Martin and Luke 140 Take the Early Lead at MARS Maryland 5 Star
Elkton, Md.—Oct. 16—A score of 31.0 slotted Boyd Martin and Luke 140 in the lead in the MARS Maryland 5 Star following day 1 of dressage on Thursday.
“I was pretty happy with Luke,” reflected Martin. “He's a very talented horse, and he's got an amazing ability. The biggest challenge I've got is to keep him settled under a lot of atmosphere and that was my biggest challenge today, just trying to keep him cool. He went around and did a very, very nice test.”
Since winning the inaugural Maryland 5 Star in 2021 with On Cue, Martin has been aiming to add a second “hometown” win to his resume. He entered the Luke 140 Syndicate’s 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Landos x Omega IV) and Commando 3, who will compete in the dressage phase tomorrow.
He’d planned to take Cooley Nutcracker and Fedarman B (who’s since been withdrawn due to a minor injury) to the Pau CCI5*-L in France next week, and felt the big, bold cross-country course at Maryland would suit Luke for his next five-star start. Luke had a seventh place finish at this spring’s Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event.
“I think Maryland's more sort of Kentucky-ish, Badminton, Burghley-ish, and then Pau’'s sort of a little bit more like Adelaide and Luhmühlen,” he said. “It's just as challenging, but a flat, twisty, more technical course. We just had to figure out which horse could go where and do the best we can.”
Martin has jumped one of new course designer Pierre Le Goupil’s cross-country courses before at the Olympic Games in Paris last year, so he thought he knew what to expect, but he found himself shocked while walking the five-star track here at Fair Hill.
“That course looked like a Pony Club course compared to this,” Martin said of the track in Paris. “I was surprised how challenging this course looks. I was not expecting it to be so strong, but we're here, and it looks like we've got a mission ahead of us with big fences and a different look. I think it's great that America's got a different European course designer. We've had so many years of Derek [di Grazia] and Ian Stark and Mark Phillips, and to get Pierre here, it's definitely a different style of course. He's very creative in his ideas, and it’s sort of a tricky competition to prepare for with our cross-country schooling, because we’re just not familiar with it, so deep down, I'm nervous as hell just because it's a little bit out of what I'm used to, but I’ve got two pretty good horses that should do well.”
Caroline Pamukcu had a personal best day with She’s The One who rode her dressage test to the tune of “Maneater” by Hall and Oates (riders could choose what songs to ride to).
“I'm really proud of the mare,” said Pamukcu. “She's 10 this year, but she's had quite a bit of experience. The team last year sent us over to compete on Millstreet [Ireland], which was a great experience for her and me, and then this year they sent us over to Arville [Belgium]. I'm really thankful for the Federation [USEF] to keep putting a little bit of energy and time into her and giving me the opportunity so that this sort of atmosphere, she's getting quite used to it.”
The Anglo European mare (Jaguar Mail x One to Watch) received a 31.4 from the judges. Pamukcu has two other entries in the five-star here at Maryland, HSH Tolan King, who is sitting in fifth currently with a 39.5, and her Paris Olympic Games partner HSH Blake, who will be making his five-star debut tomorrow. This is also HSH Tolan King’s first five-star start, while She’s The One started the dressage at Kentucky this year, but was withdrawn before cross-country. Pamukcu felt that Maryland was the right fit for them all for different reasons.
“I live two hours away, so it’s a bit easier than a plane ride, and I want to support our country and our country’s events,” she noted. “My first two horses, Tolan King and She’s The One, they’re both nearly full Thoroughbreds, I think they’re both 80% Thoroughbred, so that’s a big reason for me. For Blake, a big thing is that he's kind of grown up with Pierre’s courses— he did Pan Ams as an 8-year-old, and the Olympics as a 9-year-old, so I thought it was a good kind of chronological order.”
In third place is Jennie Brannigan riding Nina and Tim Gardner’s 15-year-old German Sport Horse gelding FE Lifestyle (Leo Von Faelz x Berina) with a score of 32.8.
“I'm super happy with his work. He got a little tense at the end, and [there were] a couple things I could have cleaned up. I hope his score stays competitive, but I was just so pleased with him. At the end of the day, I think that's the best five-star test he's done.”
The remaining 11 in the five-star field will complete their dressage test on Friday starting at 2:00 p.m. before they all head out to the field to test Le Goupil’s first Maryland 5 Star cross-country track.
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