Caroline Harris and D. Day. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Luhmühlen may boast one of – if not the – toughest showjumping courses at the five-star level, but you’d never have guessed it to watch the top three in today’s finale.
All three of our post cross-country frontrunners – Boyd Martin and Shanroe Cooley in third, Emily King and Valmy Biats in second, and Caroline Harris and D. Day in first – delivered fault-free rounds inside the tight 87-second time to hold onto their places, giving us a podium packed with redemption stories.
For Caroline, victory looked just about sewn up before the day even started: her little gelding, the son of Pippa and William Funnell’s showjumping sire Billy Mexico, has the kind of jumping record that must be making team selectors weak at the knees. He hasn’t had a rail down in any FEI event in three solid years – but of course, anything can happen at this level, and after romping home eighteen seconds inside the time over yesterday’s track, he could have come out feeling a touch weary in today’s similarly scorching heat.
None of that sort of thing, though: now, the 12-year-old gelding and his enormously hard-working rider are double five-star winners, despite this never really having been the intention at all for this horse. He was bred by Fiona Olivier – who is still one of the horse’s bevy of owners, alongside Lucy Matthews, Marie Anne Richardson, and Heather Royle – to be a happy hacker for Fiona’s son’s then-girlfriend; when the relationship fizzled out, Fiona decided to send the four-year-old to Caroline. Caroline’s initial impression? That this might be the sort of horse she could produce to be a very sweet Juniors horse. But as he embarked upon his education, with a rider who was well on her way to becoming known as a seriously good producer of young horses, he just kept on delivering.
“I never thought this horse would be a five-star horse, and now he’s won twice, so I take that back – I take it all back,” laughs Caroline.
Caroline Harris and D. Day. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
This is a third start at the level for the gelding, who made his five-star debut – and Caroline’s – here in 2024, finishing twelfth and learning an enormous amount as he did so. Later on that season, the then-ten-year-old made a tough Pau in famously aquatic conditions look like child’s play to win on his second start.
But in 2025, Caroline and D. Day suffered a shake-up in form in perhaps the most visible of places. They were selected to ride for Great Britain at the FEI European Championships on home soil but, like several of their compatriots, failed to complete the cross-country after a rider fall.
It’s a moment that has dogged Caroline, and one she’s been determined to course correct.
“I just wanted to put right what we did wrong at Blenheim last year, and I think he’s definitely done that,” she says.
Caroline Harris and D. Day. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Even at her lowest ebb, Caroline never lost faith in the little horse that never quits.
“He’s just all heart. He’ll give me a thousand percent every time I ride him. He’s not the most naturally talented, but he gives you absolutely everything.”
But, she laughs, “I still doubt myself every day, so it’s quite nice to prove that Pau wasn’t a fluke.”
As the daughter of non-horsey parents, Caroline didn’t grow up with ponies as a prerequisite, and it was only after moving out of London at the age of ten that she picked up riding, almost entirely because her sister was keen on the idea. When she caught the bug and wanted to pursue a competitive career, it was a case of doing things the slow, steady, and hard way: finding yards to work on and riders to base with, and laying down the Lego blocks of a foundation that would see her step up to this level at 34.
“[If I could go back fifteen years I’d tell myself] just to keep going – to be determined, and that the harder you work, the more things will happen,” she says.
When winning Pau, the pair made a spectacular climb from 22nd after dressage to first place after cross-country thanks to a round that ended up being the fastest of the day. This week, they didn’t have quite as huge of a mountain to scale: their 31.1 saw them go into cross-country in fourth place, and when they were once again the fastest of the day – by nineteen remarkable, unrushed seconds – they stepped up to the top spot. They did so, though, without affording themselves a rail in hand.
That didn’t worry Caroline.
“I trust this horse implicitly, and I know he’ll give me everything as long as I ride him okay,” she says. “If I do that, then he’ll do everything he can to keep the jumps up. So I just tried to focus on getting a good canter and keeping the rhythm, and not think about winning. Like on cross-country, you can ride him quick and he really likes that, so the tighter the time, the better it is for me.”
Most riders would, perhaps, quietly hope for the rider ahead of them to have a rail and give them a bit of a cushion in pursuit of their win – but for Caroline, it was a great boon that Emily King went clear with Valmy Biats moments before, inspiring a wave of euphoria from the packed grandstands.
“D. Day loves a crowd, so when everyone starts clapping, it’s actually great for him – he’s like, ‘everyone’s here to watch me!’” she says. “So it was great to come in after Emily had jumped so well – he was buzzing. He was like, ‘yeah, okay, well now they’re watching me, so let’s show them what I can do!’”
Some winning rounds put you on the edge of your seat – tip-tap rounds by Braille; poles that bounce in cups before settling back into place; great gasping flyers and nearlies. Others are almost grounding in their precision, like everything is going to happen in exactly the way the textbooks would describe it. Caroline and D. Day’s showjumping round was the latter, and was, for the pair, yet another showcase of all the reasons why they truly belong at the top.
“My god, that horse is just something else – I couldn’t ask any more of him,” says Caroline, tearing up. “The little horse that was bred to be a happy hack has now won two five-stars!”
Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Emily King and Valmy Biats have also well and truly vanquished some demons with their second place finish, which comes after a turbulent spring season for the pair. They had to abandon their early April run in the CCI4*-S at Thoresby after a crashing fall with a young horse in the showjumping warm-up left Emily with several broken ribs and a punctured lung; when she tried to rally for a prep run at Burnham Market a few weeks later ahead of Badminton, she found she couldn’t ride as effectively as normal, and they picked up 40 penalties on cross-country. When Badminton came around, and with it, the chance to try to better the fifth place finish they logged last year, it all went similarly wrong, and they completed with 40 penalties on their scorecard yet again.
But, says Emily, at seventeen-years-old, Valmy has never felt better than he does this year, and she was determined to give him the ride he deserved and rewrite the story.
“On paper he’s a little bit older, but my goodness, he feels like he’s seven,” she says. “The whole team – our team vet, Liz, the team physio, the trainers – every year they’re like, ‘he feels better and better, and younger and younger.’ He’s like Benjamin Button!”
The pair began their week on an incredible high, posting a 27 to take the lead going into yesterday’s cross-country. Once out on course, Emily found that – like so many horses yesterday – the heat of the day took a bit of the wind out of Valmy’s sails, and rather than pushing to make the time and keep her lead, she opted to ease off of him, picking up 6.8 time penalties to move down to second.
Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
He wasn’t, she said after her round, “his usual liony self” – but today, the beast was most certainly back.
“In the trot-up this morning I gave him a little click and my goodness, I regretted it! He nearly bolted down the trot-up strip,” she laughs. “I think in hindsight, maybe I started half a gear down yesterday, and with the twists and the turns, it made him really respectful of the course. Normally everything’s a little bit on Val’s terms, and I have to say, ‘hello, I’m here, and I’m trying to help you!’ He was very rideable, which is a little bit different, and then today he kept the rideability but had so much energy – he was on springs.”
Emily and Valmy have historically been very good showjumpers, but this phase had also suffered this spring: they had two rails down at Badminton, one at Burnham Market, and didn’t even make it to that phase before Emily had her fall at Thoresby. That meant that she wasn’t remotely complacent about the task that lay ahead of them today – but like Caroline, she knew she was sitting on a horse who would do everything he could as long as she upheld her end of the bargain.
Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
“He’s so gritty – he just fights for you every day,” she says. “His heart’s incredible. He’s obviously a super athlete in his physique, but he also gets up every morning and wants to work; he loves working. In those tough moments in each phase, he just grits his teeth and gives you more. You never feel him thinking, ‘well, this is getting a bit hard.’ He just keeps fighting, and it’s such an honour to work with horses like that.”
Whoever decided 13 was an unlucky number might want to rethink: this is Emily and Val’s thirteenth five-star together, and her best result at the level yet since that fourth-place finish at Pau back in 2015, when she made her debut at the level with Brookleigh.
Boyd Martin and Shanroe Cooley. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Third-placed Boyd Martin and Shanroe Cooley haven’t even been a partnership for long enough to have any wobbles to work back from, but the eleven-year-old gelding’s upper-level career trajectory certainly has had its own peaks and troughs.
“It’s a tragic story, really,” says Boyd. “This is the horse that Liz Halliday had her accident with, and her coaches, Eric Duvander and Peter Wylde, thought maybe it would be smarter to redirect him into a different sport after that, as a hunter-jumper. So they fattened him up and tried to jump smaller fences in a different style, and after a period of time, it became clear that that probably wasn’t going to be the answer.”
He was, he says, “on the fence about whether I wanted to take the horse, but Peter and Eric swore that this is a great, great horse, and I’m so grateful that they convinced me to take him. I’m so thankful to Liz’s owners for transferring him over. It’s a very wonderful feeling carrying on Liz’s work. I saw how hard she worked for years and years, and then to find her way onto the American team [at the Paris Olympics], and then to have her career suddenly stop… you know, I’m in the same sort of bracket as she is, and I just know how heartbreaking that would be, so it’s a real honour and privilege to continue with her horses.”
Boyd Martin and Shanroe Cooley. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
This week was intended as a fact-finding mission as the rangy gelding stepped up to the level, and began slightly on the back foot: a test that had “moments of brilliance and moments of disaster” put them into equal eleventh place on 35.7 after dressage. But in yesterday’s cross-country, ‘Dallas’ came into his own, and picked up just 2.4 time penalties in the third-fastest round of the day.
Today he, too, came in as a horse with an exceptional jumping record behind him, though untested at this level – Dallas hasn’t had a rail at any FEI event since early 2024. In his step up to five-star, it’s easy to see why.
“Five-star is a bit like running a marathon,” says Boyd. “There’s this part of you that just wants to finish, and then the other part of you wants to try to win this thing. It’s a huge difference in how you ride or how hard you push if you’re trying to be competitive, and I was sort of in two minds whether we should just try and get across the finishing line. But once he started off yesterday, I thought, ‘oh, screw it, let’s have a crack at it.’ He really, really showed me that champion heart that he has, and to dig deep all the way around and then to come out and jump a clear round today – I’m absolutely thrilled.”
“Obviously,” he continues, “it’s a huge effort to come all the way from America to Luhmühlen, and I’m so grateful to the owners and supporters and coaches of the horse that we gave it a whirl. I really didn’t know what to expect here – I’ve done one four-star long on him, and that was last year. He was pretty good, but this year, he’s just been brilliant in all the lead-up events. Every time we’ve competed together I’ve felt like we’ve started to click a little bit more, and then to come to Luhmühlen and finish in the top three next to these girls sort of exceeded my expectations. I really didn’t know if we’d even get through it or not, so I’m very, very proud of him, and thankful for the team around him.”
Jonelle Price and Capitaine de Hus Z. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Jonelle Price has been this week’s sole two-horse rider, and after every phase, both those horses found themselves in the top ten. Today, it was new ride Capitaine de Hus Z, who Jonelle took on from fellow Kiwi Ginny Thomasen at the start of 2025, who led the charge, producing a clear round with 0.8 time penalties to secure fourth place in his second five-star.
“He’s a little bit of an unknown, but I thought he showed himself off very well this week, and I’m looking forward to the next couple of years with him,” says Jonelle of the 14-year-old gelding. “He’s so talented, which I think has been a little bit of his problem – he’s almost got too much ability in all respects. He’s only a little horse, but he’s got a whole lot of stride, a whole lot of scope and power, and he’s a cocky little bugger as well. It’s harder taking them over when they’re a little bit older, too – Ginny did a super job, but it takes a bit of time to sort of make them your own, I think. It’s at least a year before they feel like they’re your own horse, but yesterday was a big stepping stone in that direction.”
Capitaine de Hus Z began the week in 7th place on a score of 33.1, and stepped up to fifth after adding 7.2 time penalties yesterday. 2022 Pau winner Grappa Nera, always a slightly tricky proposition on the flat, acquitted herself well to earn a 35.5 and tenth place after dressage, which then became fourth place provisionally after a 4.4 penalty cross-country round. Today, though, proved a bit of a tougher day in the office, and the ordinarily one-rail horse tipped a surprise four rails to slip to a final eighth place.
Jonelle Price and Grappa Nera. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
“It’s unlike her – she wouldn’t be totally reliable, but she certainly wouldn’t normally have four down,” says Jonelle. “But I can’t help but adore the mare – there’s nothing she can’t do, and if she wasn’t quite as hot as she is, she could have been a champion, she really could have. She loves what she does, and she just gets to excited about the whole thing. She’s so honest, and in terms of being pathfinder with her yesterday, I just had absolute faith in her to go out and do the job.”
Hallie Coon and Kapriccio. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Fifth place went to British-based US partnership Hallie Coon and Kapriccio, who had led Thursday’s dressage day after an expressive, correct test earned them a 27.8. This is a first five-star for the eleven-year-old Dutch Warmblood, who Hallie took on from Julia Norman last year, but he certainly didn’t look a newcomer to the level on yesterday’s cross-country, and stormed around to add 4.4 time penalties. Unfortunately, the pair also picked up 11 penalties for activating a MIM clip at the corner at 22B, which was very quick to fall from the lightest of taps on a couple of occasions.
“I’ll take that on the chin,” Hallie says. “It was my fault – the horse did everything right.”
Today, though, they wrapped their week up with a neat bow, executing a fault-free clear round to step up two places on the leaderboard and confirm to Hallie that this really is her horse of a lifetime.
“I’m awestruck by the horse,” she smiles. “I’ve never felt anything like it in my life. It’s like he didn’t do anything yesterday. I’m just really grateful – I feel like the luckiest human alive, as cheesy as it sounds, but he is everything. That’s a feeling I’ve never felt before.”
Hallie Coon and Kapriccio. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Like Caroline’s D. Day, Kapriccio is a horse who rises to an atmosphere, which is something that Hallie is learning as she continues to aim him at these bigger, buzzier, education-making venues.
“As I came into the ring the crowd absolutely erupted for the German rider before me, but he’s the weirdest horse – you get him in a situation like that and he just owns it. He thinks they’re all there for him, and he grows in front of a crowd. He loves the attention, not in a cocky way, but in a really cool way. It’s amazing to be able to go out on a five-star debutant and really feel like you can attack the showjumping – you can really ride up to a plank with him, and that’s a level of trust I’ve never had in a horse.”
On cross-country, too, she says, “my only job is making it easy for him. It’s not getting him between the flags, it’s none of that – it’s just making it easy, because I trust him so much to do it all.”
It’s evident that the young horse is a serious three-phase contender, and an exciting prospect for the US’s championship bids over the next handful of years – and, Hallie says, there’s still a lot more untapped potential in there.
“The dressage has come on leaps and bounds, and that’s after just three weeks of training with Lisa White. She really understands horses’ brains and bodies, and getting everything to work together in such a happy and truthful way, and I think that’s been so enlightening for me. So just continuing on with that, I think we’ve got so much work to be done in the dressage, and so many points to knock off still.”
And, she continues, “I know now that even at this level, when we get to minute ten on a cross-country course, I can still trust him. I wish I’d known that yesterday, of course, and I’m kicking myself a bit, but at the same time, you get so much feedback out there from horses, and what he’s given me is the best possible feedback. Next time I can go out there and trust him even more.”
Luhmühlen is always an interesting feeder event in a championship year, and while there’s no telling which way selectors of any nation will lean, this looks like a very promising partnership to develop with an eye on the world stage. But whether that ends up being a trip to Aachen this August, or a return to Boekelo in October to consolidate in another championship-feel event, Hallie isn’t about to lose the hearts from her eyes any time soon.
“He’s just the weirdest, most gentle creature you’ll ever meet,” she grins. “He’s a lovable freak. He could be a kid’s horse in his personality. He’s so kind and so special – and now, I just want to keep his best interests in mind.”
Benjamin Massie and Guess Star. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
France’s Benjamin Massie and the Upsilon daughter Guess Star finish the mare’s first five-star in sixth place after a single-rail round, which didn’t lose them any ground on the leaderboard. They’d begun their week at the very bottom of the leaderboard after a 41.7 dressage, but where the mare isn’t necessarily put together for dressage supremacy, she proved yesterday that she’s a cross-country behemoth through and through. They added just one second to the optimum time in one of the standout cross-country rounds of the day, and this is a horse that will be very, very fun to watch over some of the world’s biggest courses in seasons to come.
Katharina Meyer and Aspen T. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Just one German rider was left in the hunt today, and Katharina Meyer couldn’t possibly have ended her week better: she and the sixteen-year-old Aspen T jumped a clear round with 2 time penalties to take eighth place in their first attempt at the level.
The deafening, delighted roar of the crowd came as no surprise: Katharina isn’t just the country’s sole representative here, she’s also about as local as it gets.
“My horse was born and raised here at Luhmühlen,” she says with a broad smile, just barely recovered from a great avalanche of tears. “My plan was to ride him over to the showground this week, and everybody told me, ‘no! It’s not professional!’”
Katharina Meyer and Aspen T. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Aspen T is one of just a handful of horses that Katharina has bred herself, and her admiration for the horse is limitless.
“I’m so honoured to sit next to legends like these, and I just… I can’t find the words,” she says. “I just want to say thank you to my horse. We had a ride yesterday like he’d already had a look at the cross-country map before – it was like he did it on his own, with all the right strides everywhere. He did everything that I showed him – I just kept saying we could do it, and we were going to see it through.”
James Avery and Dallas 13 take ninth place after a tricky three-rail round, while British first-timers Harry Horton and Cooley With Ambition round out the top ten.
The final standings in the 2026 Luhmühlen CCI5*.
Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
In the CCI4*-S, the win felt similarly sewn up by Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel, who began their day with a margin of 4.4 penalties over second-placed Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Kiarado d’Arville.
So influential was this afternoon’s jumping that by the time they entered the ring, though, Julia only had herself to beat: she’d jumped clear earlier on in the class with the inexperienced but classy Tullabeg Platinum, which had steadily moved him up from overnight fourth to the provisional lead.
Julia Krajewski and Tullabeg Platinum. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Nickel rarely falters, though, and today he certainly didn’t. The pair jumped a clear round with 0.8 time penalties to secure the win, and to retain the German National Championship – not too shabby for a horse who, like Caroline Harris’s D. Day, was only ever intended to be a Junior horse, but just kept on showing up.
This week is a crucial stepping stone en route, hopefully, to Aachen for Nickel.
“He needs a few competitions at this level to reach his peak form, and that’s why we built his season carefully during the spring. This weekend, everything simply came together.”
Julia Krajewski and Uelzener’s Nickel. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
“People might think that I’ve simply defended my title, but there are 365 days of work, training, and planning behind a result like this,” she continues. “When you see Nickel continuing to improve and ‘Pauli’ taking such a huge step forward over the past few months, that makes it incredibly special. It’s a moment to pause and really appreciate it, not just think, ‘what’s next?’”
“It feels really, really cool to win here. I’ve said it many times before – Luhmühlen is my favourite event. It has such a welcoming atmosphere, yet at the same time it is absolutely world-class.”
Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Third place went to Malin Hansen-Hotopp and Carlitos Quidditch K, who also jumped a clear with 0.8 time penalties to retain their position on the leaderboard after cross-country.
“I’m delighted with the whole week and with my horse,” she says. “He’s so focused and always does a fantastic job. He’s simply unstoppable and genuinely enjoys everything he does – that’s his greatest strength.”
Nadja Minder and Top Jobs Jalisco. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Switzerland’s Nadja Minder and Toblerone took fourth place, delivering a fault-free clear to add to their excellent round yesterday, which saw them add just 0.4 time penalties in the fastest round of the day in this class. Their weekend helped them climb from 32nd place after the dressage, proving once again that this class is a top-calibre event of its level.
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Kiarado d’Arville. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Fifth place went to Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Kiarado d’Arville, who dropped from second after a rare rail and 1.6 time penalties.
That’s all from us – for now – from Luhmühlen, but keep your eyes peeled for plenty more to come, including a debrief episode of the Go Eventing podcast, coming to you very soon. Until next time, folks – Go Eventing.
The top ten at the close of the CCI4*-S Meßmer Trophy.
Longines Luhmühlen: [Website] [Tickets] [FEI Schedule] [Entries] [Ride Times/Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [H&C+ Live Stream] [CCI5* Form Guide] [Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage]
