Mia Farley and Invictus. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Mia Farley knew she’d come out of this weekend’s CCI4*-L at Tryon International having learned new things, both about herself and her ride, Karen O’Connor’s Invictus. Ten years old this year, Invictus has quite a few competitions at the 4* level under his belt, including a debut at the TerraNova 4*-L in the fall of 2024, but today he confirmed a lot of what Mia had wanted to see on cross country.
It wasn’t a smooth day for all on Clayton Fredericks’ course, which exerted its influence across the 3* and 4* levels (Beth Perkins is the designer of the 2* and 1* levels this weekend) throughout the day. Things came a bit unraveled for overnight leaders Caroline Pamukcu, who encountered trouble at fence 19B, a corner combination. Caroline and Connor had two surprising runouts here, after which Caroline opted to call it a day. This opened the door for someone else to step ahead, as dressage runners-up Phillip Dutton and Denim had also found themselves with a truncated weekend after very sadly missing fence 7 on course.
Mia, who had gone early in the running order, had already laid down a standard with Invictus, who demonstrated his growth and strength to improve on his first 4*-L cross country result by jumping clear with just two and change time penalties added. They’ll now move ahead to show jumping as the leaders with a score of 32.4, one pole’s cushion ahead of Maya Clarkson and Maks Mojo C (36.7).
Mia Farley and Invictus. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Mia had a good sense of what kind of day it was going to be early on in the going. “I think Clayton wanted us to get a get some pace in the first minute, because it was pretty much single fence after single fence,” she debriefed. “And I was worried about, I think it was 8AB, because it was our first combination. It was a log down the hill to the squirrel and then a corner [at 9]. But when he came back to me there, I kind of knew that I could trust him for a lot of the course.”
Despite his general affable temperament, “Sammy” isn’t actually the most “set it and forget it” type of horse on cross country. “It’s not that he’s unridable, he’s just so laidback so when I do set a rhythm and try to be quiet on him, in a way I do need to kind of keep changing it up so he stays on top of it. But that’s just kind of his personality.”
The overarching feeling she has this evening is that this horse has truly revealed that he has a lot of the ingredients to be a top horse. His fitness was a key component of that gut feeling on Saturday, further underscored by the feature of the famous WEG Hill at Tryon — a grueling uphill climb that was the concluding portion of the 2018 World Equestrian Games track: “He surprised me in the sense that, while he has a lot of Thoroughbred blood, I honestly thought he might get a bit tired at the end, but he didn’t — he just kept going.”
Mia Farley and Invictus. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“It makes me excited, because I think that, after today, I learned that he’s got a lot of the things that we’re looking for as a top horse,” Mia continued. “I was very impressed with him today. I feel like he had my back just as much as I had his.”
Following cross country at Kentucky, where Mia eventually finished on the podium of the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S, she shared in the press conference that she had lost a bit of her confidence in the final phase. The past few months have been a study in regaining that — she’s recently enlisted the help of show jumping Olympian Peter Wylde for this component of her riding — and she’s feeling fairly calm ahead of tomorrow.
“My round at Kentucky [gave me more confidence] and so did my [three-star] show jumping yesterday with Pina Colada,” she shared. “He knows the job tomorrow, and I know that he’ll try. He show jumped well at TerraNova [in 2024, his last 4*-L]. It’ll just be a little bit a part of this learning weekend — I’m definitely learning a lot about him.”
Maya Clarkson and Maks Mojo C. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Maya Clarkson also enjoyed a fun day today with Maks Mojo C, a horse she’s achieved a lot of milestones with, including her first 4* competitions. This weekend marks this pair’s second 4*-L and this time they earned their first clear cross country, moving up to claim second overnight with their score of 36.7 and just time added today.
Due to some setbacks — Maks Mojo C underwent surgery on his neck in 2024 to repair some damage, similar to an operation horses like Sara Kozumplik’s Rock Phantom have had — this sophomore effort at the Long level was a bit of a long time going. But looking back, Maya says she appreciates having the extra time to gain mileage at this level.
“I think when we moved up to the level, neither him nor I were truly ready for what we took on,” she said. They moved up to the level in 2023, having wrapped up their 3* campaign with a podium finish at the notoriously testing Bromont 3*-L. “He was my first Intermediate horse, so I don’t have that much experience, either. And so when we first got to the four-star level we just couldn’t get it right. I mean, it was fine, it was never anything bad, but it was more like ‘oh, we have a lot of work to do. We’re both really green.’ But I think we’ve learned a lot together and grown together, and it’s pretty cool sitting on him now and feeling like there’s a lot more left in the tank.”
Maya Clarkson and Maks Mojo C. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Maya also feels the longer courses suit “Maks” better as it is. “he’s quick enough in the shorts, because he’s super rideable — he goes in a leather snaffle for cross country — so I never really have to pull him in Shorts, but I never really let him run, run, just let him cruise around. So today I was like, ‘okay buddy, you got it,’ and he was just awesome.”
And the main highlight for Maya?
“I had fun,” she said. “Honestly, like, the whole thing. I remember when I moved up to the four-star level, it never really felt very fun.” By the way, here she paused to hand out milkshakes and dinner to her crew, so A+ Boss Award there for the milkshakes in particular. “Before he got his neck surgery, it honestly, like never really felt fun. It felt harder. And he was trying so hard, like he’s a good horse. And so once we figured out that his neck was uncomfortable, I feel like he does find it easier now.”
Arielle Aharoni and Cooley Baltic Sea. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Arielle Aharoni was also able to climb up in the standings to move from seventh into third with Filly’s Hope LLC’s Cooley Baltic Sea, adding 16.8 time penalties for a two-day score of 51.1. This was a first 4*-L effort for the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding and really, a first long format in almost two years for Arielle herself. Since the retirement of her 5* partner, Dutch Times (who, by the way, has enjoyed spending his retirement with Arielle’s mom, Christina), Arielle’s been producing a string of young horses and also splitting time in the show jumping world (Cooley Baltic Sea actually stepped in for one of her jumpers at Live Oak International last year, jumping in the CSI1* Grand Prix). So today, it was a mixture of nerves and excitement — but then, more nerves — as she prepared to leave the start box.
It didn’t help that the 4*-S, which ran ahead of the Long division, was quite exciting and saw many problems, some of which came at questions shared by both courses.
“I was quite nervous heading out there, and I was changing my plans last minute,” Arielle laughed. “I had been watching the four-Short, and I was, like, my entire plan just…Oh, my God. I don’t think I’ve actually ever been that nervous heading out! I thought the two hardest questions were going to be the squirrels [at fences 8 and 9] and then the water of course. So I was kind of setting him up for the first half like, ‘we are not running out through our right shoulder!’ And you know what? He was pretty game. I had seen people slip around that turn to [fence 8] in the Short, so I planned on adding. I probably should have left him do the seven to the four, he was right on it. But I’m very proud of how he got through all that so easily. The biggest thing was that I was thinking he might get a little bit tired going up the incline, but when we got there he just galloped harder. I wanted him to get home clear and sound, and not gassed, so I was really happy with that.”
“He’s got a lot of fight in him,” she continued. And this is a different ride to her former top horse, Dutch Times, who she describes as an Energizer Bunny type that never got tired, never stopped fighting for the flags. So what would that feel like, if it happened with this horse? Today, she didn’t have to find out. “You always wonder if things don’t wind up perfect, if they’ll bail on you, but some things were not perfect out there and he was still getting his way through those flags. So I’m thrilled with that. And I learned he’s got a lot of run at the end of this! I hadn’t done a four-Long with him yet, so you always worry about how much gas they have in the tank. Now I know!”
Tamie Smith and Danito Take US Equestrian Open Qualifier CCI4*-S
Tamie Smith and Danito. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Tamie Smith is probably already working out a way to come back to the East coast this fall to run for the $200,000 US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final at Morven Park (VA) in October. She’s the current series points leader — which, remember, will net you an additional cash prize of up to $25,000 at the end of the season — with 205 points earned so far, and now adds another pile to the collection with 50 points earned from her 4*-S win today.
Danito was rerouted to Tryon after having some uncharacteristic blips on cross country in the equal division at Kentucky two weeks ago. Today, he encountered no such strife and added 8.4 time penalties to his 19.5 dressage score after show jumping double clear yesterday. His 19.5 provided enough cushion to have the time well in hand, making it a cruising victory for the 17-year-old Hanoverian gelding owned by Ruth Bley.
Tamie was a very busy woman today, so we didn’t quite get a chance to catch up with her before publishing this, but we’ll have plenty of opportunities to keep track of her as her East coast campaign begins to wrap up.
Will Coleman (who celebrated his birthday this week — happy birthday!) brought home second place with his 2025 Kentucky 4*-S winner Off the Record (owned by the Off the Record Syndicate), adding 3.2 easy time to their score to finish on a 30.3. Boyd Martin was able to jump up from ninth into third with Dallas LLC’s Shanroe Cooley (35.8).
Chris Barnard will design tomorrow’s show jumping tracks as we wrap up the Long divisions at Tryon. The jumping is scheduled to begin at 10:30am EST with the CCI2*-L, followed by the the CCI4*-L at 12:00pm EST and the CCI3*-L starting at 1:05pm EST. This phase will be live streamed on Horse & Country and you can access that feed here. To catch up on additional scores from Tryon and other information, refer to the link list below.
Tryon International Three-Day Event (NC): [Website] [Entries/Ride Times/Schedule] [Scoring] [Live Stream] [CrossCountry App XC Maps] [Volunteer]
