Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS. Photo by Shelby Allen.
I think we’ve seen this film before, and we DID like the ending. It was another winning weekend in Aiken for Will Coleman, who repeated his 1-2 finish — and became the first rider to win twice on the same horse — at the $100,000 Stirling Venture Capital Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase at Bruce’s Field, presented by Taylor Harris Insurance Services.
This weekend, Will brought his top two horses to play, first in Hyperion Stud’s Chin Tonic HS (Chin Champ – Wildera, by Quinar), who’s fully back in action after being sidelined for most of 2024 to allow a minor injury to right itself, and also with Will’s veteran partner, the Off the Record Syndicate’s Off the Record (Arkansas VDL – Drumagoland Bay, by Ard Ohio). Once more, the stablemates were good for the top two spots on the podium, though Will was able to save over 10 points off his finishing score with “Chin” and over 7 points off his final mark with “Timmy”.
When the dust settled, it was once more the incredible Chin Tonic HS who took the top honors and the lion’s share of the prize fund, finishing with just 2.4 time penalties added for a final of 19.7. Off the Record was one of two horses to finish on his dressage score, ending the event on a 26.0. Waylon Roberts and the Koppin family’s OKE Ruby R (RUBY RUBY RUBY RUBAYYYYY) were the other pair to finish on dressage, replicating their clear inside the time performance from last year and finishing seventh on the weekend.
Will Coleman and Chin Tonic HS. Photo by Shelby Allen.
I told Will he’d bested his 2024 scores by a healthy margin, and he was quick to give credit to the team of coaching advisors he works with, including Great Britain’s Ian Woodhead as well as his daughter, Amy, who’s a newer addition to Will’s squad this season.
“I think every off-season we try to find ways to improve,” Will said. “I’ve been working with Ian Woodhead for a long time in the dressage, and he’s taken me to a new level on the first day. This year we got his daughter, Amy Woodhead, involved as well. Amy’s one of the top dressage riders in the world and spent four or five years working under Carl Hester. She’s come in and been able to sit on some of my horses and point out some additional things that I think we can hone in on in the training: trying to produce a more relaxed outline and not ‘over-manufacture’ the work too much. I think it’s been really, really helpful, so a huge thanks to both her and Ian for continuing to push me to get better and train my horses better.”
Initially, Will said he might have gone a bit quicker than he had intended. After all, he had nearly 16 seconds in hand by the time he went out of the start box as the final rider. He also had just himself to beat, having already laid down a clear inside the time with Off the Record. To compete with the traditionally tight optimum time of 4:24 today around Capt. Mark Phillips’ cross country, there isn’t much time to spare, and while Will may have had a conservative hint to his strategy, he also noted that on this type of track it can be detrimental to go out too slow. Remember: smoother riding means faster riding.
“He’s got a huge step and he was happy to be out,” Will said. “It’s sort of a hard thing to do to come to something like this and go terribly slow, because you want the horses to stay in a nice rhythm and not fall behind you. Mark had set some difficult lines and you didn’t want to be backwards jumping into any of these things. Chin just felt good…it would have felt, in a way, a little disruptive to pull him out of rhythm and force him to go slow. I just had to keep him comfortable and work with him instead of against him.”
Will Coleman and Off the Record. Photo by Shelby Allen.
Will needed a few of those extra seconds to get home on Chin Tonic, but he did one better on his first ride, Off the Record, stopping the clock 9 seconds under the optimum time and earning the quickest turn of foot on the day.
Will and “Timmy” have a special relationship — they’ve been all over the world together, earned a silver medal at FEI World Championships, and picked up the first-ever U.S. win at CHIO Aachen in 2021 — and that bond was put on display today as they carved their way around the track, never looking out of sync.
“I think I could pull just about anyone out of the crowd and put them on him, and he’d go around about the same,” Will grinned. “At this stage, I think Timmy actually rises to the occasion at events like this. Getting him into an atmosphere, around a crowd — I think he really enjoys that. Honestly, it’s more about the horses enjoying what they’re doing [more] than me necessarily enjoying coming here. Obviously, I do, but I think the horses like feeling important, like everyone’s watching them, and I want to nurture that.”
Will hasn’t yet said exactly what his plans are for his two top athletes this year, though he did indicate on a recent EquiRatings Eventing Podcast interview that he was looking at the big picture of the 2026 FEI World Championships at Aachen next summer as well as, down the road, the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. He’ll determine his plan of attack for Chin Tonic as the season progresses, and while he’s unsure how much 5* competition Off the Record, who is 16 this year, will do going forward, the prospect of the US Equestrian Open and its $200,000 prize pool at the Final happening at Morven Park in October likely also looms large.
Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by Shelby Allen.
Aiken fan favorite Boyd Martin also repeated his podium placing in 2025, though he swapped horses for this year’s finish. Boyd unfortunately had an early parting of ways from the Annie Goodwin Syndicate’s Fedarman B at fence 7 (both were unscathed), who had been in third going into cross country, but Yankee Creek Ranch LLC’s Commando 3 (Connor 48 – R-Adelgunde, by Amigo xx) stepped up to the plate and demonstrated his blossoming confidence and maturity with a podium finish on a score of 30.9.
“Connor” displaced a frangible pin at this event last year, but this year he came out like an old pro. “I didn’t quite know what to expect,” Boyd admitted. “He’s a bit of a spooky horse, and when I worked him this morning, he was spooking and shying at the [bounce house in the kid’s corner]. I thought I’d be in for a tricky ride, but as soon as we were on course, he was just fantastic. He’s really seasoned, and I feel like this could be a big year for him.”
“I was just shocked,” Boyd said of his fall from Fedarman B. “‘Bruno’ and I have been flawless in the cross country over the last few years, and it just goes to show you can’t take anything for granted in horse sport. Looking back, maybe I need to do a bit more cross country schooling with him. I felt like I got there about right, but he had a bit of a spook at the corner, and I popped off the side. Luckily, it was a nice, soft landing thanks to the synthetic footing!”
Monica Spencer and Artist. Photo by Shelby Allen.
Also improving on her 2024 finish and final score is New Zealand’s Monica Spencer, who managed a very keen Artist (Guillotine – Maxamore, by Satin Blush) to a speedy round that cost just 3.6 penalties’ worth of time on the clock and moving her into fourth place on the weekend. Monica also took home the High Point Thoroughbred Award and the Liz Halliday Trophy given to the top-placed lady rider of the event.
“Normally, he’s so polite and rideable on cross-country, but today, he was like, ‘we’ve got to go faster!’ And I was thinking, ‘Oh dear, I shouldn’t have worn the loose ring snaffle!'” Monica laughed. “It was fun to ride, but I think they upped the ante a little bit this year. It was definitely a bit tougher. The back rails on the corners were set a little further away, and the fronts were at very severe angles. You really needed a good, honest cross country horse, and he certainly was that for me today.”
“It is special [to win the Liz Halliday Trophy],” she continued. “There’s a real hole in the circuit with Liz gone. Winning this award in her name means a lot, and we just hope she’s making a recovery and that we’ll see her back soon.”
Jennie Brannigan and FE Lifestyle. Photo by Shelby Allen.
Fifth-placed Jennie Brannigan made her return to Grand-Prix Eventing for the first time since the event’s first year in 2019, this time bringing forward Tim and Nina Gardner’s FE Lifestyle (Leo von Faelz – Berina A, by Brandenburger), who she hopes to aim at Badminton in May. Jennie executed a class dressage test and a fault-free show jumping yesterday and went on to go clear today with 2.8 time penalties on the clock and a finishing score of 33.9.
The cross country here, despite its unique elements and visually nerve-wracking questions, typically rides quite well, and we saw much of the same today. A handful of pairs had some issues, particularly at some of the corner questions, but Capt. Phillips always works in several different options at some of the trickier questions to allow less experienced horses and riders to get around safely. Boyd’s was the sole rider fall of the day, and six other pairs encountered trouble of some sort in the form of glance-offs or runouts. No horse or rider injuries have been reported.
Will Coleman gets a champagne bath from his fellow podium mates. Photo by Shelby Allen.
A few other special awards were handed out today, including the Annie Goodwin Sportsmanship Award, given to Sara Kozumplik, the Triple Crown Best Turned Out, awarded to Chin Tonic HS and his grooms Erin Jarboe and Emily Cardin, Top Rookie awarded to Alexander Conrad, and High Point Thoroughbred, presented by Rebecca T. Newell and William L. Griffin to Monica Spencer’s Artist.
The Showcase and its format have of course stirred much conversation in terms of its place in our sport. One thing remains clear above all, though: we met numerous people this weekend who had never experienced eventing before, and they were all enthralled. Perhaps some of them will try it for themselves. If not, they’re at least likely to return next year, and to tell their friends about it. This has a butterfly effect on the sport as a whole, and its value really can’t be understated.
As for how Will is celebrating his win? “I’m going to drive home to my wife and my two kids, go to sleep, and get up tomorrow…I’ve got a horse jumping 1.40m at WEC [Ocala] at 1.” Incidentally, that horse is another Hyperion Stud-owned ride, Comme Again HS. No rest for the winner indeed.
And so ends another great weekend – with much preferable weather! — in Aiken. If you haven’t had the chance to check out this unique event, definitely add it to your bucket list! We’ll see you next year for #AnEventLikeNoOther!
$100k Stirling Venture Capital Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase at Bruce’s Field (SC): [Website] [Scores] [Live Stream Replay] [EN’s Coverage]
