Credit: Shannon Brinkman Photography
Olympic veterans and first-time 5 Star horses from three countries were the ones to beat for the show jumping finale of the 2022 MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill presented by Brown Advisory. In the end, World #1 Tim Price (NZL) jumped clear aboard Jean-Louis Stauffer’s 10-year-old Selle Français stallion Coup De Coeur Dudevin to take top honors, with a score of 28.2.
Like Price, second-place finisher Tamie Smith (USA) added only time faults to her score aboard Ruth Bley’s 13-year-old Hanoverian gelding Danito, but her final score of 29.8 kept them just 0.1 ahead of World #3 Oliver Townend (GBR). Townend finished in third place with his dressage score of 29.9, riding John Peace’s 11-year-old Spanish gelding As Is through one of only five double-clear rounds on Sunday, October 16.
The top trio finished the competition in the order they were ranked after cross country, where course designer Ken Krome (USA) presented them with a difficult 16-effort, 1.30m track. Price and Coup De Coeur Dudevin moved into the lead following Saturday’s cross-country phase. The two-time Olympic veteran was fautless around the horse’s first 5 Star track to maintain their dressage score of 27.4.
Tamie Smith, U.S. Team Silver medalist at this summer’s FEI Eventing World Championships, moved into second place with a double-clear cross-country round, maintaining their dressage score of 29.4. Oliver Townend was close behind on his dressage score of 29.9.
The event, one of only two 5 Star level equestrian events held in the United States and just the seventh worldwide, returned to the Fair Hill Special Event Zone in Cecil County, MD, October 13-16. Also featured were the 3 Star competition (CCI3*-L), which served as the USEF CCI3*-L Eventing National Championship, and The Dutta Corp. USEA Young Event Horse East Coast Championships.
Not far behind the top three were Americans Phillip Dutton and Jennie Brannigan, who also had double-clear show jumping rounds. Dutton piloted his Tokyo Olympic partner Z into fourth place with their dressage score of 30.5; Brannigan moved into fifth place on her dressage score of 31.5 aboard Nina and Tim Gardner’s FE Lifestyle.
“I’m very proud of Coup De Coeur Dudevin,” Price said. “In fact, I think all three of these top horses are incredible. I came in hoping that I would have a top-five finish, but I expected there would be a couple of things that showed his lack of experience. Luckily, we were able to do that while keeping a nice, low score.
“For my round, there was a lot of pressure,” he added. “But you just stay focused on the job. To build up the rhythm before the start was the most important part of it. He’s got a really long stride, which was more evident today than in some of the other show jumping rounds I’ve had, but he really turned himself inside-out for me. He really impressed me, and I’m very excited about him.”
“It has not been the fairytale year that you might think,” said Smith. “California in my area was infected with EHV this winter. I got out of there right before that and went east, but then I promptly broke my ankle and tore all the ligaments in it. I could just see my dreams kind of fading away. I didn’t think I’d be in contention for the World Championships, but I also wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“These guys are legends in the sport, and it’s an honor to be up here with them,” she added. “My horse had broken his wither on top of everything else, so to have the fall season that I’ve had from Pratoni on has been really special.”
“I’m obviously delighted with As Is,” Townend said. “He belongs to my new job at Caunton with the Peace family. It’s the first time I’ve had a job since I was 21, so delivering these results to the people employing me for the first time this year is really special to me. It’s been a different year for me, but one that’s been so, so positive.”
USEF Three Star
Finishing on their dressage score of 26.4, Elisa Wallace (USA) and Renkum Corsair brought home the 2022 USEF CCI3*-L Eventing National Championship. Wallace and the Corsair Syndicate’s 12-year-old Anglo-European gelding were in second place overnight before putting in one of only nine clear show jumping rounds.
“I knew how the course was riding since I had my first horse, Let It Be Lee, in there,” Wallace said. “And from riding last year’s, I knew it could be a tough requirement. It’s tight and a very jumper-type course. I had a lot of confidence coming in; he did the 1.45m jumpers as a 7-year-old, and he’s really helped with my confidence in show jumping. I just pretended like it was a jumper round at (the World Equestrian Center).”
Ken Krome’s winding 1.20m track featuring 14 jumping efforts proved to be greatly influential in the 3 Star. Second-place finisher Jenny Caras (USA) moved up nine spots from her overnight position in 11th with a double-clear round aboard her and Jerry Hollis’s 10-year-old Mecklenburg gelding Sommersby. The pair finished on their dressage score of 29.9.
“I was talking to the owners after my round and had friends texting me saying ‘You’re moving up, you’re moving up,’” she said. “And I just said, ‘I’m not going to win. If I could even make it to the top five, that would be fantastic.’ I’m so excited to be here in second now.”
Despite dropping a rail at fence #10A of the penultimate combination, Cassie Sanger (USA) and Fernhill Zoro maintained their overnight placing to finish third with a score of 30.6. At just 18 years old, Sanger also earned the Best Young Rider and Best First-Timer awards for her success in her first CCI3*-L aboard Nina Sanger’s 14-year-old Anglo-European gelding.
Americans Will Coleman and Lillian Heard earned the Best Dressed Awards as the riders with the most stylish outfits at Wednesday’s initial horse inspection.
For their wonderful presentations during Sunday’s second horse inspection, Jenny Caras’s 3 Star mount Sommersby and Will Coleman’s (USA) 5 Star mount DonDante earned the Best Turned Out Awards. Earning the Grooms Awards were Renkum Corsair’s groom Meghan Malloy and Coup De Coeur Dudevin’s groom Kerryn Edmans.