Phillip Ralls & Call Me Mitch

from IHP CHRONICLE - ISSUE 2 - MAY 2023

NRHA Professional Łukasz Czechowicz Shares His Knowledge in Italy

By Simona Diale

Ralls’ facility in Paso Robles, California, was flooded for seven weeks following the torrential rainfalls and they were only able to practice in the arena two weeks prior to the World’s Greatest Horseman, but that didn’t stop Ralls from keeping hopes high. “He’s always been absolutely incredible. He was a great futurity horse, a really good derby horse, and an even better bridle horse; I don’t need to teach him anything so keeping him fit was what we did in those five weeks,” says Ralls.

Once the games began, the explosive stallion once again showed his worth and the pair came in with the secondhighest composite going into the finals. "My Dad’s advice to me leading up to the finals was to stick to my game plan, let it roll, and have fun. All too often we let the outside influence get to us and that's where your mistakes and bobbles are going to come from. Stick to what you have, you know what you need to do, and go for it," shared Ralls who has been training open horses for the past 23 years learning from his dad, Ron Ralls, an NRCHA Million Dollar Rider, twotime World's Greatest Horseman Champion and a Hall of Fame Inductee.

Ralls kept his head in the game and once again Mitch did not disappoint. They closed the herd work with a 224, the steer stopping with a 226, and the reining with a 224.5. And then it was time for the last test: The fence work.

“The fence work was where I really wanted to show who he is; his heart, his soul, his determination,” he said. “We had a really good strong cow, one that you could win on, and this gave me a good opportunity to get the run set up. Once that first turn happened, the second turn was really good and the cow was set up in the right spot. It was then that I knew we had a really good shot at getting it down the fence and Mitch finished super strong.”

The family circle

At the end of their performance, a 227 appeared on the scoreboard and the dream came true closing the family circle. In fact, his father Ron has won the World’s Greatest Horseman title twice, and his father’s wife, Patty Ralls, won the World’s Greatest Horsewoman held at Art of the Cowgirl in 2020.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to have an opportunity to show at this level. We’ve been so close twice and Mitch has just been absolutely incredible. He’s been so consistent, and such a big-time, big-game horse. It’s all come full circle—it was a dream of Estelle’s to have a horse like this, and a dream of mine to ride and compete on one like him.”