Mill Spring, North Carolina, USA – September 24, 2023 – The first fall edition of Saturday Night Lights presented by Tryon Horse & Home welcomed an enthusiastic crowd to the Tryon Stadium for the $25,000 ProElite Grand Prix, with Brittni Raflowitz (ISR) and Spitfire (Numero Uno x Volympia Van’t Heike) taking top honors in a time of 34.56 seconds in the jump off.
Taylor Land (USA) and Escobar WW (Etoulon x Böckmann’s Lord Pezi), the 2015 Oldenburg gelding owned by the Team Land Syndicate, claimed reserve on a jump-off time of 36.62 seconds.
Maryann Charles (USA) and Call Me Maybe, her own 2008 Oldenburg mare, completed the podium with their 37.88-second performance over the short course set by Dean Rheinheimer (Sheridan, IN).
Raflowitz and Team Eye Candy’s 2012 Belgian Warmblood mare were one of 16 entries to challenge the first round, with nine clear rounds presented by Stuller Power Solutions earning a chance to dash for the cash in the second round.
“She is her name!” Raflowitz said of the animated Spitfire. “I’m very fortunate to have the ride on her from Team Eye Candy right now, and I can’t thank them enough for trusting me with her. So far, she’s just been a joy. I’ll just be smiling around the whole course with her – she’s everything!”
The 28-year-old rider kept things calm in the preliminary round. “I just tried to keep things simple, because she can get a little bit hot. So I was like, ‘we’re going to breathe around this thing.’ It was really great, because [Spitfire] grew from the crowd and grew from the lights, and she jumped and rode absolutely incredible.”
“For the jump off with her, I have to think ‘not fast,’ because she wants to do the job so badly and she’ll give you her whole heart. I have to kind of slow my brain down because hers is already going so much. So for the jump off, I was like, ‘okay, we’re just going to stay calm. We’re going to be tidy in the turns and see what happens.’”
A frequent competitor at Tryon International, Raflowitz has enjoyed a successful start to the fall series. “This has been a great week! To start the fall series off like this, all my horses we showed this week were unbelievable. My stallions, the ones [I rode] tonight, it was a step up for them. So everything about this week really put me in a great headspace to move on for the rest of the fall series with excitement.”
Final Results – $25,000 ProElite Grand Prix
1) Brittni Raflowitz (ISR) & Spitfire – 0 / 0 – 34.56
2) Taylor Land (USA) & Escobar WW – 0 / 0 – 36.62
3) Maryann Charles (USA) & Call Me Maybe – 0 / 0 – 37.88
Source: Press Release from Tryon International Equestrian Center
Photos: © Haley Booth / Natalie Suto Photography
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