After nearly two years, one of the main rodeo arenas in Brazil is once again welcoming pedestrians and the public. This Friday and Saturday (11/26 and 27), riders and riders will participate in horse riding competitions at the traditional Jaguariúna Rodeo Festival. The 32nd event in Jaguariúna (SP) was not held last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of R$ 100,000 will be distributed among the competitors, including the bull mounts for the next weekend, the same award as the 2019 edition.
The public will only be allowed to enter the Red Eventos complex, stage of the rodeo, from 8 pm onwards, only to those who present a printed vaccine card or in the Connect SUS app with two doses or a single dose. Covid negative testing will not be required for on-site entry. The use of masks is mandatory, but there will be no restrictions on circulation. 35 thousand people are expected per night, according to organizer Guilherme Marconi.
But the first tests begin before the gates are opened to the public. The three-drum competition, the only one with all-female participation, will have one hundred competitors. Whoever travels the arena wins, bypassing the drums, which are arranged in a triangle, in the shortest time. If the drum falls, the Amazon is punished with additional seconds. The horses in the three drum event belong to the competitors. Most are of the quarter-mile breed, with values ranging from R$100 thousand to R$1 million.
The qualifiers start during the day, in the female and junior categories (competitors up to 12 years old). At night, still this Friday, the 15 women who get the shortest times and the five best in the juniors compete in the semifinals, which will rank five among the adults and three in the juniors for the final. On Saturday (11/27), those who did not qualify will have another chance to seek a place in the final, on Saturday night. In the decision, the 10 best adults and the five in the juniors enter the arena.
The test will distribute R$ 32 thousand in prizes. Graziela Agnes, vice president of the National Association of Three Drums (ANTT), expects a close dispute. And he sees two favorites: the three-time ANTT champion and leader of the current ranking, Ana Carolina Cardoso, from Araraquara (SP), and the winner of several stages and vice-leader Mayana Muniz, from Araçatuba (SP).
Ana says she’s really looking forward to getting back to riding in an arena with an audience. “My anticipation and adrenaline are running high.” The race will not be valid as a stage of the sport’s championship (there have already been two stages this year and the next will be in the city of Tietê in São Paulo), but it has the seal of the entity.
In horse mounts, three races will be disputed: cutiano (created in Brazil), American saddle and bareback. Each modality has five competitors. In all disciplines, judges award marks ranging from zero to 100, as long as the competitor remains at least eight seconds above the animal. The total prize in these tests will be R$ 30 thousand.
In Cutiano, the rider must hold the reins with one hand and the other cannot touch his body. In the American saddle, similar to riding a bull, the pawn starts with the spurs positioned at the height of the animal’s neck, then moving them backwards. In bareback, the rider must balance lying on the animal’s back without a saddle or stirrup.
In the saddle, the big favorite, according to ProHorse, which organizes the competition, is the rider Leandro Baldissera, ten times champion at the Festa do Peão in Barretos. In the other two modalities, the expectation is for greater balance, without favoritism. The troop of horses belongs to ProHorse itself, which belongs to Baldissera and Henrique Prata. According to the press office, both invested thousands of dollars to import the animals from the United States with the aim of creating a breed of rodeo horses in Brazil.
On the weekend of December 3rd and 4th, it will be the turn of momntarias in bulls, with the first stage of the Professional Bull Riders Brazil (PBR) championship. The competition, with expected participation of international level competitors, will count points for the PBR World Cup 2022, with the final scheduled for May, in Forth Worth (USA).
The Jaguariúna Arena will also have Team Penning competitions. In this modality, riders in teams of three have to lead a certain number of animals to a corral in the competition area.
Shows
The Jaguariúna event, which has tickets starting at R$80 (R$40 a half) on Friday and R$100 on Saturday, will have concerts over the four days. This Friday, Gusttavo Lima, Felipe Araújo and Zé Vaqueiro will perform. On Saturday, Zé Neto and Cristiano, Os Barões da Pisadinha and Dennis DJ.
On December 3rd, it will be the turn of Bruno and Marrone, Jorge and Mateus, João Gomes and JetLag. The party ends on the 4th, with Henrique and Juliano, Gustavo Mioto and Pedro Sampaio.