What a surprise! Tamie Smith found herself on top of the standings Saturday at the 5-star Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event when world champion Yasmin Ingham of Great Britain ran into big trouble on the cross-country course at fence 6C, a narrow brush in the Park Question complex.
How uncharacteristic for her stellar mount, Banzai du Loir, to run out. That 20-penalty incident, combined with another 20 penalties for exceeding the optimum time of 11 minutes, 26 seconds, plummeted Yasmin from first to 21st, and put Tamie within reach of becoming the first U.S. rider since 2008 to win the event at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
First, of course, her mount, Mai Baum, has to pass the Sunday morning horse inspection. And then they most likely have to leave all the fences in place in the Rolex stadium, because another Brit, Tom McEwen, is close behind with the intrepid JLDublin. If he goes clean and Tamie has a rail, the tables are turned and he becomes the seventh Brit to take the title since 2003.
But after a perfect trip that elevated her from a disappointing third place in the dressage, Tamie was just enjoying the moment, shared with a crowd of 34,298, and the unique relationship she has with the German sport horse in whom she has entrusted her love.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything more. That horse is such a fighter, he’s got a huge heart and we’ve had a long partnership. This is a little bit of what dreams are made of,” she said. “There’s not a lot of Thoroughbred in there, but he’s got a heart the size of Kentucky, that’s for sure.”
Added Tamie, “I think I got a little lucky with Tom being new to his horse, because I don’t know that in a perfect storm that he would actually have had time (faults).
The Californian spent Saturday night on her dressage score of 24.2 penalties, while Tom has 27.8. With a downed rail adding four penalties in the show jumping finale, you can see how close things are.
Tom rode a bit conservatively, collecting 5.2 time penalties. Without them, he would be leading going into the show jumping.
“It’s something I could easily change,” he said of the extra time he spent galloping around the 26-obstacle route, but having taken over the ride from Nicola Wilson relatively late in the season last year, he didn’t want to push it. Besides, he noted, horrendous weather in Britain had played havoc with the eventing schedule and he had no runs this year in his homeland.
Tom McEwen and JL Dublin at the Wofford Rails obstacle, named after the late beloved horseman who is much missed at Kentucky. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
But he thought the course, designed by Derek Di Grazia, was “magnificent and rode perfectly,” as he obviously is enjoying his first visit to Kentucky.
I thought the Head of the Lake, where I have stationed myself for the last 34 years, rode softer than I had ever seen it. Happily, we didn’t see any falls or other mishaps at this iconic location. There was a bad accident there in 2022, so perhaps easing up on the water complex was connected to that. But I wasn’t able to find Derek to ask him, and he didn’t show up for the post cross-country press conference.
We experienced a long hold on course just as Yasmin was warming up to start her trip. Jennie Brannigan Savile pulled up Stella Artois when she thought the horse didn’t feel right. She had to be taken to a veterinary hospital, and didn’t want to get in the trailer, hence the delay. (She was hospitalized with a soft tissue injury in her right front leg and is going to be fine, vets say.) But perhaps that delay and the need to warm up all over again affected Banzai and meant his performance wasn’t optimum.
The U.S. contingent is very strong at the Kentucky Horse Park. Liz Halliday-Sharp is third with Miks Master C on 28.5 penalties with just 1.6 time faults.
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Miks Master C. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
“He’s a spectacular horse and a great galloper and I think the world of him. He was absolutely brilliant. For his first 5-star, I couldn’t ask for more,” she said of the Swedish warmblood. Liz speculated that the time faults cropped up when she was dealing with him being a little strong at the end of her ride.
Former World Champion Sandra Auffarth of Germany, who stands fourth, enjoyed one of six double-clear performances among the field of 37 starters. She and Viamant du Matz had 30.4 penalties, the score on which they placed ninth in dressage.
Another double clear came from Will Coleman of the U.S., moving up from 13th to fifth with Off the Record, whose total is 31.2 penalties and finally showed how well he has learned the game.
Will Coleman and Off the Record. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Click here for the 5-star standings. Click on this link for the 4-star standings.
