HSH Straight Arrow and Caroline Pamukcu. USEA/Mane Focus Creative photo
It’s a weekend for the young horses all across the world with major competitions featuring 4-year-olds and upwards taking place at Fair Hill as well as Le Lion in France. Looking to the Fair Hill and Maryland 3 Star action, Caroline Pamukcu is off to a hot start. She’s the dressage leader in the CCI3*-L that features nearly 50 horses with HSH Limited Edition, and yesterday she took the win in the USEA East Coast Young Event Horse 4-Year-Old Championship on HSH Straight Arrow.
The following is excerpted from a press release distributed by the USEA:
The 4-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, owned by Pamukcu and Sherrie Martin and bred by Jacinta O’Donoghue, led the competition from start to finish, ultimately securing the championship title on a cumulative score of 89.21.
Pamukcu and HSH Straight Arrow (Datsdwhy x Imnotafraid Fortuna) established themselves as early frontrunners in the competition, earning a dressage score of 16.22 to take the lead after the first phase. The gelding continued to impress during the conformation evaluation, receiving an 8.14 to maintain his position atop the leaderboard heading into the jumping and galloping test.
With the championship title within reach, Pamukcu guided the young gelding through the final phase, where he earned a 14.10 in show jumping, 28.20 in cross-country, 13.55 in overall evaluation, and 9.00 in general impression. His combined jumping and galloping score of 64.85 was the highest of the division, securing his place at the top of the final standings.
HSH Straight Arrow’s journey to becoming a YEH champion began in Ireland, where Pamukcu’s business partner, Kelly Hutchinson, discovered him approximately two years ago. Pamukcu has always been drawn to horses with Thoroughbred bloodlines, and the young gelding immediately caught her attention.
“She knows I’m a huge fan of having a horse that’s Thoroughbred on one of the sides,” Pamukcu explained. “She sent me a picture of his head in a stall, and I was like, ‘Buy it! I want it! Buy it! This one!'”
Hutchinson oversaw the gelding’s early education in Ireland, gradually developing him until he was ready to make the trip to the United States and continue his training under Pamukcu.
While Pamukcu has spent much of the year traveling to international competitions, including the FEI Eventing World Championships in Aachen, Germany, the development of her young horses has continued at home thanks to the efforts of her team.
“I have to say, huge kudos to my riders at home,” she said, crediting her longtime rider Mason Reidy and dressage trainer Samantha St. Jacques. “They’ve done everything because I was between Worlds and Burghley and all of the other FEIs, I was gone.”
Nicholas Hansen and his own Irish Sport Horse gelding Excel Star Obsidian (Jorado x DS Piper) claimed the reserve championship title on a final score of 86.15. The pair sat in 12th place following dressage and conformation; however, the jumping and galloping test proved to be their opportunity to shine. Hansen and the 4-year-old earned a 13.20 in show jumping, an impressive 27.90 in cross-country, 13.25 in overall evaluation, and 9.10 in general impression. Their combined score of 63.45 in the final phase propelled them up the leaderboard to finish as reserve champions.
“He far and away was our favorite,” Nicholas recalled. “We brought him to the States in December of last year, where we rode him a couple times in a couple shows through the Ocala circuit. I have more of a dressage specialty, and my wife is a four-star rider, so it’s been really awesome to sort of tag team with each other to produce these guys.”
Rounding out the top three was Elinor O’Neal aboard her own German Sport Horse gelding Quite Everglade (Quite Great x Babette) bred by Marion Dopfer. The pair were in third place following dressage with a score of 15.96 and moved into second after receiving an 8.29 in conformation, the highest conformation mark among the top three finishers. In the jumping and galloping test, the pair earned a 12.90 in show jumping, 24.30 in cross-country, 13.10 in overall evaluation, and an impressive 9.50 in general impression. Their final score of 84.05 secured third place overall.
Quite Everglade and O’Neal were also presented with The Go Get ‘Em Award in memory of Don Trotter, which recognizes the 4-year-old horse with the highest gallop score at each of the East and West Coast Championships. Generously provided by Stillwater Farm, the award includes a trophy and prize check and honors the memory of Donald Trotter, who passed away in 2019.
The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred Incentive Program (TIP) Award was presented to Madison Temkin’s own Rock D’Oro (Bold D’Oro x Rockport Babe). The pair finished eighth overall in the championship on a score of 81.74, earning recognition as the highest-placing eligible Thoroughbred in the division. The award encourages the retraining of Thoroughbreds for new careers following their time in racing or breeding, with the winning horse receiving a ribbon and TIP show cooler.
The YEH wraps up today with the 5-year-old Championship jumping. The CCI3*-L will go cross country. There is no live stream from Maryland this weekend but you can follow along with live scoring here.
Major International Events
A quick update from Le Lion, where by the time you are reading this cross country will most likely be underway. The 6-year-old CCI2*-L will be the first to see starting at 10:00 am local time / 4:00 am EST. The 7-year-old CCI3*-L will follow starting at 1:00 pm local time / 7:00 am EST. The 6-year-old division will be live streamed on the FEI YouTube channel here; it’s unclear whether the 7-year-olds will be or not, but both can be found on ClipMyHorse.TV here.
2025 6-year-old champion Tara van het Leliehof couldn’t be threatened on Friday, and she will be the 7-year-old leader to beat today with Belgium’s Lara de Liedekerke-Meier; Lara’s also sitting in the top five in this year’s 6-year-old division with Heralkes. In that division, it’s Dutch rider Patrick Verbakel who won the first phase on Passoa, scoring a 28.0.
Phillip Dutton and Darwinn are the top-placed of the North Americans, scoring a 34.2. Phillip noted that some loss of attention in the atmosphere was a contributing factor to a higher-than-typical score (he’s been more of a sub-30 scorer this season), but there’s still room to do some moving with today’s cross country. Hallie Coon’s Tykillen Tango was another who scored a bit higher than his season average, earning a 37.7.
If you want to have a look at the always-festive courses here, you can do so, fence-by-fence, on CrossCountry App below or here / in the CrossCountry App, which is free to download:
FEI WBFSH Eventing World Championships for Young Horses (Le Lion d’Angers, France): [Website] [FEI Info Hub] [Entries/Timing/Scoring] [Live Stream – ClipMyHorse.TV] [Live Stream – FEI YouTube]
U.S. Events This Weekend
Maryland 3 Star at Fair Hill & USEA East Coast Young Event Horse Championships (MD): [Website] [Entries] [Ride Times] [CrossCountry App XC Maps] [Scores] [Volunteer]
Hagyard Midsouth Three-Day Event (KY): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scores] [Live Score Feeds, sponsored by Kentucky Performance Products] [Volunteer]
Ram Tap National H.T. (CA): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scores] [Volunteer]
Sol Events at Willow Draw (TX): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Scores] [Eventing Volunteers]
Horse Park of New Jersey Fall H.T. (NJ): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Schedule] [Volunteer]
Links & Reading
Training Tip of the Day
Three top tips for making a good impression before you go down centerline, straight from a 5* judge:
Go Eventing
How Jenny Caras, currently based in the UK, spends her time between eventing rides:
