Don’t ask Michelle Spadone how she and her mare Melisimo bested the eight-horse jump-off to win the $30,000 UNC Health Care Grand Prix at the RMI Raleigh UNC Health Care Benefit Horse Show, Nov. 15-19 in Raleigh, N.C.

The amateur rider couldn’t stand to see the six remaining riders challenge her quick time. “I didn’t watch; I’m a little superstitious. I stayed in the schooling area and walked until the class was over,” Spadone admitted.

Although she couldn’t see the action, she could hear as her competition one by one failed to beat her time. When Marilyn Little stepped into the arena on her mount Romeo, Spadone was convinced that her night would end with a red ribbon.

“When Marilyn went, I was thinking to myself, ‘second is still good.’ I thought for sure she was going to catch me,” Spadone said. “I didn’t feel like I was going that fast, but everyone said I had really neat, tight turns.”

But Little and Romeo fell more than 2 seconds short of Spadone’s mark of 40.88 seconds.

Spadone and Melisimo have competed successfully, but without a win, in several grand prix classes. They were most recently fifth in the $30,000 Duke Children’s Benefit Grand Prix the week before in the same arena.

The win was especially rewarding for Spadone as she and husband and trainer Emil Spadone have been working with the 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare for only a few months.

“This is my favorite win, because I love [Melisimo] so much, and we’ve worked a lot with her,” Spadone said. “Working with Emil to bring her to this level makes it really special.”

Emil spotted the mare in Ocala, Fla., last spring and instantly saw something he liked.

“Emil saw her doing the level 5s as he was driving by the jumper ring on his dirt bike,” Spadone said. “He came back to the barn and told me about this big, scopey mare he had seen.”

The couple purchased the mare in April from Diane Balderson, who was on hand in Raleigh to share in the win. “I was a little nervous because she was watching,” Spadone said. “She was so excited when we won!”

While Melisimo and Spadone have made a quick connection, Kathy Bennett and her 9-year-old mare Winning My Way have been together for years. Their long-standing relationship paid off with a championship in the amateur-owner hunter, 36 and over division.

Winning My Way is the daughter of the venerable Winning Ways, who was Bennett’s father, Martin O’Rourke’s, adult amateur mount more than a decade ago. The younger chestnut mare was born on O’Rourke’s farm in Southern Pines, N.C., and Bennett has brought her through the ranks.

Through the years Bennett hasn’t seen much change in the Thoroughbred, who has been successful in about every stage of her career. In fact in her early years of showing, then trainer Jack Towell, suggested that she didn’t need any more practice.

“Halfway through her pre-green year Jack Towell told me that she knew her job and didn’t need to show anymore that season,” Bennett said.

In addition to being sensible, Bennett ranks athleticism and consistency among Winnie’s most valuable attributes. “She always jumps well, no matter what distance you ask her to jump from,” Bennett said.

Bennett has only seen her horses’ dam compete in old videos, but she often hears other people draw similarities between the two mares. “I never got to see my dad ride Winning Ways, but everyone tells me she was a saint,” Bennett said. “It’s nice to know the line is continuing.”

In addition to Winning My Way, Bennett brought two other horses to Raleigh, Simpson Bay and Make My Day, another offspring of Winning Ways. Make My Day enjoyed high ribbons in the pre-green division with trainer Mike Rosser, despite being the more difficult of the two siblings.

“He’s a ‘Dennis the Menace’ type–they’re totally different, but he’s come a long way,” Bennett said of the 6-year-old.

In years past Bennett has had help preparing and caring for her horses at the shows, but with her dad well into his 80s, she has cut back on her show schedule and her employees. “This is the first year I’ve come to the horse shows without help, and it’s definitely more difficult,” she said.

While Bennett did all her own horse care, she wasn’t on her own. “Mike Rosser helps me so much. He gets the kids who ride at his barn to come hold the other horse or walk them to the ring,” she said. “I really couldn’t do it without him.”

Marianna Bishop Wade and her mount Mirkwood topped the Atlantic Coast League Amateur-Owner Hunter Finals and took the reserve championship in the amateur-owner hunter, 18-35 division.

“This was the best he’s gone around,” Wade said of the 6-year-old Thoroughbred. “He’s come along a lot this year.”

Wade ended up being paired with Mirkwood after her sister, Mariah, became pregnant and couldn’t show the gelding in the first year green division as planned. The young gelding showed great maturity to win the ACL finals, despite a tricky course and an already long day of showing. The second round of the two-round classic began with an oxer and ended with a vertical that several horses fell victim to.

“A lot of people had the last vertical down,” Wade said. “He had already gone around the course three times, so I was a little afraid that he would do something silly, but he was awesome. He has really grown up.”

Jennifer Barker St. John