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Pen of Classics

Sunday's third round pen of bulls featured the best of the American Bucking Bulls Inc., orABBI.

Each year, the ABBI brings together the best 3- and 4-year-old bulls in the country to match up against the best bull riders in the world, and Round Three certainly showcased the bulls' skill. Only 16 riders managed qualified rides, including the winning score of 92.25 from Robson Palermo on Black Pearl, the No. 1-ranked ABBI bull.

The second ranked ABBI bull and last year's ABBI champion, Crosswired, attempted to make short work of world No. 2 J.B. Mauney, but a re-ride option flattened his chances of making a statement on the World Finals stage.

Other notable outs included Copp Hou, who came in under the radar but took Kody Lostroh to a score of 91 and second place in the round, and Deja Blu, who came in as the sixth-ranked ABBI bull and carried Valdiron de Oliveira to an 88.75 and fifth place in the round.

The top 20 scored bulls of the night will be included in Thursday's Round Four pen, which will be a random draw for the riders to kick off the second half of the World Finals.

History in the making

Round Three of the 2009 PBR World Finals brought together some of the legends from PBR history, including six former world champions.

On hand to kick off the Sunday afternoon action were Troy Dunn, the only world champion from Australia, Michael Gaffney, 1997 world champ and Brazil's Adriano Moraes, the only three-time world champion in PBR history. Current riders included Ednei Caminhas, who won the title in 2002, Chris Shivers, a two-time champion, and Mike Lee, the only rider to win both the World Finals average and the world title in the same year.

Unfortunately, Lady Luck chose not to shine her winning ways on the three current competitors — both Shivers and Lee bucked off, and while Caminhas earned an 88 on the back of Range War, he also injured his right arm as he hit the dirt.

Funny name, serious rider

PBR fans may not have grown used to hearing the name Thiago Paguioto, but after his statement-making performance on Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas, they will soon.

The rider from Sao Paulo, Brazil, wowed the crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center with an 89.5 on Bushwacker, his first qualified ride of the weekend but certainly one of the best of the third round.

Paguioto is often confused with the four riders who qualified through international events in their home country. However, he actually came into the Finals ranked in the top 40 in the world and is therefore qualified to compete in all seven of the long rounds.

Shakeups and makeups

While much of the attention at the 2009 PBR World Finals has been focused on the race between the top three riders in the world — Kody Lostroh, J.B. Mauney and Guilherme Marchi — there's also been significant movement in the rest of the top 10.

Zack Brown, who came into the event ranked fourth overall and with an outside shot at the title, has thus far failed to make the whistle and has dropped back to seventh place after three rounds.

Meanwhile, Valdiron de Oliveira has used the opportunity to jump to fourth in the standings, and Ryan McConnel, who came into the Finals in sixth, has now moved to fifth.

If Brown continues his struggles next weekend, look for Renato Nunes, Wiley Peterson and Sean Willingham to benefit.

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Check back with ESPN.com and pbrnow.com all week long for continuing coverage of the 2009 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.