The first half of dressage competition was featured Thursday at the Mars Maryland 5-star Three-Day Event, as the USA’s Boyd Martin topped the scoreboard with Luke 140, but much more than the placings were on everybody’s mind.
Boyd Martin and Luke 140.
Topic A was the cross-country course, a medley of question marks, with Pierre Le Goupil taking over from Ian Stark as the designer in the fifth year of the event, presented by Brown Advisory.
It’s the only 5-star layout ever produced by Pierre, though he is vastly experienced, having done the Paris Olympics in 2024 (the Olympics is at 4-star-plus level, as the designer explains) in addition to producing routes at scores of other events around the world.
Pierre Le Goupil.
The up-and-down Fair Hill terrain is daunting even without the fences; with them, it’s a real test of fitness. Last year, only eight horses of the 21 that started on cross-country came back to show jump on the final day.
This year, the middle phase of the event will be different, but it won’t be any easier.
“This course is pretty challenging, so we’ve got our work cut out for us on Saturday,” said Boyd, scored at 31 penalties with a horse who was on his toes. Boyd did a good job to stay on when the Holsteiner spooked in a big way as he left the arena.
On the much discussed topic of cross-country, “The jumping efforts are massive,” observed Canada’s Jessica Phoenix, who retired on course last year with Wabbit, but is back to try again.
“The technical questions are some of the most technical questions I’ve ever seen. All of it, start to finish, you have to be really on your game and those horses have to know really where they’re going and be willing to fight for it.”
She added, “On the plus side, the way they’ve done the roping this year and changed a little bit of the flow of the course will help the horses settle in their rhythm earlier,
What’s in her favor is that Wabbit is a thoroughbred, a rare breed in eventing these days, but when it comes to fitness and endurance, they excel. Wabbit has some ground to make up, standing eighth on 40.2 penalties with 11 more horses to compete in dressage on Friday.
Will Faudree, an American who is ninth on Mama’s Magic Way (43.5 penalties), has entered 24 or 25 5-stars in his career, so he’s seen legions of their cross-country courses. Of this one, he assessed, “It’s a plenty big enough track. It’s going to be a big job to do on Saturday.”
Although British riders have been a fixture at the event since its inception, with last year’s winner, Oliver Townend, and Harry Meade having been among the regulars from abroad, there’s only one Brit on the roster this time.
That’s Alexander Bragg, third at Badminton last year with Quindiva, the world’s highest-rated eventing mare and a stunning creature, who is coming back after having two embryo transplants.
Alexander Bragg and Quindiva.
Quindiva was standing seventh with 39.2 penalties, after getting “quite lit-up going down the chute,” her rider said, citing “extra atmosphere and the wind” making everything “very, very scary. Today, she didn’t let me get the best out of her.”
But he’s looking forward to cross-country, because “Maryland is renowned for that sort of gallopy cross-country feel, and that’s what the mare is good at.”
He’s hoping to jump up the leaderboard with his Oldenburg beauty after cross-country.
“The harder the course is and the higher they build the show jumping, the better for me. So this is why we’re at Maryland,” explained Alexander, who is making his competitive debut in the U.S. this weekend.
But I wondered, why aren’t there other Brits at Maryland? In the spring, Harry and Tom McEwen were at Kentucky, which drew 33 starters on cross-country. Bigger numbers of entries at Maryland are harder to get.
Alexander explained, “Financially, it’s a tough draw to come here. It costs a lot of money to fly and there isn’t really funding for that in the U.K. to bring horses across the water.
“I think that’s probably one of the big deciding factor. Obviously, a lot of horses get taken out in the championships and at Burghley horse trials, and Maryland is after that. The cost makes that a big decision to come.”
Boyd’s 2024 Paris Olympics teammate, Caroline Pamukcu, is poised in second place on She’s the One.
The calendar was particularly crowded this summer and fall, with the European championships, the new US Open of eventing last week and the Pau 5-star in France next week.
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