Tamie Smith never planned to try for back-to-back 5-star wins with 18-year-old Mai Baum at the Defender Kentucky 5-star event this week, but she was going to put the 2023 winner in the 4-star Short event in Lexington as a prep for the Paris Olympics.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum after their 2023 5-star victory. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Now, however, fans of the beautiful black superstar won’t get to see him at the Kentucky Horse Park. He’s staying at home in California.
Tamie announced on social media, “Sadly, Mai Baum will be sitting out this Kentucky 4S and resting up for an exciting summer. They say timing is everything and while I was away competing some of my other horses last weekend, Lexus was a bit wild and feeling exuberant and pulled away from his handler and tweaked himself.
“He wasn’t 100 percent in time to make the trip across the country to Kentucky and we have elected to withdraw him from the Defender 3-Day Event. It can be difficult to withdraw your horse from a key competition, especially leading up to this summer. However, this decision is in his long-term best interest and the one thing we’ve never wavered from is our commitment not to compromise the well-being of any horse.”
Fans if Tamie, the first U.S. rider to with the 5-star since 2008, can still see her ride, however, as she has two horses in the 4-star. Danito will go on the first dressage day Thursday, while Kynan goes last on the second dressage day.