Fresh off her third world championship in December courtesy of Busby Quarter Horses’ gelding Jets Top Gun (“Benny”), Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi’s season is looking quite a bit different in 2024 thanks to the return of SR Industry Titan

Her NFR mare Babe On The Chase (“Birdie”), now 13, got hurt at San Angelo in winter 2024. And Benny – who helped her set arena records on her way to a new all-time season earnings record in the WPRA – is being campaigned this year by Andrea Busby. So, Tonozzi is down to one seasoned bullet. But he’s a good one. 

More than eight months after SR Industry Titan and the champ fell and went down at the Sioux Falls, S.D., Tour Finale (after earning $18,863 at Puyallup), the duo just this month set a new arena record to win North Platte, Neb.

“He’s definitely good enough to make the Finals on, so we’ll just see how this summer plays out,” said Tonozzi, whose ’24 earnings ranked her just inside the Top 30 in mid-June.

Titan is the stallion on which she also won Ellensburg last year (with an arena record). He was raised by Schiller Ranch and trained by Troy Crumrine. The 11-year-old stud by Firewaterontherocks and out of Mulberry Canyon Moon is owned now by 70 Ranch. 

How did Tonozzi and Titan become a team?

Tonozzi originally called Titan’s former owner looking for a backup for Birdie at the 2022 NFR. He delivered Titan, but the stud was immediately out of commission with a knee injury that required surgery and a year of rehabilitation. She finally got to step aboard in late spring 2023.

“When he fell last fall at Sioux Falls, he didn’t come back quite as fast as I’d hoped,” Tonozzi said. “This winter he had a horrible abscess up the back of his foot. I was trying to ride him at the bigger ones, but he just wasn’t himself. So he went back to the breeding barn all spring.”

Now, since May, they’ve been dominant—as is Tonozzi’s style—and are looking to climb back into the top 15 aboard the fan-favorite stallion.

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“I haven’t ridden a lot of studs but I’ve never seen a stud try as hard as he does every time,” Tonozzi said. “He’s fun. You know you’re going to win money when you get around the barrels. And he’s so easy as a stud to haul. I know they’re not all like that, but I hauled him with two mares all last fall, and he’s been a dream to haul around.”

Of course, Tonozzi also has in her trailer some younger horses. One is her 5-year-old Tres Seis daughter ChitiChiti Bang-Bang (“Maybelline”) – a futurity standout last year out of her NFR-qualifying mare Mona. Another is 7-year-old Rock On Guys (“Lefty”) – an earner of some $200,000 already on the cloverleaf and as a head horse – by her Frenchmans Guy/American Proof stallion out of a Firewaterontherocks daughter.

 But Titan is this summer’s No. 1. She describes the thick stallion as “sweet” to be around and super easy-going. But he’s strong and it’s outdoor-arena season.

Fast Fact: Tonozzi runs Titan in a roping bit made by Tristan Mahoney. 

“Titan will leave me in the alleyway sometimes,” she said. “But he goes to his spot every time — he’s so honest. The only time I hit a barrel is if he just comes back too hard, you know? He’s super easy.”