United States Eventing Association

McEwen Maintains His Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L Lead

Lexington, Ky.—April 27—At the end of an eventful day of cross-country at the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L, three British riders rose to the top of the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L, led by dressage leaders Tom McEwen and JL Dublin.

The pair had a few time penalties in hand over second-placed Yasmin Ingham on Banzai du Loir, and they used just enough, adding 4 time penalties to finish on 28.6. Ingham and “Banzai” remained in second place with 5.6 time penalties (31.6), while Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent jumped up from eighth after dressage with .4 time penalties (31.8).

McEwen is hoping for a win this weekend after finishing second last year behind U.S. pair Tamie Smith and Mai Baum. British selectors have indicated that riders can choose how to best prepare and showcase their horses this spring for possible Paris Olympic selection this summer, so all three Brits chose to come to Kentucky to compete under pressure and put in a good five-star result.

“I knew coming here that Dublin’s the most incredible horse, and realistically he should be right up there,“ said McEwen of James and Jo Lambert and Deirdre Johnston’s 13-year-old warmblood gelding (Diarado x Zarinna). “Realistically the pressure was performing up to what I know the horse can do and trying to put it together on the day. We’ve all come here to compete for a very competitive place on the team. It’s amazing [to be here.] To run around the park over Derek’s [di Grazia’s] course is a privilege, and I must say it was really a rider’s track today. If you worked hard, it was right in front of you.”

Ingham was out for some redemption after leading the dressage in 2023 and then picking up 20 penalties on cross-country with Janette Chinn and the Sue Davies Fund’s 13-year-old Selle Français gelding (Nouma d’Auzay x Gerboise du Cochet), and she’s in the hunt for her first five-star win.

“He was brilliant today,” she said. “He gave me a super ride, and everything pretty much went to plan, which is great. Sometimes it doesn’t. It was nice to have a good round today. We just had one small moment at the Head of the Lake where I was a bit close to the corner, but he was super honest and dead onto the line. It just made me so happy that he was looking through the flags and picking up the fences so easily. As Tom said, it’s a privilege to ride around this beautiful park. It’s a pleasure to be here.”

You can’t count Townend out either for the win, as he’s competing in his 100^th five-star start. The three-time Kentucky winner is also world no. 1 on the FEI rankings.

He brought Cooley Rosalent, a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare (Valent x Bellaney Jewel) owned by Diana and Paul W. Ridgeon, to Kentucky in hopes of having her in the mix of his Paris hopefuls. They had a good go last fall at the MARS Maryland 5 Star, but Townend’s been careful to produce the mare who he’s had since she was 4.

“She’s been to Maryland and here, and both have got terrain, and both are speed competitions as well as anything. She’s proved that she copes with the crowd. She’s proved that she copes with quick tracks, and she definitely on an upwards trajectory with the way she’s finding the competitions,” he said. “She's only 10 this time, and it's a big gamble that whatever happens from this point paid off because the amounts she'll have learned out there is incredible. Every distance that I wanted, I just about got. I'm still very conscious when I'm riding around. Although I'm trying to be competitive, I'm also trying to half-produce, half-save for hopefully another seven years like we've had out of [five-star winner] Ballaghmor Class. So, it's always long term in mind.”

The top U.S. rider of the day was fan-favorite Mia Farley on David O’Connor’s 11-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding Phelps (Tiz Now x Boom Town Gal). They were one of two pairs to make the optimum time of 11 minutes 15 seconds over di Grazia’s track (the other was Germany’s Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH). As a result of their current fifth place standing, they’re leading the Defender/USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship.

“I think with Phelps and a lot of Thoroughbreds, you kind of set a tone in the beginning of the course, and that’s what they have for the rest of it. But what I find cool is at the end of the course if you ask them to go, they have it,” said Farley. “Before Phelps I had a warmblood, and you didn’t have many options at the end, but with Phelps, he’s giving me everything, and the Thoroughbred blood and fitness plays a part.”

Farley acknowledged some pressure heading out on course today—she and Phelps were the only pair to make the time at the MARS Maryland 5 Star last fall in their five-star debut—and she had plenty of loud cheers as she galloped around.

“A little bit of pressure, but it was a lot of fun,” she said. “Phelps was bred in Kentucky, and a lot of people noticed him at Maryland. I came here, and it was a little bit more nerve-wracking than Maryland because I knew that I could do it, and it was just up to me to give him the ride that he needed. It was very fun to have a lot of support.”

Thirty-two pairs started cross-country today, and 25 finished. Four pairs retired on course. Canada’s Lisa Marie Fergusson and Honor Me fell just four from home at the Park Question, but Fergussion wrote on her social media that “Tali” is fine. Phillip Dutton and five-star first-timer Quasi Cool fell at the last fence. The gelding was down for a few minutes and was vanned off course, but Dutton later released the following statement: "Quasi Cool tried so hard out there today. When we got to the final fence, he was tired, and I asked him to leave a bit too long. He chipped in and fell. He's absolutely fine now, and he's resting comfortably in his stall and receiving fluids."

Dutton went on to ride Azure to her first five-star cross-country completion.

Zach Brandt completed the course with Direct Advance but was eliminated in the vet box by the ground jury. He released the following statement: "I am so immensely proud of 'Rosco' for his incredible effort today jumping a clear round around a hard track. Unfortunately, the ground jury chose to eliminate him this evening after the cross-country was over due to him being so tired coming home. While we completely respect their decision, we are ultimately gutted as Rosco recovered very well and trotted up looking absolutely amazing and sound this evening. The most important thing about this sport is the horses, so Rosco's well-being and overall health is paramount, and we are of course so happy that he looks so great. We are proud of his effort having never lost his jump, and we will be back in the fall with some very exciting plans."

Hannah Sue Hollberg withdrew Captiol H I M before cross-country after she had a fall in the CCI4*-S from another horse.

Read more about what happened on course here.

The final horse inspection kicks off tomorrow at 8:50 a.m. EST for the five-star horses, with show jumping starting at 2:15 p.m.

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