Tim Price and Coup de Coeur Dudevin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Newly-named FEI world #1 Tim Price has his pre-cross country routine down to a T — top athletes in the making, take note here: the key to success lies in a sack of McDonald’s, maybe a beer or two, and a nice, mellow listen to the good ol’ Jack Johnson playlist on Spotify. You heard it here first, everyone.

Whatever the merits of that routine, something certainly is ticking on all cylinders for the Kiwi rider fresh off the podium, and despite the relative ease of the time once more this year — more on that later — Tim finds himself now atop the board on the first-time 5* horse Coup de Coeur Dudevin (Top Gun Semilly – Tiebreak Combehory).

At just 10 years old, with only one 4*-L under his belt in his short partnership with Tim, “Joker” has come onto the job quickly and surely showed his growing prowess by adding no penalties to his dressage mark of 27.4 to move into second overnight. The door had been opened when dressage leader Woods Baughman had some rideability issues on course that led to jumping penalties, dropping him out of competitive contention.

It’s a big trip to come across the pond — no less for a horse’s debut at the 5* level. But Tim says he’s believed in his horse to this point and knew the time was ripe to ask him the next question. What he’s left with?

“Vindicated,” Tim says. After all, you don’t know if you’ve got a 5* horse under you until, well, you’re out and over that first fence. At the high water, the MARS Sustainability Bay at fence 23 and 24, Tim said he felt his horse show his fifth leg — the marker of a true 5* horse, he says.

“The water at the top, with the crab, was where he grew another leg and used his own initiative, and made a much better decision than me to get the job done,” Tim said. “That’s the mark of a top event horse in general, that they think for themselves — especially at that stage of the course, at nine minutes or something, that he’s still able to have the presence of mind to make a good decision and then stay upright, and stay on his feet, and then keep thinking forward and ahead of himself. So I’m really pleased — he’s vindicated all the reasons I thought it was a good decision to bring him.”

A rider that’s invested so much time, money, and energy to get a first-time horse overseas for its debut has a difficult balance: you want the trip to be worth your (and your owner’s) while, but you want the horse to have a positive first experience. For all three of the top riders today (Tim and Coup de Coeur Dudevin, Tamie Smith and Danito, and Oliver Townend and As Is), their results are a testament not only to the course and ground conditions but also to the discerning nature of each rider to know what to ask, and how hard.

“I mentioned yesterday I was a little bit nervous, like, ‘is it the right thing to bring a horse halfway across the world that lacks experience?’, you know, because it kind of puts it all on the line,” Tim explained. “It’s a lot of investment from the owner and from ourselves. But I’ve always believed in the horse, and today was the perfect occasion for him with good conditions, and a great course that I could just go and try and give him a good education whilst being competitive. So it’s just riding that balance the whole way, but he was exceptional and really jumped beautifully.”

A fun fact: when Coup de Coeur Dudevin first came into the Price program, he was Jonelle’s ride to begin. I had to ask how he’d managed to swipe the ride from her.

“Normally when I get a good one off Jonelle, it’s because I’ve got her pregnant, but I couldn’t do that this time — we’re finished!” Tim joked (what is it with Maryland and the inappropriate jokesters in the press conferences? Lookin’ at you, Boyd Martin. Gosh, guys, get a grip.) “This horse is a big engine — he’s powerful behind. Everything’s going to sound like an innuendo now, isn’t it? She just felt like it wasn’t the horse for her, basically, and that’s part of it all. She’s small built, so she can’t ride every horse — we’re a bit more lucky that we can ride a range of horses. It was a reluctant decision, because she always said that the horse would be a five-star horse; she always rated him. So she let him come over to me.”

Tamie Smith and Danito. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tamie Smith and Danito‘s (Dancier – Wie Musik, by Wolkenstein II) owner, Ruth Bley, weren’t 100% sure of “Cheeto’s” ability to step up to this level. He also hasn’t had the most ideal lead-up to this event: in January, he had a freak accident in the crossties and wound up breaking his wither (which also took him down a notch in terms of height). Between this and Tamie’s ongoing prep for FEI World Championships, the 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding had a rather light year, running just three events in 2022 leading up to this weekend.

“He’s been low on the on the competition miles this year, so to have him go out and and do that and step up… I was quite nervous because at Rebecca, Ian talked me into coming here with him but you know what, these first time five-star horses you just never know,” Tamie said. “He’s not got a high percentage of blood, and I ride a lot of horses like that, but I don’t really enjoy it. It’s a lot of work from the rider when you’re riding a horse that doesn’t have a lot of puff at the end, but he sure did. I’m super, super happy with him.”

Oliver Townend and As Is. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Third-placed tonight on another first-timer is British Olympian Oliver Townend with the former Andrew Nicholson ride As Is (Meneusekal – Paraca, by Lacros). Despite a slightly hairy moment where the gray Spanish gelding banked fence 5, the Buckeye Nutrition Brush, Oliver said the horse grew and grew in confidence as he went around — in fact, Oliver would collect the fastest round of the day in 11 minutes, 12 seconds.

“He was lovely. He started off baby and grew in confidence as he went. He galloped very easily with his ears pricked; he’s a little bit of a terrier, you know, he’s a character. I enjoyed him a lot, and he’ll definitely have come on for the run as well. I couldn’t have been happier with how my horse grew in confidence, and I think if you’ve got hopefully a good jockey and hopefully a good course, that’s what you should see out of first-time five-star horses. Mine will definitely have come on for the run. He grew in confidence as he went and by the end of it, he felt like a proper five-star horse.”

As Is did come home showing some blood on his belly, just under the girth, but Oliver’s team confirmed that the blood was from either a brush that scraped him or possibly a girth rub, but that the gelding had been seen and cleared by vets and stewards following cross country.

Despite the chatter and the, um, bum-clenching that was happening ahead of this afternoon, Ian Stark’s sophomore design effort yielded mostly completions, save two pairs: Liz Halliday-Sharp and the Monster Partnership’s Cooley Quicksilver sadly retired up at the MARS Sustainability Bay after the tiring gelding ground to a halt atop the bank at fence 24. Our sole rookie pair, Zach Brandt, also retired Direct Advance at fence 9.

In total just three pairs that completed collected jumping penalties: Woods Baughman and C’est La Vie 135 ran into trouble at the C element of fence 24 (in hindsight, Woods said, he should’ve opted to go the long route there), Hayley Frielick and Dunedin Black Watch picked up 20 at 10A, and Astier Nicolas wound up off his line at the second of the corners at 21 and couldn’t quite make it up to collect 20 with Babylon de Gamma.

These issues aside, the track saw 91.6% completion rate with 12 pairs going clear inside the time and 79% of starters jumping clear.

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Amy Dragoo.

The top five still shuffles, though, and looking to fourth place it will be Phillip Dutton and his Tokyo Olympic partner, Z (Asca Z – Bellabouche), owned by The Z Partnership, moving up from 11th after dressage.

“Well, he’s not the fastest horse so I set out quite fast,” Phillip explained, noting like many other riders that the space in between fences allowed him to make up some time. “I was a bit up on time, which was my plan — I was maybe too much up on time. But you know, when you go faster, obviously you’re taking the horse into account. But I trust him so much, and so it’s just a case of trying to point him where to go. He usually figures out how to do it.”

Buck Davidson and Carlevo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Fifth and mildly annoyed about the two seconds of time he picked up are Buck Davidson with Katherine O’Brien’s Carlevo (Eurocommerce Caresino – Ramatuelle, by Levernois), who finished the closest to the time in his four 5* starts. “He was good,” Buck told me. “I thought I was in big trouble at the top water. And then I just had to give him a bit of a break and he actually galloped home well. He actually came down the drop and the two houses and then he picked up and he ran home and I’m so really happy.”

Buck admits he’d like to have those seconds of time back, but he opted to make a horse-friendly decision at the MARS Sustainability Bay, musing that had he tried to go straight it may have been too big of an ask at that point to get it done with no penalties. “He’s not a Formula One racecar,” he continued. He’s got his his strengths, but, you know, he’s getting faster, and he’s doing it easier.”

Jennie Brannigan and FE Lifestyle. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Jennie Brannigan had herself a day with one horse (FE Lifestyle) in fifth and the other just outside the top 10 in 11th (Twilightslastgleam).

“There were some really short distances out there,” Jennie said after her first ride with the Gardner homebred Thoroughbred Twilightslastgleam. “He tries harder than any other horse every day. We thought that he wouldn’t be a five-star horse, but this year he’s just come into form and I just admire him because he tries his guts out.”

As for the 12-year-old FE Lifestyle (Leo von Faelz – Berina A, by Brandenburger), Jennie says, “he’s a real gem. I’m a little not happy with myself toady, I know with [FE Lifestyle] I could come real slow into something and get out, and I think I did that to him a little bit too much. I made him look a little too hard out there, so I’m sorry to him for that but he was brilliant.”

The course itself drew mixed reviews from the riders. Truth be told, it’s the competitive riders who want to see the time be more difficult to get. But as Ian Stark remarked in the press conference, “I’d rather have ten inside the time than five horses on the floor.” It’s an easy sentiment to get behind, but some riders commented that they would have liked to see more separation of the cream from the crop when the dust settled today.

Harry Meade and Superstition. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Harry Meade, who collected one of the clear rounds inside the time with Mandy Gray’s and his own Superstition (Satisfaction FRH – Calendula), made it clear he wasn’t blaming any one party on his dissatisfaction but described his hopes that the time would be made tighter now that there is more knowledge banked about this terrain.

“I think there’s arguably a preconceived concern, which is unfounded after two years, that it’s very punishing terrain,” he elaborated. “That this is going to be super fatiguing, super tiring, no one’s going to make the time, there’s gonna be lots of tired horses. We don’t want to have tired horses but we do want to test horsemanship and horse ability and that needs tighter time.”

The time was the subject of discussion last year as well, but the general feel from the riders is that the event will grow from here.

“I mean, this was wonderful and galloping,” Harry continued. “A lot of it was like a steeplechase track the whole way up, the gallop up to the main arena, the whole way back from the main arena. And then it was only really the last third way it was more like a normal cross country course. It’s absolutely not a criticism of the track, of the fences, of the design. It’s a beautiful course, beautifully presented, brilliantly designed by one of the top experts in the world. Just too gettable in terms of the time.

“So I think going forward for the event, they can take confidence of the fact that these first two years have been a bit of an asterisk next to the results — that it’s been an unchallenging time, way too much — and hopefully, that allays any concerns that they may have in how they set up the course next year.”

For his part, Ian was pleased. “I think what’s made my day, actually, is the fact that the top three are riding first-time five-star horses,” he noted in the press conference. “The horses are incredibly lucky to have three of the best riders in the world, but they were magnificent in how they coped with the young horses and helped and encouraged them – and, as Tim says, the young horse helped him, too. That, for me, sort of highlights why I do this. It was thrilling to watch.”

Woods Baughman remains admirably positive despite the disappointment of running into control issues again. “We got further around before we had trouble, a least!” he told us. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“To be honest, I was pretty tight on the walking, and the technical delegates walked it separately – and the three of us were within 20 meters of one another,” Ian said when asked if he would have done differently with this feedback. “So how do you walk it differently? Do you cheat; do you lie? Do you make it tighter than it is? No, is the answer. Various people said to me last year – and it might be the same this year – that it would be a better competition if the time was unobtainable. But for me, if it’s an unobtainable time, there’s no limit to how much we push the horses to go faster. If you can’t make it, it’s too demoralizing long-term for the horses. Can I make it tighter? I’m not sure I can.”

All horses safely back in the barns makes Ian a happy designer, he says. “The reason, this time, is that I’m incredibly lucky here – the terrain is phenomenal, and the ground is phenomenal. I’ve probably very much gone for my philosophy in cross-country riding, which is ride from A to B – not going around in endless demented circles in a field. So I’ve made use of the gallop stretches, and maybe I can look at slowing them down a little bit by putting in slightly more technical questions. That might be something I think about. I loved today, and I’m kind of known as being a bit of a tough bastard sometimes, but this lot moved me to tears at the end of cross-country day. I was pretty emotional, because I thought it was a great day, and I loved watching it.”

The riders in the press conference had positive things to say, all echoing their appreciation for Ian’s efforts.

Tim summed it up perhaps the best: “We’ll come back here. This is a great competition — it feels like it’s a pioneering five-star, but it’s for very good reason that we want to come here and we’ll continue to come here and continue to encourage other people to come here. It’s got it. It’s already got it, but it’s got the makings of something spectacular for the future as well. So it’ll be fun to say that we went to the first few when we can see it in the future, just how amazing it’s going to be as well.”

We’ll now look ahead to show jumping tomorrow but first the 3* and 5* horses will trot up for the Ground Jury once more, with the 3* jogging at 8:30 a.m. EST and the 5* jogging at 9:15 a.m. EST. Show jumping will get underway with the 3* at 10:15 a.m. followed by the conclusion of the 5* at 2 p.m. EST. As usual you can view the live stream on USEF Network in North America and Horse & Country outside of North America.

Thanks so much, as always, for following along with us. Go Eventing!

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The second water question at 11. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ian Stark’s second design here at the Maryland 5 Star has certainly upped the ante from its inaugural running in 2021. It was to be expected, for a designer doing his first 5* track on land that was previously untested for this level, that the first year may have left some ideas on the table. Indeed, while the 2021 iteration of the Maryland track was certainly up to snuff, there was nonetheless chatter about the time being rather catchable and a few other rumblings that might have included the word “soft” tossed about in the mix.

“Soft” is a funny term to use when referring to a 5* track, if you ask me. I hear it tossed around from time to time while listening to riders in the mixed zone, but the bottom line remains: it’s still a 5*, after all.

But if Ian heard riders calling his first design “soft”, he certainly took that feedback to heart as this year’s track is decidedly not so. At a stiff 11 minute, 30 second optimum time (30 seconds longer than 2021) it stands to be a stout fitness test, despite the fact the course this year starts and finishes in very different locations from last with attention to horse fitness called to mind.

You can check out Tilly’s full analysis of the course coming later this morning, and you can also take a fence-by-fence walk with Ian Stark himself over on the CrossCountryApp tour here in the meantime.

We chatted up the riders over the last two days as they finished their dressage tests to collect their reactions to the track, and here’s what some of them had to say:

Tim Price

“Having not ridden this one, it’s hard to truly compare them, but I like the layout a lot better this time with where he’s got the start and the finish and how that impacts the the energy requirement around the course. It’s big. I think it’s maybe a bit bigger in places, and also last year, the time was quite easy. And I don’t think that’s the case this year, it’s wheeled a lot tighter. So that’s going to put more emphasis on the likes of ourselves — when I say ourselves, the guys that have traveled over — that you want to make the most of your trip, so you want to be quick and that puts a different element of everything on the course. Everything becomes bigger, the hills become steeper, and the technicality coming home on a tired horse becomes more extreme. So it’s a tough course this year I think.”

Allie Knowles

“It’s enough to do out there. It’s it has some nice changes from last year. It’s a different feeling track than, say, Kentucky but [Morswood] did it well last year and I’m going to go with that — that he’s going to do it well again this year. There’s not one thing in particular that he is not good at. I just need to be paying attention the whole time and minding him, and I know he’ll mind me, and we’ll give it our best.”

Astier Nicolas

“I appreciate everything I’ve seen here last year. The place is fantastic, very good ground. I really like the courses of Ian and I think he did a great job this year. Learning a bit more from the terrain, getting to know it more than last year. And I’m really happy with what he’s built this year.”

Liz Halliday-Sharp

“It’s a very different track. Kind of old school in places, which isn’t a bad thing. It will obviously be the most terrain [Cooley Quicksilver] has ever experienced, which will be a challenge for him. But he’s also extremely fit. I think he’s fitter than we’ve ever had him. And I think this is the next progression for him. You know, when a horse has done three five-stars, they got that depth of fitness in them. So I think this is a great challenge for him and will only make him a better, stronger, fitter horse for the future. So I don’t see anything there he can’t do. Obviously, it’s a real five-star and it’s very challenging at the end. I think he’s asking a lot of tired horses. So that’s going to be, really staying on the ball all the way to the end I think is going to be really important. Just keep them with you.”

Tamie Smith

“It looks like you’d better be able to see a distance from a long way away. Lots of straight lines and galloping. Not a lot to super back them off, and then you have a combination, so I think — I was a little going, ‘gosh, if I was on Mai Baum it would be fantastic, I could come in really fast’ but horses that fences don’t back them off, the riders are going to have quite a bit of work to do.”

Doug Payne

“It’s I think it’s beefed up from last year. I think the layout I like better because it’s not like you’re going out and back on the last two segments. Time is going to be challenging for sure. I think that it’s almost back-loaded — to me, the hardest part is the crab water, the drop — and that’s all like in the last minute and a half, two minutes. We have the luxury of going around at the end a bit and I think [Ian] sets courses that are super fair, it’s right to there to be done. But there’s so many unpredictable aspects that I don’t know that you can really be stuck in one exact plan. It’s gonna be stick to your line and good balance and, you know, let the footwork sort of sort stuff out.”

Hannah Sue Hollberg

“I like it a lot. I like it more than last year. Last year, it kind of had more of a jarring kind of feel when you walk it. This year is more flowing. The beginning you can really go fast and make up some time. But Ian’s done a good job of kind of throwing little tricks in there to make sure people are on their toes, I think, and the terrain obviously is a factor. But I really think it looks great. Once you get to the first water then it kind of comes at you a bit more and I think a lot of the harder questions are kind of from there. And I mean, actually, from there, it kind of just builds more and more and more to the very end. So the beginning kind of lures you in, I think, and you’ll be going so fast that then you have to really be careful not to be completely out of control and make sure your horse has enough energy left to answer the question.”

Buck Davidson

“It’s, there’s plenty to do. You know, honestly, number four, those birds look very vertical early, you know, and so I’ll have to look after him there. There’s some big things followed by some things that are maybe, to me, not quite up to the five-star level, which in some ways makes it difficult for the horses to back up. But horses for courses, and it’s all to be done. It’s by no stretch easy, it’s just a little different. You know, the fence in the arena, you could jump a Preliminary horse over, and then you go to that [water] in the back and go, oh my God, you need a six-star horse. So, you know, it’s just a little bit different that way.”

Oliver Townend

“It’s a five-star designed by, in my opinion, one of the best designers in the world, [Ian Stark] and Derek Di Grazia. [Ian’s] got a tremendous amount of feel because he’s ridden around so many himself, but he’s been trying to make them big and it’s definitely big. It’s definitely challenging, but it’s horse friendly.”

Phillip Dutton

“It’s strong, certainly strong. Apart from the walking out to the start and then walking back from the finish, I like where it starts and finishes from a horse point of view. And that first section, I think it’s quite fast. There’s not a lot to slow you up. So, I could see people getting up on the time there. And then it’s seeing how much horse they’ve got left at the end.”

Will Coleman

“I think it’s a lot. It’s a long way around. I think he’s sort of stepped the jumping bits up a little bit from last year. There’s more jumping to be done, and what he’s put out there is sort of big and testing, basically until the finish. Which you know, at 11:30 you’re answering questions pretty much all the way up to 10:45, basically. It’s going to be a lot. The going should be good, which I think will be really helpful. But I’m intrigued to see where we are. My horse has got a couple five-stars under his belt. The distance is always a question with him. He’s so big and he’s not not a ton of blood. I think we’ve got him pretty fit and we’ll see how we do.

“I think this will suit certain horses more than like a Pratoni course would. But I think if you want to kind of be a top rider, I think you have to be able to ride all the courses. And I think this is a good representation of five-star for our sport. I’m excited to see if I can go out there and do it. It’s not technical, like twisty and tricky, but it’s technical in that he’s really put a lot of challenging things in front of difficult terrain. He’s asking you, can you keep your horse in front of the leg and balance to really big jumps?”

Jessica Phoenix

“It’s incredibly long. It’s incredibly hilly. It’s a lot of big bold jumps. Lots of technical questions to be asked, and [Wabbit] is definitely the horse I want to be sitting on going into the start box tomorrow. Kentucky is also a beautiful track; this one has more hills used in a different kind of way. Kentucky has longer gradual hills. This one is more like a quick sprint up and then you’re down a hill and a quick sprint up and then down the hill. And the footing here is just unbelievable what they’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time. Honestly, when we walked the first day before the rain came, I was thinking ‘wow, we could actually use a little bit more’ because it was still a little bit hard in places and yesterday as I was walking in the torrential rains, I thought maybe this could be too much rain. It’s never perfect, but I’m sure it’ll be great.”

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