. We’ve been in the business for 20 years and so if make that call and tell them I want to do something for the bull, they’ll accommodate I guess.”

Berezay bought Catch My Drift from a father-son duo in Saskatchewan as a three-year-old.

“So we’ve had him for six years at the house and he’s become a part of our family for sure,” he said.

The bull has had 56 professional outs trips and approximately 90 trips total at all levels.

He has been to the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas in 2019 and 2021.

The bull was a futurity champion when he was a two-year-old.

A futurity competition has been hosted over the last 15 years for bull breeders in Canada and the animal acts as a bucking dummy.

The dummy acts a simulator rider and is releases after five seconds of competition.

“My kids kind of grew up with him and was just always solid,” said Berezay.

“When we put him on the truck to travel, we knew we could count on him that he was going to give 100 per cent every time the gate cracked.”

The Berezays hope that he will now produce calves at their Pothole Creek farm.