United States Eventing Association

It was a rollercoaster day on cross-country at the FEI World Eventing Championship in Aachen, Germany, with 65 of 85 starters completing.

The U.S. team was sitting sixth after dressage on Friday and move up to fifth place with three of four team riders completing cross-country, leaving them without a drop score for tomorrow's show jumping.

Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Tolan R x Doughiska Lass), owned by Pamukcu and her husband Deniz Pamukcu, Mollie Hoff, and Sherrie Martin, were the pathfinders for the team, and their round ended early when Caroline fell from “Blake” at fence 17c. Pamukcu put out a statement on her social media that confirmed she and Blake were fine following the fall.

Veteran team rider Phillip Dutton, who is one of a handful of competitors this weekend who competed here at Aachen 20 years ago, rode Denim, Ann Jones, Ann Lapides, Caroline Moran, and Neill Sites' 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Dinken x Celia II), to a clear jumping round, adding 12.4 time penalties to sit in 33^rd place.

“He doesn’t have a high top speed, so I was just trying to keep it as even as I could all the way around,” he said. “The main priority was to get a clear round and put that in the bank, and then hopefully everybody can build on it from there. I was trying to help him out as much as I could and make up for his inexperience, but he’s a gutsy little horse and a beautiful jumper. It doesn’t matter where he jumps from, those knees come up around his ears. Looking back on it, it was fun. It’s not as fun out there, but thinking out it now, it’s very rewarding. Overall, I’m very pleased.”

Boyd Martin was up next on Cooley Nutcracker, a 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (BMC Tolan R. x Ballyshan Cleopatra) owned by Liz’s Nutcrackers. They blazed around the course clear, adding 6.4 time penalties to sit in 23^rd place.

“I was so impressed with this horse,” said Martin. “He’s a little bit nervous and tricky in the warmup, and then he comes out of the start box, and he’s just all business. He really dug deep. Shoutout to Liz [Halliday] who’s watching at home. She did a wonderful job getting this horse to the top. He’s a pleasure and an honor to ride.”

Martin took one long route on course after Caroline’s fall to ensure a clear round. While many riders were concerned about the twistiness of the course, Martin felt comfortable and prepared.

“I feel like I’ve sort of seen every version of the sport, so honestly there was no surprises for me,” he said. “I rode Luhmühlen [five-star] a month ago, and Pau [five-star] last year with this horse. He’s not that good at turning, and I knew he’d get tired there at about 8 minutes, and the last two minutes he just gut-sed it out, and I’ve got immense appreciation for this horse to grind it out.”

Will Coleman was the last to go on the Diabolo Group's 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding Diabolo (Diarado x Roulett M), winner of this year’s Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.

The pair put in a double-clear round to move into sixth place individually.

“He was amazing. He was better than the rider today. I give him all the credit,” said Coleman. “He’s an amazing horse. I can’t say enough good things about him as a horse and as a partner.”

“Dab” had better energy today than for his dressage test yesterday, he said. “I don’t know where it’s been all week. He can be a hot horse, but he’s been pretty quiet. It’s been driving my wife and [groom Erin Jarboe] pretty crazy, wondering if there’s something wrong with him or if he’s alright, and he’s fine.”

Dab had no trouble with the intense and “frenetic” course today, according to Coleman. “He’s never been here before. There’s places out there where I opened him up a bit and struggled to get him back the way I was accustomed to,” he explained. “But it’s that pace and that acceleration—he’ll get something out of doing this, and he’ll be better at doing this type of course going forward.”

Coleman was relieved to bring home a clear for the team and said he appreciated him teammates’ intel as they finished.

“I thought it rode the way I anticipated it to ride,” he said. “The time ended up, I wouldn’t say easy, but gettable. When you’re going for time, even the simplest stuff gets a little bit harder, but that’s Aachen. It’s that way even when it’s 7 minutes. I’ve been here a few times now and I’m glad to have had that experience because I know the place pretty well.”

Tamie Smith and Lillet 3, Molly Duda's 10-year-old Holsteiner mare (Livello x Princess L), were in eighth place after dressage but added 8 time penalties to drop to 18^th place. Smith is riding as an individual.

“She was super. She was everything I hoped she would be,” she said. “It was fast and furious, and I found out a lot about her. She’s such a cross-country machine. She felt incredible.”

In the team competition, Great Britain leads on 75.6 with three riders after Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley were eliminated.

Home team Germany is in silver position on 90.4 with Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH in the individual lead on 23.0.

Switzerland is bronze position on 106.5.

Show jumping gets underway on on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. local time, which equates to 11:30 a.m. EST.

Helpful Links

• FEI World Championships Aachen Website
• Schedule of Events
• Live Scores
• Livestream
• USEA’s Coverage

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