Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Every year when I pull in to Kentucky Horse Park on cross country morning, I’m reminded of just how much I love this venue and this event. The energy and anticipation is palpable: eager fans milling about the trade stands as they make their way toward cross country, cresting a hill to one of the cross country fields and seeing nothing but seas of people as you scan the course, the tingle of both anxiety and excitement elevating my heart rate.
It’s just special here, and as is typical we were treated to a spectacle of eventing sport today across both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the headlining CCI5* divisions. You can catch up on the CCI4*-S action (and boy, was there action) here. For now, let’s dive right in to unpack a very impactful day of cross country.
The Top Placers
Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
I’m not sure anyone doubted Tom McEwen‘s ability to deliver an important clear round with more implications than solely a podium finish (or a win) here at Kentucky. But the pressure was on: at the outset of the day, the reigning Olympic individual silver medalist had just 1.4 penalties or 3.5 seconds of time “in hand” ahead of Yasmin Ingham.
On a day when only two pairs managed to come home inside the optimum time of 11 minutes, 15 seconds (more on that later), time was always going to exert its influence. Tom and JL Dublin (Diarado – Zarinna by Canto) generally average about 6-10 time penalties, according to EquiRatings, and they came home quicker than that with a total of four time (10 seconds). Had Yasmin Ingham not incurred time penalties of her own, Tom’s lead may have been in jeopardy, but as it stands now he will carry the lead and a 78% chance of winning into show jumping tomorrow with a two-phase score of 28.6.
“He was incredible, I was cruising for the first five and I felt more like it was an Intermediate,” Tom said of his ride today on the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by James & Jo Lambert, Mrs Deirdre Johnston, expressing that he felt he’d been faster than he was but taking the long route at a couple of combinations, including the Park Question at 23, likely added some of those time penalties. “When I tried to balance at the coffin I thought the best decision was to keep very straight, but I’m not sure I wanted to. We just popped in the long route.”
Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Yasmin Ingham held on to her second place with 5.6 time penalties accumulated aboard Janette Chin’s and the Sue Davies Fund’s Banzai du Loir (Nouma D’Auzay – Gerboise du Cochet, by Livarot). Also very much in the hunt for an Olympic selection, Yasmin also had a few demons to put to rest on the Kentucky bluegrass today, having had a devastating runout on cross country in 2023 to take her out of podium contention. Put them to rest she did, and she was pleased to have done so.
“I’m just delighted. I’m so happy,” Yasmin said following her round. “I know he has that in him. Obviously we had our blips last year. We did a lot of training over the winter with Chris Bartle and with my dressage trainer as well, and it’s showing out there today I think.”
“I’ll be totally honest,” she continued. “It’s just an incredible amount of pressure. … Obviously we make the trip because this event is just worth it a million times over, but of course that’s on my shoulders that I have to ride him and produce results. So yeah, massive amounts of pressure. I’ve had incredibly supportive owners and parents and my guys at home that are running the show once I’m over here, so it takes an army to get the horse here fit and sound and ready to compete at his best and do my best. I feel a bit of relief now.”
Yasmin goes into tomorrow on a score of 31.6, which does not give Tom a rail in hand, and an EquiRatings prediction of a 15% win possibility. Tom and JL Dublin did produce a double clear show jumping round in 2023 when they finished in second, as did Yasmin and Banzai du Loir.
Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Moving from eighth into third overnight following a clear cross country tantalizingly close to the optimum time are FEI world #1 Oliver Townend and Diana and Paul Ridgeon’s Cooley Rosalent (Valent – Bellaney Jewel, by Roselier), who added just .4 time penalties to go onto a score of 31.8. Cooley Rosalent, who is 10 this year, has certainly proven herself as a 5* horse across the country now with two fast clear rounds under her belt (the other came at Maryland in 2023).
“She’s a different world, isn’t she?” Oliver remarked. “You know, she’s only ten this time and it’s a big gamble that whatever happens from this point has paid off because the amount she’ll have learned out there is incredible and every distance that I wanted I just about got. You know, like, at the first, second pond I could’ve done five [strides] there and I said, ‘no, we’re gonna make four happen, you know one day you’re gonna be at Burghley so you’re gonna have to learn now’ and she’s just incredibly honest. I’ve had her from four years old and she’s as good as we always hoped.”
This was another pair who also opted for the long route at the influential Park Question, but they’d had enough time on the clock to still make it home close to the optimum.
“I’m still very conscious when I’m riding around although I’m trying to be competitive,” Oliver explained. “I’m also trying to half produce and half save her for hopefully, another seven years like we’ve had for Ballaghmor Class. It’s always long term in mind, and don’t get me wrong, I’m sure one day I will fling her at it and I’m sure she’ll answer the question beautifully, but I just thought that she’d pulled enough out of the bag today for me to give her a little breather.”
Monica Spencer and Artist. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Also making some moves on the board were New Zealand’s Monica Spencer and Artist (Guillotine – Maxamore, by Satin Blush), who moved from 10th to fourth overnight on a score of 32.7 with two seconds’ worth of time added to their dressage mark. Earlier this week, Monica noted that this would probably be the biggest challenge “Max” had ever faced, even having done World Championships in 2022 (which is, of course, not set at 5* specs).
“Oh, it was five-star,” she said, also noting that Artist had lost a shoe at the second fence but was able to keep galloping and turning on the good quality ground. “I felt sick and I felt desperate and he just kept saying, ‘sure thing, mummy!’ So awesome. Maryland, when I did that course it was the hardest course I’d ever done. And I was like, ‘oh my God, oh my God.’ Now I guess it might only be because this one’s fresh in my mind, but now I’m like this this is the hardest course I’ve ever done! Next time I might say it again.”
Mia Farley and Phelps. Photo by Sally Spickard.
Let’s hear it for another double clear cross country effort from Mia Farley and David O’Connor’s Phelps (Tiznow – Boom Town Gal, by Cactus Ridge), who once again proved — despite any misgivings and nerves Mia may have had as it seems will be her habit at these 5* events! — that they absolutely belong here. Mia was the sole rider to come home inside the time in her debut at the level last fall at Maryland. Adding another would have been her goal today, but cementing it must feel incredibly validating.
“It was actually fun,” Mia said. “I told myself I was gonna have fun and I did it. And I think same with Phelps. I think he was making fun of me like the whole first four minutes. Actually, before I went out I told David [O’Connor] I have a feeling the beginning of the course isn’t gonna be too fun because he just rolls and then once you put him up a hill, then you have some rideability.”
Mia has noted the efficiency with which Phelps jumps (which has sometimes worked to his detriment on the final day, but more on that shortly), and the fact that his Thoroughbred gears allow her to set a pace early on that she can manage and stay on the minute markers — and to finish in as quick a time as 10 minutes, 52 seconds today, a whopping 23 seconds under the optimum time.
“I think with Phelps and with a lot of Thoroughbreds, we kind of set a tone at the beginning of the course and that’s what they have for the rest of it,” she elaborated. “But what I found that’s really cool is that at the end of the course, if you ask them to go they they have it. So before Phelps, I had a warmblood that I would do the four-star here on and you didn’t have very many options at the end. But with Phelps at Maryland and here, he’s here to be everything. So I think the Thoroughbred blood does help, and fitness of course.”
Germany’s Christoph Wahler was the first rider to catch the optimum with Stefan Haupt and Hendrik Von Paepcke’s D’Accord FRH (Diarado – Anette 80, by Aarkin), delivering an efficient round in a time of 11 minutes, 7 seconds. This pair will move from 15th into sixth overnight.
Equal third after dressage, both Liz Halliday with the Nutcracker Syndicate / Ocala Horse Properties’ Cooley Nutcracker and Lauren Nicholson jumped around clear with Ms. Jacqueline Mars’ Vermiculus with some time each to go into seventh and eighth, respectively.
Jennie Brannigan and FE Lifestyle. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Jennie Brannigan brought two very fit horses to Kentucky and delivered two clear rounds to have both FE Lifestyle (9th – 37.2) and Twilightslastgleam (12th – 39.9), both owned by Tim and Nina Gardner, in the top 15 ahead of show jumping (there’s nothing like a Thoroughbred with a big heart!). Malin Hansen-Hotop of Germany completes the cross country top 10 aboard Carlito’s Quidditch K on a score of 37.9.
Insights and Updates
Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Derek di Grazia’s course certainly showed itself to be up to snuff across both divisions. Of 32 starters, 26 completed the course for an 81.25% completion rate. There is an asterisk on that stat, though, as unfortunately Zach Brandt and Direct Advance were eliminated by the Ground Jury several hours after leaving the vet box and returning to the stables. Zach, who was also given a yellow card for riding an excessively tired horse, provided the following statement:
“I am so immensely proud of Rosco for his incredible effort today jumping a clear round around a hard track. Unfortunately, the ground jury chose to eliminate him this evening after the cross country was over, due to him being so tired coming home. While we completely respect their decision, we are ultimately gutted as Rosco recovered very well & trotted up looking absolutely amazing and sound this evening. The most important thing about this sport is the horses, so Rosco’s well-being and overall health is paramount and we are of course so happy that he looks so great. We are so proud of his effort having never lost his jump and we will be back in the fall with some very exciting plans.”
There were two horse falls on course: Phillip Dutton and Quasi Cool took a scary tumble at the final fence, prompting the grounds crew to provide screens as a precaution. Quasi Cool was up and walking and is reported to be resting and uninjured. Phillip went to the hospital to be checked out after both of his rides today, bringing home Azure clear as the final ride of the day. Honor Me and Lisa Marie Fergusson also fell at the A element of the Park Question; both horse and rider were up quickly and “Tali” is reported to be uninjured by Lisa.
6.25% (or two riders in Mia and Christoph) produced clear rounds inside the optimum time. This is a significant decrease from the 16% double clear rate from 2023 and more in line with the three years preceding last, which all saw sub-10% double clear rates.
The Implications
Lauren Nicholson and Vermiculus. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Looking to tomorrow’s show jumping finale, Tom McEwen certainly has the most pressure as the top-placed rider. Historically speaking, the leader after cross country has gone on to win the event 11 times out of the last 13 runnings of Kentucky. Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST were the most recent potential winners to lose out on the crown due to a pulled pole, according to EquiRatings. Despite this, Kentucky is traditionally a tough show jumping course. Designed this year by Steve Stephens, the show jumping generally produces just 1 in 5 clear rounds or a 21% clear rate over the last 13 years. By that number, that’s only five clear rounds in this year’s field of 25 starters (pending, of course, the Final Horse Inspection first thing tomorrow morning – which by the way was moved to 8 a.m., presumably because of my protest of the offensive original time of 7:30, you’re welcome).
All of this to say that even if Tom does manage the clear, we could be yet looking at a very different leaderboard than what we see this evening. It’s certainly going to be a thrilling finish to the weekend, and we hope you’ll join us for show jumping, which for the 5* begins at 2:15 pm ET with the first group and 3:00 p.m. ET for the second group. The 4*-S will be the first to see tomorrow, beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET. Before that though, we’ll have the final horse inspection for both divisions at 8 a.m.
We’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for the conclusion of the #BestWeekendAllYear. Go Eventing.
EN’s coverage of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event is presented by Kentucky Performance Products, your one-stop shop for science-backed nutritional support for all types of horses. Click here to learn more about Kentucky Performance Products.
Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event [Website] [Entries] [Schedule] [Tickets] [Scoring] [Ride Times] [Live Stream] [Ultimate Guide] [EN’s Coverage]
