Five-star winners Tamra Smith and Mai Baum. Image by Tazzie Eggins.

Smith is simply perfect at the Kentucky Three-Day Event

It’s been 15 years since an American has taken home the top prize in the CCI5*-L at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian™ and 12 years since a woman has won. Both those streaks were broken on Sunday as the USA’s Tamie Smith and Mai Baum jumped a brilliant double-clear show jumping round to claim the top prize on their dressage score of 24.2.

Smith and “Lexus” had all the pressure on them as they cantered into the Rolex Stadium. Both the eventual second-placed Tom McEwen and JL Dublin (27.8) from Great Britain and fellow American Liz Halliday-Sharp aboard third-placed Miks Master C (28.5) jumped double-clear before her, leaving Smith without a rail in hand.

Still, she cantered into the arena on the 17-year-old Rheinlander gelding owned by the Ahearn family and never wavered, leaving all the jumps up and coming home inside the time in front of a wild crowd of 23,576. As the highest-placed American, Smith’s win also makes her the Land Rover/USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Champion presented by MARS Equestrian, with Halliday-Sharp taking home the reserve championship.

Tamra Smith and Mai Baum jumped clear to finish on their dressage score. Image by Tazzie Eggins.

“To (win a 5*) here in the U.S. and at Kentucky … I know so many people wanted an American to win, and I’m so grateful it was me,” an emotional Smith said after her ride. “I’m a bit speechless and a little bit in awe right now.”

McEwen was thrilled with his performance on the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. Lambert and Mrs. D. Johnston, but he didn’t get much of a chance to celebrate it. As soon as his round was over, he had to race to the airport to catch a plane back to England, where he was two horses entered in the Badminton Horse Trials presented by MARS Equestrian (May 5-8).

Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Image by Tazzie Eggins.

Halliday-Sharp has only been riding “Mickey” for about a year. His breeder Laurie Cameron reached out to her to see if she’d be interested in riding and ultimately selling him. Halliday-Sharp knew immediately she wanted to keep him and got together some of her other owners to buy him.

“He is the most amazing horse,” Halliday-Sharp said of the 11-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding owned by Ocala Horse Properties and Deborah Palmer. “For him to come in and do his first 5* and finish as he did? I think he’s a Burghley and Badminton horse, and I hope he will be my Olympic horse. I think the world of him and couldn’t have asked more of him.”

In the show jumping arena, clean jumping rounds weren’t that hard to come by, but leaving the jumps up while making the time was a bit more challenging. Of the 24 horses who started in the event’s final phase, only ten came home clear inside the time.

“To be completely honest, I was quite nervous going in with him today because of an uncharacteristic two rails I had at the World Championships (in 2022),” Smith admitted. “When you’re on a horse that show jumps as well as he does and then have two down, you feel like the odds are against you. Scott Keach, who I show jump with, has been instrumental in helping me keep my cool and stay in the moment. He helped me learn that my job is to ride the right way, and my horse’s job is to jump the jumps. I’m glad Lexus felt healthy and strong and full of it. He knew the crowd was there, and it felt like everybody carried me over that whole course.”

Smith will now take Lexus home and let him rest before focusing on his show jumping this fall. She’d like to have him in contention for the Olympics next year but admits that at 17, they have to take it day by day.

“He’s healthy and strong, and he’ll tell me what he wants to do next,” she said. “He doesn’t owe me anything after something like this, and he’ll tell me when he’s ready to throw in the towel, but he doesn’t show any signs of that. He was feeling fit and fresh at the trot-up, and he was jumping out of his skin today.”

In the Dubarry of Ireland Nations Team Challenge, Team USA (Tamie Smith/Mai Baum, Will Coleman/Chin Tonic, Boyd Martin/Tsetserleg TSF, and Phillip Dutton/Z) took home the win with a score of 96.3. Team Great Britain (Yasmin Ingham/Banzai Du Loir, Tom McEwen/JL Dublin, Kristy Chabert/Classic VI, and David Doel/Galileo Nieuwmoed) moved into second with a score of 125.5. The combined team of Germany, France and Canada (Sandra Auffarth/Viamant Du Matz, Alina Dibowski/Barbados 26, Maxime Livio/Carouzo Bois Marotin, and Jessica Phoenix/Wabbit) finished third with 129.7.

Four-star winners Karl Slezak and Hot Bobo. Image by Tazzie Eggins.

In the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S, the show jumping track looked deceptively straightforward Sunday morning, but it became clear that leaving the rails up and making the time was going to be challenging. Canada’s Karl Slezak and Hot Bobo proved up to the challenge, jumping double-clear to win the division on a record low score.

The 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare owned by Slezak moved up from seventh after dressage, adding no additional penalties in either jumping phase, to win with a score of 29.3. Overall, nine of the 35 horses who came forward to the final phase would leave all the rails up and make it home within the time allowed, including the top three finishers.

“It feels amazing; she’s the best! I love riding her so much,” Slezak enthused after his ride. “I was hopeful (about her performance in the show jumping), but we’ve been there before. She’s good on the flat but has never quite been right there, but she’s good on cross-country and shines here (in the show jumping), so I was optimistic.”

Smith on Solaguayre California also jumped double-clear to keep her second place with a score of 30.0. Sydney Elliott (USA) and QC Diamantaire continued their steady move up the leaderboard with their double-clear show jumping round, landing them in third on 34.9. Overnight third-placed Halliday-Sharp and Cooley Be Cool lowered the first fence of the triple combination and added 1.2 time faults to slip to fourth.

Slezak has had “Bobo” since she was a 4-year-old, and though they’ve had to work through some spookiness, his affection for the mare is clear. “She handled (the atmosphere today) amazingly. Even when I was doing the victory gallop so close to the crowds cheering, she was eating it up. I’m pretty excited about it going forward and very confident in her at any championship in that situation.

“She just wants to work all the time,” he continued. “She wants to please and comes out the same every day. With mares you never know, but when mares work for you, they are amazing. She wants to please and works for me really well.”

All three riders had praise for how their mounts handled the final phase of the competition.

“She felt great in the warmup,” Slezak said. “Anytime she show jumps after cross-country, she’s sharper and more amped up. It gives me a good feeling going in the ring — that even if I make a mistake, she can handle it. I was excited going in, and she didn’t let me down. (The show jumping course today) was a good track; it had a nice flow to it. Show jumping on the last day is always nerve-wracking, but here we are.”

“Show jumping my mare on the third day is always better,” Smith said of the 12-year-old Argentinian-bred mare owned by Julianne Guariglia. “She can be quite spicy. She was a show jumper before she was an eventer, but she can still be quite spooky … she spooked at some flowers in the ring and darted sideways. But being able to have this 4* here in this atmosphere is so great for our horses.”

“My horse is very quiet,” Elliott said of Carol Stephens’ 13-year-old Oldenburg gelding. “The last two years here, he has been very nervous going in the ring. Finally this third year, he was more like himself and very settled in there. I was thrilled.”

The Pan American Games in Chile this fall are looming large for the Canadian riders, who must secure an Olympic berth there in order to compete in France in 2024, and Slezak hopes Bobo will be part of that team. “The plan is to go to Tryon in a couple of weeks for the 4*-Long, and then hopefully Chile for the Pan Ams,” he said.

Elliott, Smith and their mounts are bound for Germany; both horses will compete at Luhmühlen in June.

“This was a last run before we head to Germany,” Elliott said. “We’re using it as a prep, and it’s a great last run for him before heading to Europe.”

“We wanted to make sure she handled this well,” Smith said. “And now we have May to decompress and get our wits about us before heading to Luhmühlen.”

NZ’s Hayley Frielick, who grew up in Australia and us now based in the US, finished 12th with Dunedin Black Watch. Australian Ryan Wood and Cooley Flight were 19th, while fellow Aussie Rebecca Braitling was 23rd with Caravaggio II.