OCALA, Fla.--Richard Spooner on Lylanair won the $75,000 National Grand Prix on Nov. 7, the first Saturday night competition during the opening week of the November & December Show Series at the World Equestrian Center.
Richard Spooner on LylanairPeter Grant set the course for the 40 competitors, only four of which went clean within the time allowed.
Spooner accounted for two of those clear rounds, setting the stage for a thrilling jump-off featuring three of the United States' quickest riders: Chloe Reid, Spooner and Aaron Vale.
Chloe Reid on the 9-year-old Dragonball, first to go in the jump-off, delivered the only other clean round in 43.125 to eventually place second.
Spooner on Lylanair was next to go.
“I was able to watch her on the jumbotron in the schooling ring. That’s the beauty of this facility; it’s so top-notch,” Spooner said. “She was very, very quick. She really took a chance at that skinny vertical. She did not take a lot of time. She was a little full to the rollback to the natural oxer, and when I saw that, I said, ‘Okay, I got half a second there if I can tighten it up.’”
“I DID one less from one to two. Caught the in to the double nice. Going to the oxer, I can tell you this. I saw it, and was like, ‘God, I hope that’s not wrong,’” Spooner said. “It was crazy long, but he gave me 110 percent and stretched out over that oxer. I was so proud of him because the turnback wouldn’t have been that big of a deal on its own, but I landed like a bag of marbles. Luckily for me, he came right back.”
He stopped the clock in a blazing 41.464 seconds to clinch the top spot on the leaderboard.
“When I walked the course. the first horse that I did, Mein Seuten, it was his first Grand Prix at night, and so I thought, ‘Oh wow, that’s going to be difficult,’” Spooner said. “The placement of the Liverpool, with the lake to one side and the outgate to the other, presented a particularly influential question. If we were mice, that was pretty big cheese. So, we took the bait. A lot of horses took the bait. My first one took the bait.”
“Lyjanair and Belle Esprit are experienced campaigners, and you saw that tonight with the horses. The experienced campaigners didn’t really bat an eye at that. Maybe the greener horses took a look at that Liverpool, and they said, ‘Sayonara.’”
Spooner also placed fourth on Belle Esprit, skipping the jump-off to save the horse for another day.
Aaron Vale delivered another exciting performance on the up-and-coming 8-year-old Zangersheide gelding Hulu finishing in 40.849 seconds, but qitha rail down to place third,
