It’s no secret that Tamie Smith and Mai Baum can d-a-n-c-e DANCE. Tamie and 14-year-old German Sport Horse gelding owned by Alex and Ellen Ahearn and Eric Markell, have been topping first phase leaderboards for a while now — perhaps most notably doing so on their way to winning the Fair Hill CCI4*-L (then CCI3*) in 2015 and then making a splash in their Team USA debut at the 2019 Pan Ams — and it was no different in the Advanced division at Rebecca Farm this year. “Lexus” and Tamie led wire-to-wire to pick up the win, adding just a few cross country time penalties onto their stellar dressage score of 17.7.
If a 17.7 at the Advanced level sounds really low and impressive to you that’s because yes, it is! In fact the USEA confirmed earlier today that it’s the lowest dressage score at the Advanced level since 2006, besting Darren Chiacchia and Windfall II’s 17.9 scored at the Richland Park Horse Trials in August 2008.
