Last year, Brandie Holloway loaned her grand prix horse, Any Given Sunday, to daughter Hunter Holloway to ride in equitation classes. Hunter’s original equitation horse, Lucky Strike, had sustained a muscle pull that required a few weeks off.

Fast forward several months, and Brandie Holloway found herself winning the $50,000 Tryon Grand Prix (N.C.) aboard “Lucky.”

“My grand prix horse ended up being a very good equitation horse, so she started showing him all through indoors,” said Brandie. “Hunter was in Wellington [Fla.] this winter, and she took ‘Sunny’ for that, so I didn’t have anything to ride. I was like, ‘I want to at least have a horse to take a few lessons on.’

“I knew Lucky was scopey, and Mike McCormick helped me with him,” she continued. “I was like, ‘Well, I’m just going to show him. She’s showing my horse, and I’ll show him.’ We did the level 6 and 7 the first week, and then moved up to the grand prix, and then within a month we ended up doing the [Great American] $1 Million Grand Prix [Fla.]. We had a lot of faults, but we did it!”

Tonight, when Brandie galloped through the finish timers after the jump-off—the fourth to go of six who qualified—she knew she was clear, and she knew the crowd was going wild, but she still didn’t know if her time of 43.31 seconds had boosted her into first.

“I heard music playing and people cheering, but I was like ‘What does this mean?!’ I had no clue. It was very exciting to hear the time,” she said.

But she still had to wait while two more riders took a turn. The second-to-last, Nina Fagerstrom on Flower, nearly caught her in a time of 43.42 seconds. Daniel Geitner and Kenwood were third (44.71 seconds). Candice King picked up fourth and fifth with Valinski S and Kismet 50, respectively.

“I’m really excited,” said Brandie. “It was awesome. It’s been a while since I was in the grand prix competitions consistently, so it feels really good.”

The 9-year-old Holsteiner (Lasino—Imandra I) gelding owned by Hays Investment Corp was imported several years ago, and he started his career in the United States doing the 1.10-meter jumpers. But then he converted to equitation, and the Holloways bought him with that purpose in mind.

“Even though he’s still green at the jumpers, he’s the biggest-hearted horse I’ve ever seen,” said Brandie. “He never says no. It’s not even a thought process for him. I felt like it was a good course for him tonight because he’s big and scopey and can be a little catty too. You needed a real horse for this class—like the oxer to oxer combination.

“Then there were [places] that his equitation background came in nicely, because there were strides that were open, and then you had to come back,” she added. “I just felt like it would be a great course for him, and then in the jump-off I saw Candice go, and I knew, just get on a lick and gallop. He has a huge step.”  

Taking a turn in two rings, or even all three, isn’t unusual for the Holloway horses. Not only has Lucky ended up being a super grand prix horse for Brandie, but in addition to his equitation duties Sunny also competes in hunter derbies with Hunter—he was fourth in the $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby here on Friday—and in the grand prix classes, also with Hunter aboard.

“We share,” said Brandie. “When we buy horses, we both ride them. Every horse we buy we try to get something we can both do. That way if someone is away we can keep them in training, and we try to buy very conventional horses, just like Any Given Sunday. We try to buy horses that can go do any avenue and do it well.”

The team put this show at the Tryon International Equestrian Center on their calendar at the recommendation of Don Stewart. They’re on their way to Devon, Pa., and this broke up their 20-hour drive from homebase Equi-Venture Farm in Topeka, Kan.

“We could not be happier here,” said Brandie. “We’ll have this show on our calendar for years to come.”

See full results from the class and photos.