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 Guillherm 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, 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, and 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 ar 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.
Will had just 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, 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 among the three best.