Archers on the Mark at MLSJ Tryon

New talent and fresh horsepower came out swinging on Friday to boost the Archers to their first win of the 2024 Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) season under the lights at Tryon International in North Carolina. Team manager John Madden handpicked a roster that was led in the Cabana Coast 5* Team Competition by USA’s Aaron Vale, Nicola Philippaerts (BEL) and Harry Charles (GBR), all making their MLSJ debuts this week.

Vale (USA) on Styles, and Philippaerts riding H&M Luna van’t Ruytershof Z came in chasing Maccabi United’s fault-free opening round. In the second round, both teams put the pressure on with clears, which set up Charles and Bandit for the gold-medal duel against Maccabi’s Gabriel Machado (BRA). Unfortunately, two rails fell for Machado riding Legaland Sandro and Charles stopped the clock in 46.70 seconds to secure the win.

“I’m very happy with him,” said Charles of Bandit, a 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse stallion (Obos Quality 004 x Cruisings Micky Finn) owned by Peter Charles and Stall Zet. “This was his first time under lights. He’s the horse I broke my arm on in Aachen a few weeks ago, so I’m happy he’s back.

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“These boys tee’d me up perfectly, and it worked out in our favor,” continued Charles of his gold-medal match. “[Bandit] was flying today—two really good, quick rounds—and I’m happy to help the team get off to a good start to the second half of the [MLSJ] season.”

Charles also pocketed the MLSJ “fastest lap” to earn his team an extra point in the season standings. Archers now sit fifth with momentum heading into the final two League stops.

Young talent was on trend for the Archers as Vale also piloted and up-and-coming mount in Styles, an 8-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Cornet Obolensky x Canturo) owned by Debbie Smith and Don Stewart. Philippaerts, however, sat on the seasoned H&M Luna van’t Ruytershof Z, a 12-year-old Zangersheide mare (Levisto Z x For Pleasure) owned by Team Philippaerts and Stuteri Arch.

“We have a really good team,” said Philippaerts after his first outing for an MLSJ team. “John [Madden] made the plan [for the second two rounds], and I think it worked out well for us. It’s the first time, so we had to see a little bit how it worked but he made a good strategy, and everything worked out today.”

After competing in his first-ever MLSJ event, Vale concluded, “I was trying to get on a team recently, reached out to a few people and hadn’t had much luck. Last Sunday, I was out for a run and John called me and said, ‘Hey, we can use you on the Archers.’ I was in and here we are. We are coming in with a bang and away we go.”

Maccabi United, Archers, and Northern Lights on the podium following the $300,000 class. (MLSJ photo)

Machado’s disappointing round in the gold-medal jump-off settled his fellow teammates—Mark Bluman (COL) and Shane Sweetnam (IRL)—with the silver medal, but they retained their runner-up position in the season standings. After facing off with Trailblazers in the medal round, Vanessa Mannix (CAN) led Northern Lights to a podium finish. Mannix was joined by Sean Jobin (CAN) and Abdulraham Alrajhi (KSA) for bronze, keeping Northern Lights in the top-three of the overall standings.

MLSJ season action comes to a thrilling conclusion at Tryon International in Saturday’s KASK 5* Grand Prix. Tune in live at 8pm ET on MLSJ TV.

Results here.