One More Time for the Flying Scot: Preview Ian Stark’s Final MARS Maryland 5 Star Cross Country

Fence 25, the Fair Hill International Rollercoaster and Drop.

“I’m not sure I’ll be sleeping very well tonight,” joked Ema Klugman after we asked her how she was feeling about the MARS Maryland 5 Star cross country yesterday.

It’s a hallmark saying when riders take a walk around an Ian Stark-designed course, and it’s one he’s always gleefully acknowledged he doesn’t mind. Lucky (and sadly, really) for these riders, this morning marks the last one they’ll wake up from a fitful rest filled with nightmares of yawning ditches and jumping through waterfalls, as it also marks the opening of Ian Stark’s final cross country course here at the MARS Maryland 5 Star — and the final cross country course design of his legendary career.

While Ian didn’t toss every idea that’s ever floated into his brain out there as a last-ditch effort to tick some boxes, this year’s CCI5* track still stands on its own as a true test of mettle, stamina, and preparation. And of course, he’s perennially hesitant to definitively say if he’s happy with his designs or not, preferring to wait until the final horse crosses the finish safely to make that judgement. After all, while he’s quick to tell you he doesn’t mind if a rider loses an hour or two of sleep, it has remained paramount to him throughout his career that the horses must be able to read and understand the questions he sets, full stop.

As I sat down to write this preview, I started gathering quotes from Ian Stark, collected when he graciously came to the media center and sat down to give us a fence by fence preview. I asked my colleagues what stood out to them about his explainer, and quickly a theme emerged.

If you haven’t met Ian before (and I truly hope you get a chance to if you haven’t), he’s a really fascinating person. He oozes enthusiasm when he talks about his courses (or anything, honestly), and his dry sense of humor makes everything he says just a little funnier. He also Just. Really. Cares. about the horses on his courses. Yes, he believes in old-fashioned, bold cross country riding. Yes, he builds dimensionally enormous fences that demand absolute bravery and, failing that, a sturdy pair of Depends. But the amount of thought, of changing and tweaking and modifying — both on his part and on the part of his team of course builders, including Tyson Rementer, Jon Wells, and Mike Smallwood — is immeasurable. It’s difficult to put this into words, the effort made by so many to put on exciting, safe, fair cross country.

An example of one such question on this year’s course that Ian put some extra thought into after seeing it ride last year comes at the Sawmill Slices (18AB), the third water complex of four (though they’ll not enter the water here, at least not on purpose). Last year, Phillip Dutton had a fall on Azure at this question after missing his line and trying to get back to it. This year, Ian’s strategically placed small trees to help keep the riders on a good line here.

“There’s trees in the back of each element on the left to stop horses drifting left and landing in the water. I’m expecting them, these two, to jump [well]; they’re kind of imposing, but they’re understanding them to jump rather well. And there’s a tree on the approach to this, and that’s thanks to Philip last year. He missed the turn, he came back and he tried to get there. So I put the tree in to stop that line, and the tree in the back to try and keep horses straight.”

There are also long routes positioned at the combinations with more difficult lines, presenting an option should a rider not feel confident approaching a direct route.

The course for this year is set at an optimum time of 11 minutes, 15 seconds. In comparison to the three preceding years of this young 5*, it’s the second-longest optimum time. 2022’s optimum of 11 minutes, 30 seconds, is the lengthiest track this venue has seen, and that course saw a 58% completion rate.

The course hasn’t changed a lot from 2023, running in the same direction and using a majority of the same combinations, though the look and feel of some of the above has been modified.

The B element of the Brown Advisory Canoe and Cascade.

One of the buzzy “new year, new me” changes on course comes at the second water, the Brown Advisory Canoe and Cascade (9). This jump features running or falling water on both the A and B elements, including water falling like rain from the framing above the jump at the B element. It’s been called “gimmicky” by more than one rider, though historically speaking if we look at past fences with running water, they haven’t generally caused any significant trouble. Jumping through falling water certainly could; the fact that by the time the 5* starts the sun will be fairly directly overhead and will therefore not be as likely to be casting weird lighting may help soften the visual challenge here.

Ian’s fairly nonplussed about the question.

“There’s been some talk about the B element,” he said. “People wondering how the horses are going to react. And way back, way back — remembering I’m 70 — when I was very young, we had two or three one-day events [that had] this, and they actually rode fine. So I just thought it was a bit of fun. If it had been raining, nobody would see the water. If it’s sunny, they can see it, but we’ve turned the water down. It’s dribbling more than running. One rider said to me that they were very unhappy about it, and then I said there is an alternative. You don’t have to jump in. And they said to me that, ‘yeah, but I can’t be competitive.’ And I went, ‘Okay, you can’t have it both ways.'”

The Irish Horse Board Coffin Question (12ABCD) is another key complex that will challenge riders accuracy and their horses’ rideability. Set on a downhill approach, the coffin features a frangible upright rail in, then a steep uphill to a log on the hill, followed by the rider’s choice of a left or right turn to a narrow brush.

“I brought the coffin back in this year, but I’ve given various choices,” Ian explained. “When we put the fence there, for me, the right hand line was there. It was obvious. But a lot of the riders have asked my opinion, and if you have a great ride, the right hand way is by far quicker, and it’ll take less out of your horse, and it should give you a really good feel. But if the horse leaves a leg on the rail, there’s no room for error. So you’ve kind of got to weigh up the risk factor.”

Here’s a look at Ian and Tyson Rementer at the coffin complex:

Posted by Pierre le Goupil on Friday, October 18, 2024

After the aforementioned Sawmill Slices at 17 and 18, riders will crest the big climb to the highest and furthest point on the course at the MARS Sustainability Bay (20ABC) and the MARS Sustainability Step and Angles (21ABCD and 22). There are plenty of options here if you can manage to remember them, but the direct route here is similar to last year, though some riders remarked that they feel the step up out of the water and the fences after have been slightly softened (which is not what I thought when I walked it, but this is reason #487 why I am a 5* writer, not rider).

Here is another example of small things that can be done to ensure a friendlier course to horses. “It is a two meter drop, so it’s maximum drop. We ramp the landing. The water is about an inch and a half deep, and the ground runs away, and I like doing that, just to soften [it]…I hate landing on flat ground because they land jarred and the you can feel it all the way up the horse’s legs, up the shoulders, and up through you. So if it’s a tiny bit of a ramp, it let’s them unfold on the landing better.”

The penultimate combination comes at the Fair Hill International Roller Coaster and Drop (25ABCD), which Ian made slightly bigger this year having felt it’s been somewhat of a “gimme” in previous iterations.

Fence 27AB, the Belgian Owls.

From there, the pairs will gallop down toward the finish, which features one final combination in the dueling Belgian Owls (27AB), which have jumped well in the past, though they came earlier on the course last year. They have been used at the end of the course, in the first year of this event, and they did not cause any major problems, and Ian feels they should ride similarly.

The final jump is a tribute to Ian in the Scotty’s Farewell (28), and a mannequin decked out in ski gear awaits riders at the finish as a final wave good-bye from Ian.

You can view the whole course, including photos of each fence and video walkthroughs of key combinations, on CrossCountryApp here.

We’ll be eager to see how this year’s track rides, and we know time has gotten harder to get each year. This year stands to be no different, and with perfect weather and a hardworking grounds crew working on watering the ground, it should be a thrilling day of eventing sport.

You can tune in live for the 5* cross country beginning at 1:30 p.m. Cheg Darlington will be bringing you a live blog from the 5* division, and stay tuned for our full report on both the 3* and 5* to come this evening. See the link list below for live stream information.

MARS Maryland 5 Star: [Website] [Entries] [Tickets] [Timing & Scoring] [Live Stream] [Volunteer] [EN’s Coverage]

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