by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 27, 2026
The big winners at last weekend’s Defender Kentucky 5-Star appropriately dominated headlines about the historic three-day event, but it’s important to recognize there are many other under-the-radar feel-good stories that also deserve your attention.
One of the most inspiring is the tale of Corvett, better known as Barry, who took his final bow at the level with an impressive ninth-place finish on 40.9 penalties, up from twenty-first in dressage.
Barry enjoys the distinction of having completed a 5-star at every venue in the Northern Hemisphere. Pretty special for a horse that couldn’t get sold, who no one but Emily Hamel could ride properly when the Holsteiner first came on the scene.
The Kentucky Horse Park is where the unicorn started his 5-star career, in 2021. His best 5-Star finish was a very respectable seventh place at Maryland in 2024.
He earned his final 5-star ribbon on his nineteenth birthday at the Horse Park’s biggest competition. While you won’t see him in any more three-days, perhaps he’ll be coming out as a show jumper or in arena eventing. After all, he demonstrated he’s still very fit.
Emily Hamel and Corvett at the Owl Hole. (USEA Photo)
His devoted rider said before cross-country (where he collected only four time penalties) “I really want his last one to be good” — and it was.
Afterwards, she noted, “I did hear some people cheering us on. I know you’re supposed to be focused, but I did hear some cheers, which helps,” Emily said.
Her feisty mount also was free of jumping faults in the final phase, collecting just 0.4 penalties for going slightly over the time allowed.
The Kentucky competition, presented by MARS Equestrian, was the 5-Star debut for another grey gelding and 21-year-old Braden Speck, the youngest rider in the competition. He finished a proud twentieth on his Connemara cross, BSF Liam, moving up from twenty-seventh in dressage.
Braden Speck and HSF Liam. (USEA Photo)
“We made a couple of mistakes along the way, but you know what? We persevered, we got through and that’s what matters.,” he said.
After he lost three horses – one to an aneurysm, another to colic and the third to a tendon injury — Braden became inspired by the veterinarians who cared for them and decided to become a veterinarian himself. He will attend vet school at the University of Pennsylvania.
He got his horse through Annie Goodwin, who died in 2021 after a cross-country schooling accident, yet another tragedy he endured in his short life.
Asked how Annie would have reacted to him finishing in the top 20 with Liam, Braden said, “I think she’d be laughing right now. It means so much that she’s looking out for me. I’m sure she’d be loving every second of watching us go around. I’m glad we were able to do it for her.”
The Wofford award, given to an up-and-coming rider in memory of the late, great Jimmy Wofford, went to Alexander Conrad who rode the thoroughbred Malibu Preacher to nineteenth place, moving up from twenty-eighth after a very lively dressage test.
As always at a big competition, Alexander was wearing his grandfather’s World War II dog tags. The rider believes they have kept him safe, just as they kept his grandfather safe. His grandfather, with whom he was very close, passed away when Alexander was in college. But prior to that, he helped his grandson buy “MP” six years ago.
The dog tags also keep Alexander’s grandfather with the rider during competition, and after finishing cross-country with no jumping penalties, Alexander said, “I bet he’s pretty happy.”
Caroline Martin Pamukcu, second in the 5-Star on HSH Blake, revealed her interesting backstory while discussing her decision to make horses her career, even before she had finished high school. Her parents had put down a non-refundable deposit for her junior year at boarding school ,just before she made a life-changing trip to the North American Young Riders Championships in 2013.
Caroline Martin Pamukcu and HSH Blake. (USEA Photo)
After winning team and individual gold, “I was enjoying it so much,” she said, that she decided not to go back to school but take classes on line instead.
“I remember my dad was absolutely furious,” she mentioned.
“But I told him,`I promise you I’ll do horses and be good at it and make your money back.’”
Instead, the 2024 Olympian noted cheerfully, she has just spent money, whether it belongs to her father, the owners of her horses or her husband. However, she has a successful sales business, so she is paying her way.
She called Young Riders a “turning point” after learning there that “Eventing was such a team sport…it’s bigger than just me, it’s representing your country. That was the day I decided to do this as a career. Thank God it kind of worked out.”
Five-Star winner Will Coleman took a different role on the ground during the dressage competition, having been “suckered” into working with the dedicated Pony Clubbers who march in synchronized style to open and close the white gate to the ring.
Will Coleman in gate-closing mode.
“Give those Pony Club girls credit; that job is not easy,” Will revealed.
“It’s a lot of choreography and really carrying yourselves well out there,” he continued, citing the need for “military precision” in the process.
“I was pretty impressed. That was kind of fun. The girls were great coaches, they knew their jobs. They were able to cover up for my, uh…I think I felt more nervous about moving the board out of the entrance than I did about actually riding my tests. It was fun, they were cute kids.”
And their leader “was not afraid to tell me what to do.”
Liz Halliday watching the action at the Kentucky Horse Park.
One of the most feel-good stories was the return of Liz Halliday to the arena. While she did it on foot, rather than on a horse, everyone was so happy to see her on the scene once more.
“I am overjoyed and so grateful to finally be back in the sport I love,’ she stated.
Liz, you’ll remember, suffered a traumatic brain injury in a cross-country fall at the Kentucky Horse Park a month after riding on the U.S. team in the Olympics. She has spent the time since then in hospitals and rehab facilities.
Liz, who just sold her Ocala farm, has others riding her horses as she continues working at getting stronger, with an eye on competing in Para Dressage.
At Kentucky, she watched Boyd Martin guide her Olympic mount, Cooley Nutcracker, to eleventh place, finishing with a double-clear in show jumping.
All our coverage of Defender Kentucky is on this website. Find stories on the main page and in the On the Rail section, or go to the Previous Columns link on the front page to find others.
Click here for the 5-star results
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 27, 2026
The Virginia Horse Center’s cancellation of a show after a horse with EHV-1 neurological was euthanized at a Culpeper, Va., show has prompted horse owners’ questions about the condition. The U.S. Equestrian Federation put out information on the subject that is important for everyone to know. It’s something is always with us. Here is the information:
EHV is a permanent part of the equine environment – not just at horse shows, but across the population. Virtually all horses are exposed to the EHV-1 virus at a young age, and the virus hides out (is “latent”) in most horses without causing symptoms. The virus is intermittently shed from healthy horses into the environment, particularly in times of stress, and this is how horses around them end up getting exposed to higher levels of the virus and develop symptoms.
This is also the reason that you may see small outbreaks at unrelated facilities – those horses didn’t necessarily catch the virus from each other or from a shared human contact; they may have experienced a stress response and become sick without exposure to another horse, or may have encountered a high viral shedder on property.
This is also the reason that staying home is not the solution it might appear to be. Horses can (and do) become sick with EHV without having traveled in years, and can travel frequently without becoming sick or newly exposed to the virus.
Similar to human diseases like COVID or the flu, equine infectious diseases can’t be 100% prevented. To help our community coexist with equine infectious diseases, USEF has successfully developed biosecurity protocols to accomplish the following:
• Prevent potential introduction of infectious disease pathogens.
• Healthy horse entry protocols and vaccination requirements.
• Identify cases of infectious disease early.
• Mandatory reporting of febrile horses (temperatures over 101.5F).
• Isolate potential infectious disease cases.
• Mandatory submission of isolation plans which identify isolation areas for clinical or exposed cases during an outbreak.
• Isolating sick or potentially exposed horses from others is the best way to limit disease spread.
• Protect horse health and allow safe continuation of competition.
• Enhanced biosecurity to allow healthy horses to compete.
Assistance with developing and implementing biosecurity protocols for competition facilities is available to all USEF competition organizers.
If an infectious disease outbreak does occur, USEF works with the competition organizer and state animal health officials to assist with any contact tracing and advise on the risk assessment and epidemiological investigation that state animal health authorities conduct. This includes an assessment of population demographics, contact rates, environmental conditions, laboratory findings, and the venue/horse management. Decisions about whether a show goes forward are usually reached together based on this assessment, with all three groups conferring about whether the event can continue with unexposed horses safely participating. Competition organizers are free to cancel an event at any time if desired.
In the last three years, USEF has worked with organizers, state veterinarians, and competition veterinarians to successfully manage several infectious diseases occurrences on competition grounds while allowing the shows to continue. Two USEF shows had state quarantines on a group of horses on the show grounds and continued the show with no additional horses becoming sick.
Our biosecurity protocols are backed by peer-reviewed science and years of experience to separate and protect unexposed horses from illness, but we need members’ help in keeping those practices top of mind. USEF will continue to focus efforts to ensure horse health and biosecurity are a priority and ask your help in doing the same.
For more information on equine health and biosecurity please visit https://www.usef.org/learn/equine-health or email equinehealth@usef.org
For more information on EHV and best biosecurity practices, check out this webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObB8Zp7kOjM&t=9s
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 26, 2026
Moments after winning the Defender Kentucky 5-Star Three-Day Event on Diabolo Sunday afternoon, Will Coleman said “I wake up most days and I feel like a pretty lucky guy, but I feel extraordinarily blessed today, not just for this horse, but for the opportunity to ride here at this event and to represent all the people who made something like this happen for a rider like myself.”
Still a bit stunned at how his efforts of many years paid off in big way before a stadium packed with thousands of fans, he observed, “It’s an incredible moment, I’ve dreamed about it, but now that it’s here, it still feels a little bit surreal. Today, I feel a little bit extra lucky, I guess.”
Will obviously is humble as well as hard-working, so it’s important to emphasize it was more than luck that earned him the top honor at the USA’s only 5-star eventing competition this year. The key ingredients were skill, dedication and determination to achieve something that – in hindsight — seemed destined to be. At some point.
He had been hovering on the brink of victory with Diabolo, who was competing in his first 5-Star. Will describes the mount he imported from Australia three years ago as a horse who “has a real conscience. I always feel like Diabolo wants to do his best.”
That gives Will “tremendous peace of mind, knowing he will come in and really try for you.”
The pairing wasn’t quite fault-free in the show jumping that wrapped up the competition at the Kentucky Horse, adding 0.8 time penalties over the Guilherme Jorge-designed course to their dressage score of 27.3 penalties, which had held up through a double-clear trip on cross-country.
As he left the Rolex arena, with a score of 28.1 penalties, Will took his feet out of the stirrups and seemed relaxed, despite waiting to see how things would go for the leader in the standings, New Zealand’s Monica Spencer on Artist.
She had been in the same position last October at the Maryland 5-Star, but had two rails down in show jumping there, which put her in second place at that competition.
This time, it didn’t go as well. She enjoyed only a one-rail margin and the option of a time penalty or two over Will, but in the end, she didn’t come close to the podium. Her “spare” fence vanished at the fourth obstacle, the horsehead oxer, and it was downhill from there, with toppled poles at the liverpool and the B element of the triple combination. She wound up seventh with 36.7 penalties on her thoroughbred, a star in dressage and cross-country. Show jumping needs work.
Will got not only a sterling silver trophy, but also the $130,000 victor’s share of the $400,000 prize money as the payoff for his faith in Diabolo.
“I knew he’d get there, his route was unique,” mused Will, noting his last 4-Star Long was two years ago.
He and his wife, Katie; the horse’s owners “and all people involved all had a high opinion of this horse and felt like he had a high ceiling,” Will reported.
“He struck me as a winner the first time I laid eyes on him. The horse has a real eagerness to him.”
Will knew he was capable of big things “if we could channel it the right way.”
There were many disappointments along that way, not the least of which was the possibility of being on the 2024 Olympic team which didn’t happen when the horse came up with a hoof abcess before the Games. Obviously, they bounced back.
“Every time I’ve been in a rough patch, I’ve always found a way to become a better person and a better horseman,” said Will. “Those kind of down spells have been what helped me become a better version of myself. I always look back on those with a tremendous amount of gratitude.”
He also observed that “Winning a 5 -Star is one of the hardest things to do, if not the hardest, in equestrian sports. I feel like we all deserve the win.”
Just as the weekend’s 4-Star Short winner Tamie Smith enjoyed a unique double, also having been victorious in the 5-star in 2023, Will achieved a similar feat but with the same horse. Diabolo took the 4-star in 2024, while Tamie rode two different horses to her record. So we had a double-double at this event. (Read about the 4-star at this link, or go to the second feature on this page.) Or depending on how you look at it, we could say Will had a triple at Kentucky, because he won the 4-Star in 2025 as well with Off the Record.
It’s worth noting that prior to Tamie’s win three years ago, the last U.S. rider to take the 5-star at Kentucky was Phillip Dutton on Connaught. in 2008. This year, at age 62, he finished eighth with a double-clear in the show jumping on Possante.
Will had only a half-penalty margin over second-place finisher Caroline Pamukcu, who did make the U.S. Olympic team with HSH Blake, her best friend and the namesake of her baby daughter.
Third place went to Great Britain’s David Doel, like Caroline, double clear in the show jumping. He rode the speedy Galileo Nieuwmoed, who, like Will’s horse, made the time on cross-country. His total was 30.8, so everything was close at the top, with less than a one-rail penalty separating the three best.
Click here for results
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 26, 2026
Victory in the Cosequin 4-Star Short was well-deserved for Tamie Smith on Sunday at the Kentucky Horse Park, where she was the lone competitor among 31 starters to go clear in the show jumping phase and clinch the title after leading through every segment of the event.
Tamie Smith and Lillet 3 were elated over their Cosequin 4-Star victory.
The Californian became the only rider ever to win both the 4- and 5-Star on what is known as “The best weekend all year,” having topped the 5-Star in 2023 with the now-retired Mai Baum. Tamie has had only one rail down in 23 show jumping starts with Lillet 3, the lone horse to make the elusive 75-second time allowed on the course designed by Guillherme Jorge in the Rolex Arena.
Tamie didn’t think the time was achievable, but she and her coach, Scott Keach, were inspired to go for it. Then Lillet beat the clock.
“She was super I couldn’t have asked for her to be better, ” said Tamie, who ended on Saturday’s cross-country score of 31.3 penalties. Will Coleman moved up with only 1.6 time penalties on Very Dignified to be second with 37.4 time penalties. Next-best timewise, with only 0.4 penalties against the clock was Mia Farley and Invictus, owned by eventing legends Karen and David O’Connor. Invictus had a 38.3 total.
The show jumping was a milestone for Mia, who often has had trouble in that phase.
“I felt normal today,” said Mia,
“I just decided I wanted to ride the best I could. Sammy answered everything, he jumped really well and high. I was impressed with him. It was also nice to hear myself also answer those questions.”
Of Lillet, Tamie noted, “She didn’t get too tense or tight. She just keeps going from strength to strength she was so rideable and tried her heart out I don’t think she touched a rail, she jumped so well.”
What’s next for Lillet, the Holsteiner who came from Germany more than two years ago as an 8-year-old from Andreas Dibowski?
As Tamie noted about the Kentucky 4-star, “everyone considers it like a 5 (Star) Short (format). She’s already done two four longs (4-Star Longs) so i think she’s ready for a 5-star.”
A 5-star certainly looks like the natural step up for the mare, owned by Molly Duda.
After dressage, Tamie led with the 17-yeer-old Danito, but retired him on the cross-country course Saturday when things didn’t go as planned at the fifteenth fence. But Lillet moved right into the top spot after cross-country to take her stablemate’s place on the leaderboard.
Tamie was emotional when fellow eventer and friend Liz Halliday came out to the ring to present an award to her for being the top-placed U.S. competitor in the 4-Star division.
“We always had this thing, we were going to win medals together on teams,” Tamie recounted wistfully about the 2024 Olympian who suffered a traumatic brain injury in an August 2024 fall in Kentucky and has been dedicated to recovering ever since.
“It really was awesome to see how far she’s come. It’s virtually a miracle,” Tamie said.
Liz already has her sights set on competing in Para Dressage, but as Tamie noted “it’s bittersweet,” thinking what might have been.
Click here for 4-Star results
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 25, 2026
The amazing Kent Farrington did it again: In less than a month, he has won the Rolex US Open $1 million Grand Prix, the Longines FEI World Cup Final and Saturday night, the $340,000 Major League Show Jumping International 5-Star at the Kentucky Horse Park.
He’s number two in the world, but it looks as if he may well be back at number one next month with his amazing record. While the spectacular mare Greya was involved in his last two big victories, this time he rode a new addition to his string, the 9-year-old Mexican-bred Descartes SR, a gelding he began showing in February.
Kent and Descartes SR.
A field of 41 was tested by Guilherme Jorge’s course under the lights in the Rolex arena, with seven managing to qualify for the tiebreaker in the class presented by the Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. Kent was the only rider to break the 40-second barrier in the jump-off, finishing in 39.92 seconds. His friend and frequent U.S. teammate, McLain Ward, was second with High Star Hero in 40.42 seconds. That’s a significant achievement, because he has been out of action for seven weeks after hitting the ground hard at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Fla.
Third went to Ireland’s Shane Sweetnam on James Kann Cruz in 40.71 seconds.
Kent called Descartes “a very special horse. This is his first 5-star grand prix. He started out the right way. He’s been an exceptional talent since I started with him. I think he’s an unbelievable horse.”
He rode him twice last fall before deciding to buy him, and began showing him in February. Prior to that, Descartes was ridden by Nicolaj Hein Ruus of Denmark.
Kent couldn’t say enough on behalf of Descartes, who was sent his way by the Pasquel family.
The winner “has so much power for a small horse. He has an incredible stride to the last fence,” commented Kent.
“He’s almost like a racehorse, he really covers the ground and still has the power to give a lofty jump at the final fence, which is a rare contribution of attributes in a horse.”
McLain was enthusiastic about his horse, too.
“I was thrilled with Hero. He jumped brilliant,” said McLain, who noted he had returned to the ring against doctor’s orders.
“I have to be a little bit careful,” said McLain, who injured both his hand and his back in the mishap.”
Kentucky was his first show back, but as usual, he had high expectations.
“I’m always a little disappointed to lose, but to lose to who i consider the best in the world right now in the sport, I guess there’s some salvation in that.”
Shane said his horse’s results “speak for themselves. I’m very lucky to have him. He’s a brilliant jumper.”
A regular team member for his homeland, he’s hoping to ride on the Irish squad for August’s world championships in Aachen, Germany, where he once again is likely to be competing against Kent and McLain.
Click here for results
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 25, 2026
Monica Spencer’s lead in the Defender Kentucky 5-Star Three-Day Event increased to a more comfortable level after the cross-country phase, not only because of her perfect trip Saturday within the 11:05 optimum time, but also because her closest rivals simply couldn’t match the caliber of her performance with the swift thoroughbred, Artist.
The New Zealander and her mount were a picture of fluent speed and agility over the route designed by Derek di Grazia at the Kentucky Horse Park.
After Friday’s dressage, she had an edge of only 0.3 penalties over her countryman, Tim Price on Vitali. But he dropped down to fifth place with 9.2 time penalties.
Thus her main worry going into Sunday’s stadium jumping finale is the USA’s Will Coleman with Diabolo, a fancy horse making his 5-star debut. He was also within the time, so he heads into show jumping on his mark from dressage, which is 27.3 penalties. That gives Monica, with 22.3 penalties, the luxury of being able to have one 4-fault knockdown over the painted rails. But will that be enough?
She is not going to take no for an answer in her Kentucky quest. Not after having moved across the globe to the U.S. with her family to pursue her sport at the highest level. Winning the $400,000 event would go a long way to making the mighty effort worthwhile
“You’re always questioning; everybody sacrificed; I face a lot of pressure to make it work,” she revealed.
And she can almost see the rainbow, with only a show jumping course between her and the view. But she thinks she is on track for what has to be done.
“We’re doing positive reinforcement. The podium is the dream, so we’ll try to stay there,” said Monica, who was second last autumn in the Maryland 5-star.
Monica Spencer and Artist simply took flight in a dramatic leap. (Equestrian Sports NZ/Shannon Brinkman Photography)
Will, the highest ranked U.S. rider so far in the competition, praised the efforts of his mount — who is fueled by a half-pint supplement of blueberries daily.
“I felt pretty good about where the horse was coming into the event,” he noted, and Diabolo didn’t disappoint.
“I adore the horse,” Will said. “I’m just thankful to be here. It’s an awesome event. A lot of the world’s best are here and it was a fantastic day of competition.”
Will Coleman and Diabolo. (U.S. Eventing Association Photo)
In third place is 2024 U.S. Olympian Caroline Pamukcu with HSH Blake, her Paris Games mount , a horse she loves so much that she named her daughter after him.
She had just two time penalties, so standing on a score of 28.6, Caroline is also a threat to the two riders in front of her.
click here for 5-star results
And if you want the blow-by-blow about every horse on cross-country, click here to get it from the U.S. Eventing Association.
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 25, 2026
In the Cosequin 4-Star Short, Tamie Smith ended cross-country Saturday where she began it after dressage — in first place, but with a different horse.
Tamie retired her leader from the first phase, Danito, on course after a problem at the fifteenth fence. But she rose from third to first with the fastest round of the day, aboard Lillet 3.
No one among the 34 finishers in the section made the optimum clocking of 6:37 on the route designed by Derek di Grazia, but Tamie came closest with just 1.6 time penalties. Of her mare, the Californian enthused, “She’s like a magic carpet.”
While Tamie noted, “it’s taken us a little time for us to get to know each other,” she said that now, “She’s thinking for me and I’m thinking for her. She’s such a fighter, and she’s so fast. She answered all the questions.”
Tamie noted Derek ihas done a “masterful job” of using the park’s rolling terrain for the test.
And Lillet was more than up to tdealing with that task.
“She keeps growing. In horses, you’re hoping they’re comfortable in their job,” said Tamie, and Lillet ha arrived at that place after a careful training journey.
Tamie described the mare as a queen, saying she has “such an elegance about her and a very sure way of going.”
Click here for 4-Star results
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 24, 2026
The Kiwis dominated the second day of dressage at the Defender Kentucky 5-Star Three-Day Event on Friday, holding the first two places going into Saturday’s cross-country test.
Monica Spencer and the elegant, expressive thoroughbred, Artist, wound up with a personal best mark of 22.3 penalties to be on top of the 29-horse field. They are just 0.3 penalties ahead of her compatriot, Tim Price, and the powerful Vitali, a horse who has eight top 10 finishes but no 5-star victories.
Leading the way in the 5-Star are Monica Spencer and Artist.
Monica, based in Virginia far from her native New Zealand, was the runner-up last autumn in the Maryland 5-Star with the horse she fondly refers to as Max. But there’s a long way to go before she can enjoy a win at what is now the only 5-star in North America. (Maryland won’t be held this year).
With Derek di Grazia’s demanding cross-country course looming as a challenge, she isn’t counting her chickens before they hatch.
Keeping the poultry analogy, “With eventing, you can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next,” Monica advised cheerfully.
Monica Spencer and Artist.
“Max was super today and gave me good energy in the test and I’m really pleased with him,” she continued, noting he is not only “a beautiful mover” but also “trainable.”
Tim noted Vitali was “a little bit on edge,” mentioning that his dressage is usually better in the autumn than the spring.
“I’ve been through a lot with him, a lot of disappointments, really, in terms of final results of the competitions. But equally, he’s an incredible horse in so many ways. I’d never give up on him.
“I think he’s got a big win in him…hopefully, it’s got to come around at some point soon. It’s just a matter of tinkering away to try to find something that’s going to help us be truly successful at this level,” added Tim, who lives in England.
Tim Price and Vitali (Equestrian Sports NZ/Shannon Brinkman)
Great Britain’s Tom McEwen is not much further back from the leaders with 25.1 penalties on the reliable Brookfield Quality. The horse, known around the barn as Nervous Norris, in contrast to that nickname looked very steady, aside from a less-than-perfect reinback.
But Tom noted he “pulled out the same test that he can do every time and laid everything down.”
U.S. rider Will Coleman’s lead with Diabolo on a mark of 27.3 penalties from day one of the dressage phase Thursday was eclipsed by the 26.6 penalty performance of Caroline Pamukcu and her 2024 Olympic mount, HSH Blake. She became the leading American, in fourth place, leaving Will fifth.
Caroline thinks so much of her horse that she named her daughter after him.
Caroline Pamukcu and daughter Blake.
“He’s just such a special partner. He’s my best friend,” observed Caroline.
“He was fabulous, wasn’t he?” she asked. And we knew the right answer.
Caroline hopes she will be able to rate him the same for cross-country.
“There is a lot to do out there,” she commented.
“The good thing is the ground is fast and they’re doing everything they can to water it and make it soft. It’s going to very competitive.”
Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake. (USEA/Lindsay Berreth Photo)
Caroline is the busiest rider in the 5-star, with three mounts, all of whom she brought along since they were young horses. She stands fifteenth with HSH Tolan King and seventeenth with She’s the One.
“There’s a lot of work for me,” she pointed out, then added, “they all deserve to shine, so hopefully I can give them the ride they deserve.”
It’s very cool that there are two 19-year-old horses in the field. Appropriately, perhaps, both are grey. Corvett, who has competed in every 5-star in the Northern Hemisphere, is making his final appearance at the level for owner Emily Hamel. He is in twenty-first place.
Sunday Times, meanwhile, is twenty-ninth.
“We all know he’s not a dressage horse,” said his owner, amateur rider Arden Wildasin. The horse had a top 10 finish in the Maryland 5-star last year.
Click here for 5-star results
In the 4–Star Short that runs with the 5-star, Tamie Smith kept her lead from Thursday with Danito on 27 penalties. Sharon White is second with Claus 63 (28.1), who did not complete the 5-Star in Kentucky last year.
Tamie also tied for third on Lillet 3 (29.7), while Great Britain’s Elizabeth Barratt has the same score on Ride for Thais Chamon Dumontceau.
Click here for 4-star results
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 23, 2026
Will Coleman is going for the Defender Kentucky eventing double.
Two years ago, he won the 4-Star Short at the Kentucky Horse Park with Diabolo, a Holsteiner by Diarado who was imported from Australia. The partnership was on track for the U.S. team at the 2024 Olympics when the horse came up with a hoof problem and couldn’t compete in Paris.
This year, Will is back with Diabolo at the USA’s top competition in his discipline, but in the 5-Star section, where he led the field on Thursday after the first day of dressage.
Will and his slick black gelding were marked at 27.3 penalties, equivalent to a dressage score of 72.69 percent.
An understandably upbeat Will noted, “The first time you do a 5-Star test in that arena with any horse, there’s a certain amount of, `What am I going to get today?’
“He’s a really eager horse, he wants to always do the right thing. But sometimes, his nerves can get the better of him. I’m just so proud of him. He came up here and he was a little bit on edge, even in these final warm-ups, I didn’t feel like I totally had him. But he went in there and he just did it for me and tried his absolute best. That’s all you can ask for.”
Saturday’s cross-country course, laid out as usual by Tokyo Olympic designer Derek Di Grazia, is a “completely different” level than the route Diabolo handled in the 4-Star.
That, Will pointed out, was “nothing compared to what Diabolo has to do this weekend.
“The 5-star is the ultimate test in all equestrian sports. I’m going to have to ride my best and Diabolo is going to have to be at his best for us to do it well, but I think he can. And that’s what we are going to try to do.”
Very veteran Phillip Dutton, who won the 5-Star in 2008, is aboard Possante for that horse’s 5-Star debut. He’s less than one penalty back of Will on a mount produced by Great Britain’s Emily King.
In turn, New Zealander Tim Price — always a threat at the highest level — is third with Global Quest, another 5-star debutante. The horse was brought along by the late Georgie Campbell, a British eventer who died after a fall while riding that mount at the Bicton International Horse Trials two years ago.
World Number One Harry Meade of Great Britain is fourth with his veteran, Superstition, marked at 30.2 penalties.
“I would have hoped to be scored better than that,” said Harry, who seeks to make up the difference on cross-country where there is “going to be plenty to do.”
When Boyd Martin rode into the arena on Cooley Nutcracker, it was an emotional moment for those who spotted the horse’s former rider, Liz Halliday, watching intently from the grandstand. Liz competed on the horse in the 2024 Olympics, only to suffer a traumatic brain injury in a fall a month later at the American Eventing Championships.
Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker.
Boyd took over the ride as Liz, his Olympic teammate, went through hospitalization and rehabilitation (she now hopes to compete in Para Dressage). Nutcracker earned 30.7 penalties to stand fifth as Liz cheered him on.
“I finished the test and looked up in the stands and she was there with her team,” Boyd recounted after his ride.
“It was cool, I haven’t seen her for a good bit.”
After the competition, Liz got on social media to say, “There really aren’t words to express what today meant to me. To finally be back at an event for the first time since my accident … to watch my gorgeous Cooley Nutcracker go down centerline with Boyd Martin… to hug friends I haven’t seen in so long and catch up about everything I’ve missed … I am overjoyed and so grateful to finally be back in the sport I love.”
She added, “Things are a bit different now, of course. I’m now here as an owner supporting Boyd and Bali alongside the rest of the Liz’s Nutcrackers crew. And yes, I did give Boyd a hard time for flubbing that first flying change. But in all seriousness, I am so grateful to Boyd for everything he has done with the horse who made my Olympic dreams come true and am so excited to cheer them on this weekend.”
Liz Halliday was thrilled about being able to watch in person as Boyd Martin rode her Olympic horse, Cooley Nutcracker.
Of his test, Boyd assessed that it was “not too bad; it’s pretty intimidating to try to follow Liz’s performances, but I’m starting to get the hang of it. It’s still not the finished product yet. He’s a legend. He’s a champion horse.”
Discussing the “juicy” course, he noted, “it starts off a little nicer than usual, then he sticks it to you.”
Ever the entrepreneur, Boyd suggested that after the competition, spectators should “go to my merch shop and get a T-shirt.”
The world number two-ranked rider also will be on last year’s 5-Star runner-up, Commando 3, but he had to leave another of Liz’s horses, Miks Master C. at home after the gelding pulled up sore from an outing at the Fair Hill 4-Star Short last weekend.
Boyd’s hair was looking rather shaggy, because the Pennsylvanian is waiting to cut it in a show of support for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team as it seeks the Stanley Cup.
Boyd Martin looking a little shaggy as he grows his hair to keep his favorite hockey team in the Stanley Cup game.
In the 4-Star Short, which ran during the morning, Californian Tamie Smith came East to take the lead with Danito, who at age 17 is back in the big time after recovering from some injuries.
Tamie has the distinction of being the last U.S. rider to win the 5-star at Kentucky, having done it with the now-retired Mai Baum in 2023.
click here for 5-star results
click on this link for 4-star results
by Nancy Jaffer | Apr 21, 2026
An application by Select Event Group to run the Maryland 5-star in October 2027 is “actively” being prepared, with Paris Olympics 2024 cross-country course designer Pierre Le Goupil on board for the eventing competition, as he was for the 2025 edition.
David O’Connor, the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s chief of sport, said the group in May will be presenting a proposal to the organization for resumption of the event next year. The FEI also would have to approve it.
The 2026 competition was cancelled after key personnel departed the organization and the state of Maryland indicated funding would not be available for it.
The event, the first autumn 5-star held in the U.S., ran for five years at a new facility, the Fair Hill Special Event Zone, which also hosts horse racing. The organizing team now is headed by Marissa Melzer, who was the number two person in charge of presenting the 5-star previously.
Boyd Martin, Felix Vogg and Monica Spencer on the podium at the 2025 Maryland 5-star.
“Select is eager to build on the momentum created over the past several years and to thoughtfully broaden what this event can be,” said Alex Corgan, president of Select Event Group, which is the lead organizer for the effort to “reimagine” the event. Select has been involved with the Preakness Stakes, Maryland’s leg of racing’s Triple Crown.
“Our goal is to expand the aperture of supporters and participants — from longtime equestrian fans to new community partners — creating more opportunities for people to engage, contribute, and feel invested in the event’s success. By bringing together a strong team and welcoming all those willing to help make this a success, we believe that we can deliver at Fair Hill an experience that is both world-class in sport and deeply rooted in community.”
He added, “Select intends to expand opportunities for participation from other regional jurisdictions, partners, and organizations both within and beyond Maryland.”
Select already has submitted to USEF an application for presenting the 3-star and Young Event Horse competition that ran with the 5-star. If approved, those fixtures would be held this October as Select partners with Cecil County on the project.
The iconic crab fence has become a symbol of the Maryland 5-star.
County Executive Adam Streight said, “Cecil County is pleased to see the 3-star event continue this year, ensuring the tradition of world-class eventing at Fair Hill remains strong.
“We look forward to working with Select Event Group, who understand the importance of including Cecil Countians and local businesses, along with our partners, to deliver a successful 2026 competition and welcome the return of the Maryland 5 Star in 2027.”
Tim Gardner, a member of the organizing team, said Select is “very motivated to keep this event as an asset for Maryland and believes in it as a business opportunity.”
He noted Corgan “sort of rallied some of the other Maryalnd vendors.”
His involvement, “gets it into the hand of a professional event producer and gives us a really bright future not dependent on state money. It’s a great solution. We’re pretty optimistic.”
