As I was telling you in Thursday’s story about the first half of the MARS Maryland 5-star event’s dressage phase, Mai Baum and Ballaghmor Class would be the ones to watch on the second day of competition at Fair Hill. And so they were.
Overnight leader Cosby Green and Highly Suspicious, competing in the horse’s first 5-star, moved down to sixth on Friday. They were overtaken by a wave of brilliant performances from luminaries of the sport.
This is the final 5-star of an impressive career for 18-year-old Lexus, as Mai Baum is known. His 25.3 penalties for Friday’s test were more than a point ahead of 17-year-old runner-up Ballaghmor Class, or Thomas, which is what rider Oliver Townend calls one of history’s most successful event horses.
Tamie’s least impressive marks were for the mid-test halt (6.5 across the board) but she made up for that with a 10 for her final halt and salute. It doesn’t get better than that, and her post-performance series of hugs for Lexus showed her pride and affection for the stately black gelding.
He did his first 4-star event at Fair Hill, so it’s a closing of the circle to have the German sport horse deliver his final 5-star at the facility.
“I was super-pleased with him. He was feeling like a million bucks,” said Tamie of the 2023 Defender Kentucky 5-star winner.
“He feels like he’s 10 again, so strong. I feel like I had my best test. I was really thrilled with pretty much every aspect of it,” she said. Although she’s had a test that earned less penalties, it would seem this one got elevated in her mind because it’s the last at the 5-star level.
Oliver raised his right arm in triumph more than once at the conclusion of his 26.5-penalty test in one of his favorite venues. It was emotional for him, he started to cry in a post-competition interview.
Oliver Townend was pleased with Ballaghmor Class and his dressage test. (Photo © 2024 by Nancy Jaffer)
To him, Fair Hill is special.
“I love it here. I love the place, I love the atmosphere, I love the people’s enthusiasm behind the event. I’m a massive, massive fan of the entire venue,” commented the number five-ranked eventer in the world, who has come close to winning with a variety of horses in the event’s first three years, but hasn’t yet made it to the top of the podium in Maryland.
Bubby Upton, who had to learn to walk, and then to ride again after breaking her back last year in a fall on the flat, turned in a sparkling test with Cola, marked at 26.7 penalties. Brown Advisory, which presents the 5-star, and Howden Insurance teamed to get Bubby to the States for her first visit to the U.S.
Now 25, she was a top Young Rider with Cola and excelled in the junior ranks as well. The two have a true emotional connection, and she has an amazing story of grit and perseverance.
Bubby Upton, who had to learn to walk and then ride again after breaking her back, gives thanks to her Cola after her dressage test. (Photo © 2024 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
World number three Tim Price of New Zealand, a previous Maryland winner, is fourth (27.4 penalties) with Falco, his sixth-place finisher from the Paris Olympics.
New Zealander Tim Price and Falco. (Photo © 2024 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
And Boyd Martin of the U.S., world number six, is fifth with another equine senior citizen, the 17-year-old Tsetserleg who has been there and done that. He is also seventh with Commando 3 (28.5), behind Cosby.
Of course, Saturday’s cross-country, the last course to be designed by the retiring Ian Stark, could do another reshuffle of the standings, so don’t open the champagne just yet.
Asked what he thought of the route across terrain that gets steep at times (they didn’t call it Fair Hill for nothing) Oliver had just one word, “Big.”
“Yeah, it’s big,” agreed Tamie.
The top three after dressage: Oliver Townend, Tamie Smith and Bubby Upton. (Photo © 2024 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
I wondered what Lexus will be doing when this event is history and he heads home to California. Tamie noted that “Lexus could do anything,” and offered several thoughts on the subject.
They run from having his owner, Alex Ahearn, ride him on the trails, to perhaps focusing on pure dressage and maybe doing hunter derbies (Tamie already has discussed that with prominent California hunter/jumper trainer Archie Cox.) I suggested he could do exhibitions; he is so popular that could be a winner for, perhaps, a charity.
Can’t you see Mai Baum as a pure dressage horse? (Photo © 2024 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
“He’s a very all-around horse,” said Tamie.
One thing is certain: “We’ll keep enjoying him.”
Making a decision about what’s next requires some input from the horse.
“It’s hard because they don’t actually speak in words, but they do speak if you listen to them,” said Tamie.
“We listened to him this summer when he wasn’t quite right and ready to go to the Paris Olympics,” noted the rider, who called that experience “dream-crushing.”
But she knows what’s important.
“You just become a horseman…you do what’s right by them, not necessarily what you competitively want. Mai Baum has taught me a tremendous amount about horsemanship and listening to my horse.”
Oliver doesn’t have the luxury of all those possibilities with Thomas post-eventing.
“I don’t quite know what we’re going to do with him once his job as an event horse is finished, because I can’t see him doing too many other jobs,” mused Oliver.
“We’ll keep him going as long as he’s able. He isn’t going to be a happy hacker for somebody. I can’t see him in the hunting field. He’s a naturally top class event horse and we’ve been hugely privileged to have him as part of our team for so long.”
Click here for 5-star dressage phase results
