United States Eventing Association

Great Britain's Ingham & Banzai du Loir Take the Early Lead at Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L

Lexington, Ky.—April 25—Great Britain’s Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir found themselves in a familiar position today at the top of the leaderboard after dressage at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, scoring a 26.0.

A year ago, Ingham and “Banzai” led the field heading into cross-country after Friday’s dressage, but they drew an earlier start this year, and Ingham’s got a few more challengers to come tomorrow.

“I think his test overall had some really brilliant highlights,” she said. “We’ve been working really hard recently on getting some more expression in the trot, and he carries himself so beautifully in the arena. He holds so much presence in there in between the boards. I think he definitely displayed that today. Maybe my first centerline could have been straighter, which is something I’ll work on for the next one, but he was mostly on the button and on my aid with all the movements, and he really excelled today.”

The 13-year-old Selle Français gelding (Nouma d’Auzay x Gerboise du Cochet), who’s owned by Janette Chinn and the Sue Davies Fund, had a big year in 2023. After finishing 18^th at Kentucky, he headed to Aachen (Germany) where he won the CCIO4*-S, then went to the FEI European Eventing Championships (France). Twenty penalties on cross-country marred their chances at an individual medal, but the pair earned team gold with Great Britain and went on to finish second at the Blenheim Palace CCI4*-L (England).

Last year, they picked up 20 penalties on cross-country at Kentucky, but Ingham, 26, tries to take everything in stride and learn when things don’t always go right, so she's excited to see what a year of experience will bring to the weekend.

“I like to take snippets away that I’ve learned from every event, and we’ve done a lot of training to try and perfect each phase,” she said. “We’re coming into this event having had lots of learning experiences. I always try to make a positive of maybe a not-so-ideal situation and maybe channel that into our next event. We’ve learned a lot in the past year, and I’m very excited to tackle the cross-country on Saturday.”

Ingham chose Kentucky for the third year in a row because she’s a fan of the grounds and of cross-country course designer Derek di Grazia’s track.

“I really enjoy riding around, and the ground is just brilliant, and the way Derek di Grazia produces the cross-country course and designs it is spectacular,” she said. “He’s asking lots of questions throughout the course from the beginning to the end, and he’s challenging the horses throughout so it will be really exciting to get out there on Saturday.”

Ingham’s Aachen teammate Kirsty Chabert is also returning to Kentucky after competing last year with Carole Somers, John Johnston, and Kate Ward’s Classic VI. The Ground Jury of Robert Stevenson (USA), Xavier Le Sauce (FRA), and Judy Hancock (GBR) awarded them with a score of 31.0 with placed them in second.

“I didn’t have the easiest entrance to the chute, so that got her a little bit more tense than I was hoping for,” she said. “But to be quite honest, she held it together. We know she can be a little spooky, so the work that she gave me in there was very pleasing. She definitely, as a whole, knows where she is. She knows it’s special.”

The 15-year-old Anglo-European mare (Calvaro F.C. x India Summer) has plenty of experience, most recently finishing sixth at the Pau CCI5*-L (France) last fall.

“At 15 years old, she’s actually improving, so hopefully she’s a really nice bottle of red wine and just keeps maturing with age,” said Chabert. “We’ve had a great prep—it’s obviously been very wet in England, but we managed to get over to Kronenberg [the Netherlands]. She ran a fantastic four-star there. I’ve come full of confidence, yes, but I’ve got Yas to my left, and I hope she’s still sat there on Sunday. I’ve got my own goals that I would like to achieve.”

Malin Hansen-Hotopp spent a few months in the U.S. with a host family after college, and now the 46-year-old has returned to compete in her first Kentucky with Bodil Ipsen’s Carlitos Quidditch K, a 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Quiwi Dream x Amsterdam). They’re currently in third place on a score of 31.1.

“He was a little bit nervous, so I just rode in and tried to relax, and he turned to trot [during the early canterwork]. I thought, ‘Ugh, how did that happen in Kentucky?’ So, I took a deep breath and decided to give my best and relax and try and get every point that I can get,” she said. “I think we did that. I think the trot things, at home he was a little bit better, but at canter, he was great and had great changes as well. I was happy.”

With the past couple of Badminton Horse Trials (England) experiencing wet ground for cross-country day, Hansen-Hotopp thought Kentucky would be a good first five-star for her longtime partner.

She found the gelding as a 5-year-old through a friend. “He was really grumpy, bucking all the time,” she said. “He was not so easy, but he did a great job when he was jumping. I had a horse who was jumping bad in show jumping, so my husband said, ‘Just buy him if you think that’s a good horse,’ so we bought him, and we just built up together. We’re just going up and up and up.”

The top U.S. rider for today was Hannah Sue Hollberg riding Christa Schmidt’s 17-year-old Holsteiner gelding Capitol H I M (Con Air 7 x O-Heraldika). They scored a 33.0 for sixth place.

“I’ve been working with Nicholas Fyffe. I worked with him before Fair Hill [the MARS Maryland 5 Star] and then over the winter, and he made a huge difference in my horse really quickly,” she said. “He had the best test he has ever had at Fair Hill, so I thought, ‘Oh maybe this guy’s got something!’ So I have been working with him, and I brought him here this week. He’s so good at just pushing me enough, but not boiling the horse over. I thought it went better than it’s ever been. I’m really happy with him. The first change wasn’t really good, but I thought he let me ride him, and it was like I was riding him at home basically.”

Sixteen five-star pairs cantered down centerline today, with the final 19 to go tomorrow starting at 1 p.m.

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