Smooth Operator

Media Contact:
Brent Schaff
701.426.1190
For the Mandan Rodeo

Mandan, N.D. (June, 2021) – One of the most decorated bulls in western sports history is making his last appearance at the Mandan Rodeo.

Smooth Operator, an eleven-year-old white bull with black speckles, owned by Chad Berger of Mandan, will buck for the last time in Mandan.

The bull has done something no other bull has accomplished. He is the oldest bull to win the PBR World Champion Bull award, two years in a row (2019-2020).

Berger purchased the bull, who is out of a famous bucking bull, Gigolo, who goes back to the great bull Playboy and nursed him through major injuries, including a spine and pelvis injury in 2015 and, two years later, a kneecap injury.

He rarely bucks at PRCA rodeos; Berger chooses to keep him at PBR events. But he was at the 2020 Mandan Rodeo, bucking off Trey Kimzey, and in 2016, again at Mandan, bucking off Mickey Andrews.

The bull knows he’s special, Berger said. “He’s just cocky. He knows he’s good. Most bulls get to where you can scratch or rub on them, but he won’t.”

Smooth Operator bucks harder than a person realizes, said Sadie Berger, Chad’s daughter. “You can’t really tell how hard he bucks unless you’re there (on the arena floor.) If you’re in the grandstands, or watching a video, it doesn’t do him justice. He’s very strong and powerful.”

He’s an anomaly, Sadie said. “Ones like him don’t come along very often. There are a lot of good bulls out there, but as far as what he can do, it’s pretty outstanding.”

The bull, according to the PBR website, has an 89 percent buck-off rate.

Berger, who is a ten-time PBR Stock Contractor of the Year, loves where he was born and raised. “I love my town, and to be able to showcase my animals, especially a two-time world champion like Smooth Operator, means a lot to me and my family.”

And he loves his animals, especially Smooth Operator.

“That bull means everything to me. We’ve got so much time invested in him, keeping him healthy. He has a heart as big as he is.”

Berger will miss seeing the bull buck, after his retirement at the end of the year.

“I’m happy, and I’m sad,” he said, of Smooth Operator’s upcoming retirement. “I’m happy that he’ll buck in Mandan, but I’m said that I won’t get to watch him anymore.”

The Mandan Rodeo takes place July 2-4, with performances beginning at 7:30 pm nightly.

Tickets can be purchased online at MandanRodeo.com and at the gate. They range in price from $10 to $25, or the new $100 VIP Treatment Package.

For more information, visit the website or call 701.751.2983.

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Cutline: Smooth Operator, a bull owned by Chad Berger of Mandan, will retire at the end of the year. A two-time PBR World Champion bull, he will buck at the Mandan Rodeo. Photo courtesy Sadie Berger.