Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
We are well underway here at the 2022 MARS Great Meadow International in The Plains, VA, where a robust entry list in the CCI4*-S also features the members of Team USA heading to Pratoni in Italy for the FEI World Championships for Eventing in just a few days’ time. This weekend is intended to be a final observation event for the riders selected for World Championships.
While none of the Team USA riders here will necessarily be gunning for the win over the next two days, there are still the ever-important selections of the final team and individual designations yet to come, so a solid performance is still key.
Under the watchful eye of interim chef d’equipe Bobby Costello, the majority of the U.S. riders were slotted into the final group this afternoon in front of judges Peter Gray and Christina Klingspor. Surprising no one, it’s Tamie Smith and Mai Baum (Loredano 2 – Ramira, by Rike) leading the way as the penultimate pair to see on a score of 20.5.
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum show us how to earn a 20.5. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
Alex and Ellen Ahearn and Eric Markell’s 16-year-old Mai Baum, known for his glamour in the first phase, earned a 20.5 on a day when low-20s scores were flashing seemingly one after another.
Tamie says her experience as the traveling reserve in Tokyo last year, while difficult, gave her a lot of valuable experience that she plans to put to good use at Pratoni.
“It’s great having Boyd and Phil and Will, Lauren, you know, they’ve been on multiple championship teams and so just feeding off of their experience watching, and being there in Tokyo, although very difficult, I did just have the mindset of what can I get from every aspect,” Tamie said. “And, you know, they do say there’s nothing like going to a championship and after you get there, you understand that so, having been there, I think I know what to expect. I have a great partnership with my horse and I think we have an awesome team and great camaraderie and all the horses are phenomenal. I looked at the scores and I saw all of them and they looked like they put in even better tests than they have been so it’s really exciting.”
Earlier in the day, Will Coleman and Hyperion Stud’s Chin Tonic HS (Chin Champ – Wildera, by Quinar Z) earned a 21.9 to take early command. This is the 10-year-old’s return to competition after finishing 10th at Aachen in July, and it’s not hard to envision the stunning Holsteiner gelding wearing the stars and stripes in Paris in two years’ time. For now, though, Will’s concentration remains on strength, finesse, and valuable experience — the flashy gelding is of course not short on talent, but often with the naturally talented ones patience is prudent.
Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg continue to show improvement on what was already a competitive foundation. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
Teammate Boyd Martin and the Turner family’s Tsetserleg (Windfall II – Thabana, by Buddenbrock) continue to fine-tune their partnership, underscoring their nearly decade-long partnership with an international personal best of 22.1 this afternoon. This pair will take the most experience into the competition at Pratoni, and Boyd reckons “Thomas” is well up to the task.
“My fella’s in in fantastic form,” Boyd said. “He’s been training very, very well and…I feel like he’s in the best condition he’s ever been in. He’s improving still and he’s, like you said, a veteran and what a legend horse to be able to get on a team for a fourth time. I’m very grateful for Chris and Tommy [Turner], who backed me with not only this horse with a bunch of horses, and I think we’ve got a mission ahead of us. It’s a long trip to World Championships. They’re a brutally tough contest and I really feel we’ve got five or six wicked good horses, and if everyone can pull out a personal best, we’re in with a shot. So it’s pretty easy to say that and it’s very hard to do it, so we’ll give it our best.”
Will Coleman and his Pratoni horse, the Off the Record Syndicate’s Off the Record (Arkansas – Drumagoland Bay, by Ard Ohio) also hit a high mark, earning a 23.9 from the judges to sit fourth overnight.
“Well, [I’ve] just been trying to get better,” Will said when asked what he’d been working on since his mid-summer European tour at Luhmühlen and Aachen. “We’ve all got, I think, great individual teams behind each of us — owners, coaches, family — and I’m lucky to be very well-supported in all those regards. So I wouldn’t say I’ve been doing anything different. I’ve just been trying to continue on the program that I’m on. And that’s how I’m going to approach Pratoni, as just another horse show.”
Lauren Nicholson gives a wave to the crowd aboard Vermiculus. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
Lauren Nicholson and Ms. Jacqueline Mars’ Vermiculus (Sazeram – Wake Me Gently) staved off some “naughty Bug” moments to earn a 27.0 and sit tenth overnight. Lauren, along with Kim Severson, had a chance to see what was in store at Pratoni earlier this year at the FEI Nations Cup Eventing leg and test event and she shared one key piece of advice:
“If I had one piece of advice for anyone going, it’s don’t wear white pants or socks or shoes,” she warned. “Everything’s black from the knee down with the volcanic dust, but it’s a super unique venue.” It’s true: the soil at Pratoni is a unique mixture that contains volcanic ash — something Tilly observed might actually make for excellent going despite the hot, dry temperatures during Italian summer.
“I think [the selectors] really picked the right group of horses for it because it’s extremely steep and hilly while also they utilize a lot of the terrain they have,” Lauren continued. “A combination of big massive five-star fences and also ‘terrain-y’ little skip through things. It’s a very rural area, but the venue is beautiful. I think it’ll be a lot of fun for anybody going to watch because it’s all very compact and easy to get to while also having a lot of space for the horses to go ride, hack, and everything else. So I think it’s going to be a really exceptional venue for the championships. And it’ll be a proper World Championship track.”
Ariel Grald and Annie Eldridge’s Leamore Master Plan (Master Imp – Ardragh Bash) earned a 30.9 for 19th overall.
“It’s an honor to be up here with all these great riders and I’m excited to learn from them through this whole process,” Ariel said. “And it’s just an exciting time to be representing the U.S. As we’ve all said, we all have really great programs that have gotten us here to this point. So I think something that’s really important to stay focused on is continuing the success that we’ve had to all be named to the team and to just keep the momentum going moving forward into Pratoni.”
Reserve for the Pratoni team are Phillip Dutton and Z (Asca Z – Bellabouche, by Babouche VH Gehucht Z) scored 28.6 and will be in 13th ahead of tomorrow’s show jumping. The reserve position is one Phillip’s experienced somewhat recently: in 2016, he was called up as the reserve with Mighty Nice and would go on to win the individual bronze medal. Unenviable of a position as reserve may be, it’s nonetheless a vital role and one not lacking pressure: at a moment’s notice, you must be ready to step up and deliver the performance of a lifetime.
“It’s an important role to be ready there if the unfortunate happens, and hopefully it won’t, because most of the hard work’s been done,” Phillip commented. “And so we sort of just hopefully cruise on home, but I’ve got to be ready if something does happen and be ready to move in.”
While the first phase is not where the competition is won, one still has to leave today thinking there was a lot to like about the performances and resulting scores we saw. Bobby Costello agrees.
“Knock on wood, it’s been a great lead-up so far,” he said. “I think all of us are looking incredibly fit. I think all the riders are feeling very confident. I think, obviously, the dressage is coming along really, really well. So my job is just to, in the next few weeks, kind of be supporting what they do.”
The lead-up to this World Championships is slightly different in a leadership sense: while Erik Duvander is no longer the chef for Team USA, he still works with the majority of riders selected on a private basis. While Bobby has been appointed interim chef, coaching has been left up to the individual riders to decide what program works best for them.
“We have kind of decentralized coaching now,” Bobby said. “Everybody has their program, and my job is just to kind of be there and support them, given them encouragement when they need it, but honestly, try not to get too much in the way and try to just kind of bring the whole group together as a unit. And that will be happening more and more over the next few weeks.”
Holly Jacks-Smither and Candy King. Photo by Erin Gilmore Photography.
The Americans are of course not the only Pratoni-bound contenders here at Great Meadow: Holly Jacks-Smither opted to bring the Candy King Syndicate’s Candy King (Birkhof’s Grafenstolz – Eye Candy) ahead of her trip next week to represent Canada. She decided to bring the 12-year-old British Sport Horse south to Virginia rather than trekking north to Bromont and then back to JFK to fly out. Second, she also felt this venue might give the horse, who will be experiencing his first championship, a good shot at acclimating to bigger atmosphere.
It’s been a winding road to this point for Holly, who will also be representing Canada in a major championship (she’s got prior team experience, though, with two Nations Cup competitions under her belt) for the first time. Last year, she unexpectedly had to retire her longtime 5* partner, More Inspiration, after the discovery of a heart murmur. Then, she thought she would have to sell Candy King, even going as far as to list him on the open market. Fate stepped in, however, and a team of her supporters formed the Candy King Syndicate to keep the horse with her.
As for Candy King stepping up, Holly’s feeling confident. “This will be his first big championship, but he’s just gotten better at every competition he’s gone to,” she said, crediting her longtime coach Buck Davidson for his guidance along the way. Holly earned a 30.4 to sit 16th overnight, and was heading off to walk the course with Buck to make a final plan on how much of the track she’ll run come Sunday.
There are, of course, many other combinations contesting the FEI and Preliminary divisions here at MARS Great Meadow International; let’s do a quick check of the leaderboards:
CCI3*-S: Liz Halliday-Sharp currently leads the way (26.1) with Ocala Horse Properties‘ Shanroe Cooley (Dallas VDL – Shanroe Sapphie), who we hear is aiming for the FEI World Young Horse Breeding Championships in France this fall as a seven-year-old.
CCI2*-S: Alyssa Phillips and the ever-talented Cornelius Bo (Concours Complet – Charlotte, by Carismo) won the first phase on a score of 23.2.
Preliminary A: Hannah Sue Hollberg and Ms. Jacqueline Mars and Christa Schmidt’s J (Farfan M – Fairway) earnedd a 20.5 to lead the way following the first phase ahead of Saturday’s jumping phases.
Preliminary B: Erin Kanara and Claudia Schultze’s Windchase Lionstar (Brandenburg’s Windstar – Mah) score a 25.5 to lead the way in the early going.
Tomorrow we’ll have a jam-packed day of jumping: the Preliminary and CCI2*-S pairs will show jump, followed by cross country later in the day. Meanwhile, the CCI3*-S and CCI4*-s horses will jump later on, the 3* beginning at 1:10 p.m. EST and the 4* beginning at 5:08 p.m. EST. You can view the full show jumping order of go here and the full Saturday cross country order of go here.
There are also a myriad of fun activities to see and do here if you’re coming to take in the action! Competitors can relax ringside in the riders’ tent provided by Hilltop Bio. On Saturday, there will be a tailgate spot with food and drinks put on by STRIDER. There’s plenty of shopping and food (including handcrafted popsicles, which if you ask me are the best addition to the refreshments line-up this year) to enjoy, so come on out and have some fun with us!
If you’re far away or unable to come, Horse & Country is providing the live stream all weekend long here.
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