Tim Price pilots the ‘unknown’ Coup de Coeur Dudevin to a close second place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Yesterday’s MARS Maryland CCI5* leaders, Woods Baughman and C’est La Vie 135, had arguably the worst possible conditions to deal with for dressage, battling through driving sheets of rain that were so thick you could scarcely spot them in the ring — but that grit and toughness that characterises event riders won out, and even with the perfect conditions today, nobody could usurp their leaderboard-topping 27.2.
But several riders in today’s set of 12 gave it a good go — and the newly-minted World Number One Tim Price, who sits second overnight on a 27.4 with five-star debutant Coup de Coeur Dudevin, was quick to acknowledge his luck in missing the deluge.
“I felt so sorry for Woods yesterday, because it wasn’t just the heavy rain, but the wet surface, too — but in a way, it makes the determination of the rider come out, and you really kick on,” he muses. “But I was really pleased to have sunshine today — not least for my groom, Kerryn Edmans, because she puts so much work into making [my horse] gleam, and it was nice that she could show that off.”
This is just Tim’s third international outing with the ten-year-old Selle Français (Top Gun Semilly x Tiebreak Combehory, by LePrince des Bois), and only the horse’s third-ever long-format competition — and so, although this is essentially a fact-finding mission, it’s one that’s intended to act as a foundation for big things to come.
“He’s a really talented horse, and I really believe in him as a proper five-star horse for the Badmintons and Burghleys, and now for Fair Hill, which I’d put in the same category as those other famous ones,” says Tim. “That’s why he’s here — you know, he’s inexperienced, but he’s here to get some education on the job, and all I want from him in that department is to be relaxed and to show himself in the true light of where he’s working. And that’s what he is: he has a few mistakes, and he’s a bit unestablished, and a bit comes and goes, but the quality underneath it all and the relaxation is what makes me very happy with him.”
Tim Price and Coup de Coeur Dudevin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tim rides the gelding for breeder Jean-Louis Stauffer, who originally sent the horse to Swiss talent Robin Godel for his early production and then placed him with Australia’s Chris Burton, with whom he competed up to CCI3*-L and finished seventh in both the Six- and Seven-Year-Old World Championships.
“Chris subsequently stopped eventing and went showjumping, and that’s about the time the horse came into our stables. Jonelle started with the horse last year, but he’s just got so much power that she found it quite difficult. She’s small, so she got thrown about a bit and just didn’t feel totally at home with him, so she — reluctantly! — suggested he came my way, because she always knew he was going to be a proper horse for the job. It was quite difficult for her to offer him up to me!”
The talent he possesses is undeniable, and his results with Tim have been exciting, including a second place finish in his sole CCI4*-L run at Millstreet and 12th in a huge, competitive field at Haras du Pin CCIO4*-S in August — but even so, Tim acknowledges that tomorrow’s trip is something of an unknown.
“I’m kind of taking a leap of faith, because he’s so short on experience — but what he has done, he’s done extremely well,” he says. “He loves a big fence, and he does it all with a smile on his face, so it’s my job to give him a good experience all the way around the course and maintain that enjoyment at this level.”
Allie Knowles makes it happen with Morswood. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Allie Knowles and the former Piggy March and Susie Berry ride Morswood, with whom she finished eleventh here last year, stepped into third place overnight in fine style, putting a 28.8 on the board — a score that isn’t just a personal best for the gelding, it’s also an all-time five-star PB for Allie herself.
“That feels great,” says Allie with a big smile. “We’ve definitely been working towards that. He’s always had it in him, but he’s a much stronger horse this year. Last year was his first year at the five-star level, and he did a great performance, but this year he’s just more mature and stronger in the hind end, stronger in the back, and his self-carriage is certainly more than it was before. You know that kind of test is in there, and then you have to sort of hope that it comes out at the right moment.”
Allie Knowles celebrates with her team and supporters after her test. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Katherine O’Brien’s fourteen-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Ricardo x Princess in Arms, by Present Arms) has been a part of Allie’s string since early 2018, and in that time, he’s firmly established himself as the biggest personality in her barn.
“He is a straight pony, through and through,” she laughs. “He’s a ginger pony; an Irish puppy dog. He’s a nuisance all the time, but in the best way! He’ll follow us around like a dog; he’ll try to escape his stall — I came out of the ring and he was all excited, but the second we hit the first blade of grass, his head was on the ground and he was ready to eat! He’s all heart and personality, but he is funny. He’s gentle with [my daughter] Addy but fierce on cross-country — he’s just a good pony.”
One of the things that makes their partnership tick so well is that Allie and Morswood’s respective strengths complement one another to a tee.
“He enjoys every minute of [cross-country] all the time, and he’d prefer to do that every day, so he’s a great fit for me,” says Allie. “I wouldn’t be the most aggressive cross-country rider — I love dressage, and I love working on showjumping, so to have a horse like him complements my riding really well. So for the last couple of years, it’s been a steady progression of confidence and strength on his part and physical strength and confidence for me on cross-country. At this stage, we’re a very close partnership, so I have complete faith in him and I think he has complete faith in me. It makes every event very fun and something to look forward to.”
Doug Payne and Quantum Leap make a, well, quantum leap in first-phase performance. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Yesterday’s second, third, and fourth-placed competitors, Astier Nicolas and Babylon de Gamma, Liz Halliday-Sharp and Cooley Quicksilver, and Tamie Smith and Danito, now sit fourth, fifth, and sixth respectively going into cross-country, while seventh place goes to Doug Payne and Quantum Leap, who delivered a sparkling 29.5.
Though the eleven-year-old German Sport Horse (Quite Capitol x Report to Sloopy, by Corporate Report) certainly isn’t short on experience, with three five-star completions and two placings to his name already, he’s historically struggled with this phase, and this is only the second time in his 20 FEI runs that he’s broken into the twenties. But his sudden uptick in performance on the flat is no accident: instead, it comes down to some savvy schooling from Doug, who has minimised his eventing outings and maximised his exposure to, well, a little bit of productive chaos.
“He didn’t need to go to that many events, but we’re taking him to all the bigger environments we can, and so he comes along jumping with us a lot,” says Doug. “We’ll jump a couple of days that week, and through that, I’ll try to find the most chaotic corner possible and go flat him there! So he’s just turned the corner where he’s gotten strong enough that he can hold it, and when he can do that, he’s super comfortable. The thing that makes him the most uncomfortable and the most tense is when he struggles to rise to the expectation. He’s an overachiever, so he tries too much, almost.”
The gelding’s newfound confidence in this phase was certainly tested, though, by a bit of a false start to their test, which saw them enter at A and then promptly exit again after a slight mishap from the hard-working volunteers in the ring.
“They opened the wrong gate, so I wasn’t on the centreline,” laughs Doug. “I was like, ‘that’s a little off, but whatever!’ and then all of a sudden they’re ringing the bell again. I’m like, ‘okay, I guess we’re starting over!’ The poor little girl, though, was almost in tears — but it’s fine, stuff happens all the time!”
Hannah Sue Hollberg’s Harbour Pilot looks at his best in his swansong test. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
It’s a tightly-packed leaderboard heading into the pivotal phase, and equal eighth-placed Hannah Sue Hollberg and her stalwart partner Harbour Pilot sit just three-tenths of a penalty behind Doug on their score of 29.8.
“He was awesome — I was really happy with him,” says Hannah Sue. “I was struggling with him in the last few weeks with the ridiculous trot work movements where you have to go sideways and change directions and stuff, because he gets kind of scrambly with his legs. So I asked David to help me this afternoon and he gave me some good pointers, and it really paid off in the ring.”
“I thought it was pretty good — I mean, the canter work was excellent, and the trot work was pretty good. It was just the halt — he didn’t really want to stand still, but otherwise, it was good!”
“Show him the love!” Hannah Sue interacts with her loud and enthusiastic fanbase in Maryland’s capacious grandstand. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
At nineteen, ‘William’ is the elder statesman of the Maryland field in a year that has seen high-profile horses of this age thrive on the world stage — and for Hannah Sue, that means she can ride for every mark in the ring.
“He feels the exact same, but a little bit quieter,” she says. “Sometimes he can still kind of freak out, but he’s more reliable, I would say, than he was when he was younger!”
Getting him this far in his career, and still thriving, has been all about consistency — and a horse-first approach, above all.
“I’ve always put him first. If the footing isn’t great, I wouldn’t run him. I love him, so I always took care of him — if something didn’t feel right, I wouldn’t push him. I’ve maintained him the same all the way through.”
All good things must come to an end, though, and as Hannah Sue and William finished their test, it was to one of the biggest cheers of the day from a crowd of fans who were keen to bid him adieu with the send-off he deserves.
“This is going to be his last run, and it’s really crazy, because I never really thought about it ending until now — and now I’m like, ‘oh my gosh, this is horrible!’,” says Hannah Sue. “But I’m so happy to make this decision ahead of time, rather than something horrible happening. It’s special to be able to take care of him his whole career and do the right thing for him — he’s Capitol HIM’s best friend and field mate, so he’s just going to hang out with me. He can go retire at Ms Mars’s beautiful farm in Virginia, but I’m not quite ready for that yet!”
Buck Davidson and Carlevo wrap up the dressage and step into the top ten. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Sitting pretty alongside them in equal eighth is Buck Davidson, whose second ride of the week, Carlevo, also posted a 29.8 to best stablemate Sorocaima, seventeenth on 35.7. That 29.8 puts them in a very competitive position, just 2.6 penalties off the lead, but sees them hit a mark that’s not quite on the money of their six-run average of 27.
“He’s always good, but it felt like the ground got really tacky in there,” says Buck. “It felt different from the warm-up, and that made it feel like it was hard work. It just felt like the second half of the medium trot, it was like he was pulling himself out of the mud, and it didn’t feel that way in the warm-up. But whatever, it is what it is — that’s the sport! He did the test he always does, and he’s always good; we’ve just got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
Oliver Townend and As Is take tenth place in the first phase. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Oliver Townend rounds out the top ten with the five-star debutant As Is, who scored 29.9 in his first five-star test. The Spanish-bred eleven-year-old (Meneusekal x Paraca, by Lacros) joined his string this season, having been previously produced by Andrew Nicholson.
“He’s obviously a very new horse to me, and we’re working on the progression, but the brain is beautiful,” says Oliver, who returns to Maryland after finishing second in the inaugural running of the event with Cooley Master Class. “He goes in and he does his job, and we’re working on getting him stronger and a little bit more flash, but that’ll come. Next year, he’ll be in the top three after dressage.”
As Is joins the likes of Swallow Springs and Cillnabradden Evo as horses that Oliver has inherited from his longtime friend and gone on to compete at the top level with.
“I’ve ridden plenty that have come from Andrew,” he says. “He always produces horses to be professional, and it’s a real pleasure to get on a proper professional’s horse. I’m not particularly a fan of getting on horses that have been produced to a high level by amateurs, because the buttons are all over the place — but you know that with Andrew’s horses, whether you’re doing the trot-up or the dressage or whatever, they’re professionals at it, and they’ve been treated that way since they were four years old. It makes my job a lot easier.”
Coming back to Maryland, Oliver says, was an easy decision after his experience last year, even with the unknown quantity that is a five-star first-time.
“It’s an amazing event, and the prize money in Pau wasn’t good enough,” he says. “We came here last year and the people are fantastic; the organisers are great; the Ian Stark course was very special; and the American people are lovely to ride in front of. I’d be in America every week if there was a five-star every week.”
Now it’s time for everyone’s focus to shift to Ian Stark’s big, bold, tough cross-country challenge tomorrow, which will get underway from 2pm Eastern (7.00 p.m. BST/11.00 a.m. West Coast) tomorrow. You can find full 5* ride times here. We’ll be bringing you a full course preview, plus riders’ reactions to the new-look, seriously beefed up track — but until then, as always, Go Eventing!
The top ten at the culmination of dressage in the MARS Maryland CCI5*.
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