
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
We knew we’d be looking at some new faces at the top of the MARS Maryland 5 Star leaderboard on Friday, with major heavy-hitters coming forward for their dressage tests this afternoon. What we weren’t quite sure about was exactly what order said heavy-hitters would fall in once the dust in the main stadium settled.
A showdown between Mai Baum and Ballaghmor Class has been the hotly-touted story of the week, though it would be unwise to discount any of the other horses in today’s top five as threats to the leaderboard, as they’ve all gotten sub-25 scores on the books in the past. Yet as we watched Tamie Smith and Oliver Townend together in the final warm-up, it was difficult not to think of two heavyweights in the boxing ring nodding to each other, touching gloves before heading to their respective corners to prepare for battle.
But it would be Tamie Smith who emerged as our day two leader, earning a 25.3 with the Ahearn and Markell families’ Mai Baum (Loredano – Ramira, by Rike). It’s a higher score than the 21.8 they scored at Kentucky last year, but in fact Tamie described this test as her best 5* test with the 18-year-old German gelding.

Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
While most associate Ian Stark’s name with cross country riding, Tamie shared that he’d been helping her also with her dressage (he’s a man of many talents, that Scotty).
“I haven’t actually been focusing much on flat work,” she elaborated. “I’ve been riding a lot with Ian Stark on the flat, actually, which most people would find to be odd, but he’s quite good on the flat, and he just helped me get the horse really in front of the leg. I mean, I’ve never had an extended trot until today! I mean, once they know their job, they know their job, and it’s mostly just been keeping him strong and healthy.”
“It’s actually really great to be here,” Tamie continued. “He started his four-star Long career here at Fair Hill, so to be back here for the five-star — his final five star — is actually very special.”
It is to be Mai Baum’s final 5* event this weekend, and with that in mind one would perhaps assume Tamie would be quite emotional. She’s taken a different approach though, and says she’s just enjoying the ride.
“My whirlwind of a year has been more like a whirlwind of a decade!” she said. “So he’s always keeping it exciting and right when I think I can plan something, I can’t, so I don’t know what I’m going to do, and he’s not giving me gray hair! I seriously think I have like, five more places of gray hair now, because of Lexus. You know, it’s hard, because at one point we were like, ‘maybe he needs to retire.’ He got hurt and we’re thinking it was bad, and then it wasn’t so he actually doesn’t need to retire…Just for us, I think, and his owners, we want him to go out of the sport feeling the way he feels today, and not just running him ragged, if you will.”

Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
“Five-star is hard,” Tamie continued. “The amount of work and pressure and all the stuff to put on a horse at that level, you know, you always want them to be feeling at their prime. And I don’t know that at 19 any horse is going to be really feeling at their prime. So we’ve just chosen that this would be his last five-star, and he’s done [nearly] everything but Burghley, and I wouldn’t take him to Burghley. So it’s kind of like, why not just have him enjoy his career and I’ll do fun stuff on him. But I’m trying not to focus on the fact that this would be his last five-star. I thought that maybe I would be emotional, but I feel really happy because I’m just taking in every moment, because I am never going to sit on a horse like this again.”

Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
We also knew Ballaghmor Class (Courage II – Kilderry Place), another seasoned veteran with multiple 5* wins under his belt, was capable of delivering a test to beat; in fact, his personal best at 5* is a tick lower than Mai Baum’s with a 20.8 scored at Badminton in 2018. Today, however, “Thomas” and British Olympian Oliver Townend couldn’t quite catch Tamie and Mai Baum, scoring a 26.5 to give Tamie a 1.2 point advantage heading into the second phase.
How did the two tests compare on the scoring sheets? I’ll drop the two sheets below so you can take a look for yourself.
Interestingly, Ballaghmor Class was scored more consistently across the three judges, with a 2.5% spread between the three. For Mai Baum, the judges were a little less consistent, with a 4.8% differential among the three for his score. Tamie earned a 10 from Christina Klingspor (SWE) at C for her final halt, and also secured 9s on her extended canter, her final flying change, and her collective Harmony mark. I always find this fascinating to dig into, especially when you go and watch the test back. And in a game of tenths of penalty points, every single mark matters.
- Tamie Smith’s test scores.
- Oliver Townend’s test scores.
Oliver acknowledged his dressage mark wasn’t where he can be in this phase (this mark of 26.5 hits the board marginally over their career 5* average score of 24.6), but, he says, he’s not putting any worry to the matter ahead of tomorrow. “He’s done another very good clear round at the level,” he said. “It’s just great to have him back here. I don’t think we’ve quite got him dressage-wise where he can be, but at the same time, he’s fit and extremely well, and looking at the course, I don’t think we’ll be worrying about the dressage by the end of tomorrow.”
“He’s pretty much naturally a fit horse,” Oliver said in terms of “Thomas'” longevity at this level, with 11 5* runs currently under his belt. “And he enjoys his job immensely, and sometimes it’s keeping the excitement working for you rather than against you. But he’s an incredibly tough, incredibly sound horse, and has been throughout his whole career. And you know, his enthusiasm for his job [plays a role]. I don’t quite know what we’re going to do with him once his job as an event horse has finished, because I can’t see him doing too many other jobs with ease.”

Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Oliver notes that Ian Stark’s course has increased in difficulty by a small amount each year, and predicted that the optimum time of 11:15 will not be gettable. “It’s big,” he said. “TV isn’t going to do it justice because you just cannot [communicate to] people how many big jumps after big jumps with such accuracy as well. One trip, one slip, and you’re over. So you need a lot of luck at a five-star, but you also need a willing partner.”

Bubby Upton and Cola. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Third on the day and first in the ring this afternoon were another British pair, Bubby Upton and Rachel Upton’s Cola (Catoki – Vanessa XII, by Contender). Bubby’s on her first trip to the U.S. and has brought over her whole crew of family and friends with her to enjoy the experience, and a 5* personal best score of 26.7 was enough to secure them a podium position ahead of cross country.
“He delivers every time,” Bubby said in the mixed zone today. Today’s score bests her previous 5* low by .6 penalty points. “It’s kind of my job to do him justice with everything.” But getting to the point where she can pull out scores like this has been the result of trial and error when it comes to warming up and preparation.
“With him, it’s kind of a bit of a risk it all strategy,” she chuckled. “I’ve got it wrong in the past, like in my first year at Badminton. I thought that the atmosphere would really get to him, so I worked him too hard and he was really flat and tired, so it made that test quite hard to navigate. So now it’s very much the minimum is best. I literally was in [warm-up] for 15 minutes before the test, and [in arena familiarization], I just walked around like once, and that was it. I kind of used the atmosphere to lift him, and I went in and I was like, ‘Oh God, I may have left this a bit too on the edge!’ because he was a little bit spooky when we went in, but [the atmosphere] kind of just lifted him.”
Bubby and Cola lost some ground in their flying changes, which she said she’d be keen to review on her rewatch later today. They clawed back some marks in the final movement of the test and also, earlier, earned 9s across the board on their halt before reining back.
“It’s just a pleasure, honestly, to ride him every time,” she said. “And I’ve gained a huge amount of perspective in the last year. So it feels beyond special. It’s pretty impossible to put into words what it means to be here with my very, very special best friend.”

Tim Price and Falco. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Tim Price (NZL) and Falco (Cardenio 2 – Witta, by Weinberg) are yet another pair who could have gone into the lead by a healthy margin today had they scored close to their previous best at 5*. For Falco, that personal best came 22.1, earned in his Pau victory in 2021. Today, Tim’s Paris horse scored a 27.4 for fourth, losing some ground in the walk and canter work after starting off on lower marks on the trot work.
Truthfully, Tim says, Falco has “never been God’s gift in dressage,” but his trainability has made the difference in producing competitive marks from his tests. “He’s such a dude of a horse to do in all ways, and we know each other really well, so I was hoping to be able to just put those things into the dressage performance,” he said. “He’s incredibly clever and trainable — all the things that are most more important than just being really good at one thing; he’s super at all things. So I think for him, that was a ten out of ten for effort.”
It’s fair to say that Falco has been targeted at championships with Tim, competing at Pratoni World Championships in 2022 and Paris, and this fall Tim and Falco’s owner, Sue Benson, decided to have a bit of fun and travel over for Maryland. “He did one five-star before this one, and then he’s been making those kind of commitments to represent New Zealand and go to those championships,” he explained. “And also, I’ve wanted to look after him a little bit as well. I’m fortunate enough to not need to run and run the horses, so I’ve protected him a little bit in the spring, sometimes in order for a team commitment in the autumn. So that’s reduced his opportunities, really, to do things like five-star. And now we’ve just got the Olympics out of the way, he’s a bit older, he feels amazing, so Sue Benson and I decided, let’s have some fun with him for the next couple of years. And so that’s what we’re doing.”

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.
Fifth after dressage as one of the final horses to see today was the Turner family’s Tsetserleg (Windfall – Thabana, by Buddenbrock), the Tokyo and Pratoni partner of Boyd Martin, who returns for a 10th 5* start this weekend. Boyd and “Thomas” scored a 27.7 today, earning very consistent marks from all three judges with just a .4% spread and two identical percentages given from Christina Klingspor (SWE) at C and Xavier le Sauce (FRA) at B.
Boyd’s done less and less “drilling” on the flat with Tsetserleg, who certainly knows the job well at this point in his lengthy career. “He’s just an old legend,” Boyd commented. “You know, he knows that test very, very well. And honestly, the last year I’ve ridden him less and less. He’s so trained and schooled, it’s more of a matter of keeping him sweet and happy and keeping him fit.”
This approach, however, has been a bit of out of Boyd’s typical comfort zone. “It’s been hard for me because, you know, I’ve been trained for so long the harder your work, the better you go,” he admits. “And it’s the opposite with Tom — you’ve got to keep him fresh. [Steph Simpson’s] actually hacked him around the fields more than I’ve actually ridden him, keeping him feeling fresh and happy and sweet. It’s the way to go. He’s a hero.”
And so with that, our refreshed top five and beyond look ahead to what will be Ian Stark’s final cross country course tomorrow. Cross country begins with the 3*-L at 9:00 a.m., followed by the 5* at 1:30 p.m. You can view the courses on CrossCountryApp here, and we’ll also have our course preview coming your way first thing in the morning. In the meantime, you can get a quick glimpse around in our preview video here.
Ariel Grald Best of Day Two in USEF National CCI3*-L Championship
Our top three in the USEF National CCI3*-L Championship have remained unchanged at the end of day two of dressage. Kiersten Miller and her own Mama Mia (Indoctro x Lysienne II, by Landfriese) still hold the lead on a 28.4, followed by Sara Schulman and her own Cooley Chromatic (Thorgal x Castrade) with a 28.6, and Allison Springer and Fran Robinson’s Castle Howard Romeo (Womanizer x Creagh Diamond Cavalier, by Cavalier Royale) are currently in third with a 28.7.
Ariel Grald has claimed the fourth place spot with the top score in the 3* today, a 28.9, after a great performance with Adagio’s Nobility (Adagio de Talma x Noble Lady I, by Heraldik). Only in the second year of his FEI career, Ariel has brought the eight-year-old Holsteiner up the levels. This weekend will be his second go at a 3*-L, his first attempt being at Bromont in the spring, and Ariel will look to build on this exciting young horse’s experience with tomorrow’s hearty cross country test.
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