United States Eventing Association

Dutton and Denim Deliver following Dressage Day 1 in Cosequin CCI4*-S at Defender Kentucky

Lexington, Ky.—April 24— “It's day 1, so I'm not getting too excited yet. There's a long, long way to go in this competition,” said Phillip Dutton after his dressage test aboard Denim in the Cosequin CCI4*-S leaving the pair in the overnight lead upon the conclusion of the first day of dressage at the 2025 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.

The seven-time Olympian and the Holsteiner gelding (Dinken x Celia II) owned by Caroline Moran, Ann Jones, Ann Lapides, and Neill Sites were 12th in the order of go this morning and secured the early lead with a score of 25.6. Dutton was really proud of the “baby” of his barn for his performance in the Rolex Stadium today.

“I can’t be more proud of Denim,” he shared. “He’s 10-years-old now and decently experienced. He’s been to Boekelo and Blenheim and also [Le] Lion, so he’s traveled a lot in his short career, but he’s still regarded in our family as a bit of a baby. So he stepped up— he’s a great competitor.”

When looking at the 2025 season, Dutton didn’t want to push Denim towards a five-star just yet, noting that maybe in the fall he would be ready for that next step.

“It’s quite early on in the year. I just think a little bit more time might be helpful for him, and after seeing the cross-country, I am kind of glad,” he said with a chuckle. “This five-star here is a bloody hard five-star, and I don't want to break his heart, you know. So I think picking a five-star that would be a little bit easier and less challenging on Saturday would be ideal for him.

“I think in another couple of years, he'll be much more seasoned,” he continued. “Strength-wise, he's not the biggest horse, and so I think he has to try pretty hard in all phases. I’m really excited about his future, and the best is still to come.”

Dutton has another entry in the CCI4*-S this year in Possante who will execute his dressage test on Friday, but he also has his attention on his daughter, Olivia Dutton, who is competing his former five-star mount Sea of Clouds in the CCI4*-S for the second year in a row.

“I have double duty here as a father and overseeing Olivia, and I couldn’t be more proud of the way that she rode a couple of minutes ago with Sea of Clouds. Certainly, it's a great experience for her and us as a family to go through this and hopefully, it's going to be a good experience for all involved,” he said.

Caroline Pamukcu and her 2024 Paris Olympic partner HSH Blake held onto the second-place position for most of the day, but they were bumped back to third after West Coast young rider and former USEA Emerging Athlete U21 (EA21) national program athlete Molly Duda edged them out by just fractions of a point with a score of 27.7.

“I'm just so incredibly proud of this Disco,” reflected Duda. “I think he's always been a trickier horse on the flat—it’s not his favorite phase— but today, he definitely tried his heart out there for me, and I was so proud of him. I'm so grateful for all the support that I've gotten from Tamie Smith, Leslie Law in the developing program, and then from the EA21 program with David O'Connor, I feel very lucky and full of gratitude to everyone who's gotten me here.”

Duda and the 15-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding (Donatelli x Cadence) made their Kentucky debut here last year but unfortunately parted company on cross-country. She has spent the last 12 months developing her skills at the level, resulting in wins at the CCI4*-S and CCI4*-L levels in the lead-up to this year’s event.

“I think coming here [last year] was kind of a big step. It was a little ambitious. I felt like I was thrown a bit in the deep end,” she reflected. “I had only done one four-star at the time, but I was selected for the [USEF European Development Tour], and I was excited to go. I was feeling confident—and maybe a little too confident—and so I came here, and I was very humbled last year, so I'm hoping for redemption this year.”

She is hoping that her partnership with Disco and the progress they have made in recent months will help her achieve that redemption run on Saturday across Derek di Grazia’s four-star course.

“I just feel like Disco is an incredible horse. He's just one in a million, and he's my heart horse, and nothing ever rattles him,” she said. “Even after the fall last year, he came right back out, just the same, and we went over to Europe and had some great runs over there. He was amazing at Millstreet in the Nations Cup in Ireland and finished off the year strong with a win in our first four-long. So I think he's just gotten stronger and stronger and more confident, and I've gained an enormous amount of experience in the past year and learned from my mistakes. I'm feeling ready and really excited to have another crack at it.”

Pamukcu has her work cut out for her this weekend with HSH Blake in the CCI4*-S and two horses making their debuts at the five-star level, but she is used to staying busy both at home and competitions with balancing her busy career as an upper-level rider and her new role as a mom.

“Blake was fabulous today. I couldn't be proud of him,” she shared. “I definitely have to say he's been a little bit on the backburner this year. He's taking it easy after the Olympics last year, and with me having the baby, I just thought we'll just enjoy ourselves this year, and then hopefully have our eyes towards Aachen.”

Following his Olympics debut, Pamukcu turned out the now 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Tolan R x Doughiska Lass), owned by Mollie Hoff, Sherrie Martin, and Pamukcu and her husband Deniz Pamukcu, for a few months before bringing him back into light work before the arrival of her daughter, Blake, who is named after her beloved partner.

“I stopped competing in September, so all of the horses had September, October, and all of November off and just started gearing back up a little bit more like normal in December,” said Caroline. “I thought it was kind of nice, and it kind of worked out perfectly, because last year they were all 9 years old, so it's nice to just get them all a little bit of a break, let their bodies get a little bit more mature. I started riding, really the first week of February. Definitely, there's been some days where I can't do it all, so I have to put my other riders on them, but I've got such a great team with Sharon [White, my coach] and my other riders.”

The CCI4*-S will resume on Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. EST with the remaining 25 pairs in the 52-horse lineup completing their first phase before moving onto cross-country on Saturday.

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