Lambert Leads the Way as Fielder, Rattlers Continue Upward Climb

RIDGEDALE, Mo. - Brady Fielder has developed a couple of new routines now that he has been living in Bowie, Texas, at Texas Rattlers head coach Cody Lambert’s ranch for the last three months.

Fielder can sometimes be found grabbing a coffee and breakfast with Lambert and teammate Brady Oleson at Longhorn Cafe following a morning workout, and he has become quite the fan of Spicy Mexico for lunch or dinner.

Those aren’t the reasons, of course, as to why Fielder made the decision to accept Lambert’s offer following the 2022 PBR Team Series Draft, presented by ZipRecruiter, to move to Bowie after the Rattlers selected him with the No. 26 pick in the draft as part of the Texas – Carolina blockbuster trade.

Fielder wanted to live and breathe bull riding under Lambert’s tutelage and be able to focus on bull riding 24/7.

The 22-year-old is started to see his commitment come to fruition as he has ridden three of his last four bulls after beginning PBR Teams with 10 consecutive buckoffs. Fielder got things started for Texas Saturday night with 89.5 points on Hillbilly Rock during his team’s 179.5-0 victory over the Kansas City Outlaws at Thunder Days.

“I’ve just been focusing on bull riding,” Fielder said. “I’m always working on myself each and every day, and Cody pushes us to do better no matter what, it’s great. Cody suggested it and it’s a great opportunity for me, really. It’s a great place for me and where I want to be at. I wouldn’t want anything else.”

Earlier this season, Texas was a bottom feeder in the PBR Team Series standings, but Fielder said Lambert remained confident in his team at home and never outwardly voiced any frustration. Instead, the 60-year-old has kept pushing his team ahead, and the Rattlers appear to be turning a corner heading into the stretch run to the 2022 PBR Team Series Championship.

The Rattlers (9-12, Thunder Days 2-0) have won four of their last five games to move up to No. 6 in the standings and they head into Championship Sunday at Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in control of their destiny for a shot at the Thunder Days event title.

A win over Nashville (5-15-1, Thunder Days 0-2) will clinch Texas the win on Sunday (6 p.m. ET CBS Sports Network).

“Not too much was said, but everybody has to do their job,” Fielder said. “I am sure it’s hard for him to watch, and nothing he can do about it, but we just have to do our jobs and everybody has to be happy and having fun doing that.”

Lambert admitted Saturday that the Rattlers certainly have had some luck on their side during their recent improvement. Prior to their win on Saturday night over Kansas City, all three of their previous wins came by a score of 3.5 points or less.

The margin for error has been razor thin, and Lambert knows his team has to be better if they want to not just only win Thunder Days or their own upcoming home stand (Rattler Days on Oct. 7-9), but ultimately the PBR Team Series Championship.

Lambert, though, is primarily focusing on the immediate future and the next matchup against Nashville.

“Tonight was a good win, it is progress, but we still need to ride better,” Lambert said. “Sometimes you’re lucky and sometimes you’re unlucky. Friday night we were very lucky to win that game (89-87.75 over Arizona). We’ve got a good team, but we got lucky Friday night, sometimes that happens. We’ve barely missed some that we should’ve won too, so we’ve been on the other end of it plenty of times when we felt like we rode as good or better as the other team and we didn’t, so sometimes that happens.”

Lambert is not surprised to see some of his young guns like Fielder and Daniel Keeping, who clinched the Rattlers’ win Saturday night with 90 points on Show Me Homie, succeeding, but rather when his riders buck off.  

“The ones that have surprised me are the ones who don’t make the whistle because I’ve got some guys who are supposed to make the whistle all the time, and sometimes they didn’t, and that surprises me because they’re ready and they know what to do,” Lambert said.

Sometimes being lucky instead of great can lead to victory in PBR Teams, though, but Lambert will continue to stress for greatness from his riders.

The PBR Ring of Honor inductee knows that winning always tastes better than losing.

“If you’re not getting beat down all the time, your confidence has a better chance of getting up there,” Lambert said.