Charlotte Jacobs & Instrumental Impress the Most in the $32,000 Welcome Stake CSI 3*

By Jumper News USA on June 8, 2025

Traverse City, Michigan – June 06, 2025 – Charlotte Jacobs (USA) was crowned leading rider of the 2024 Traverse City Horse Shows and is back to familiar winning ways with a victory in the $32,000 Welcome Stake CSI 3* riding North Star’s Instrumental on Friday of opening week at the Traverse City Spring Series, presented by Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel.

The Spring Series continues through June 29 and features three weeks of FEI jumper competition, weekly hunter derbies, including the International Hunter Derby Regional Championships, in addition to the USHJA Green Hunter Incentive Championships and the Markel/USHJA Platinum & Zone Jumper Team Championships.

Nine horses advanced to the tie-breaking jump-off over courses designed by Guilherme Jorge (BRA). The home nation swept all three podium placings, with fifteen-time FEI World Cup™ Finals contender Richard Spooner (USA) taking second aboard Lyjanair, owned by Jumping Syndications Int’l.

He and the 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding — the former ride of Sweden’s Rolf-Göran Bengtsson—stopped the clock at 43.68 seconds, just three tenths behind Jacobs’ 43.31-second time to beat.

Hunter Holloway (USA) rounded out the top three riding 10-year-old Argentinian-bred mare Henry Jota Ariel by stopping the clock at 45.17 seconds for owner Hays Investment Corp.

Coming off a quiet winter—according to Jacobs—Instrumental is back in top form for the summer season in Northern Michigan.

“We took our time with her. She has so much ability, jump and scope and we’ve been trying to harness that and control it. Now’s the time for her to be quick and competitive—I’m very proud of her today,” said Jacobs of the 10-year-old (Qualdandro x Indoctro) previously developed by Ireland’s Shane Breen and Peder Fredricson of Sweden.

After pipping Spooner as the last to go in the jump-off, Jacobs noted, “I think I was very good back to the second-to-last, and I was able to do one less than most to the double. I have a huge stride, so I took advantage of that to the last.”