United States Eventing Association

Lexington, Ky.—April 24— Try as they might, not a single horse and rider pair could top overnight leaders Tamie Smith and Danito’s dressage score of 27.0 in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, however there were two new pairs who joined them on the leaderboard following the second day of dressage.

A score of 28.1 slated Sharon White and her 2023 Pan American Games partner Claus 63 in second going into the final phase.

“He was really world class today,” White said of her own 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Catoo x Tina II). “He was very relaxed and very mature and well within himself, and that's what we've been working on our whole partnership. He’s 14 years young now; I feel like he's finally coming into his own. I'm super excited about the rest of the weekend.”

While Claus has previously competed in the five-star here at Kentucky, White made a conscious decision to campaign him in the CCI4*-S this spring.

“He had a bit of loss of form, so I'm doing what’s best for him and for me and to get him right back, confident, and very solid. And the four-short here is the best thing for that. The four-short here is certainly probably the one of the hardest sports in the world because of the atmosphere, because it's Kentucky, and there's so many people here. There's going to be so many people there on cross-country day, and that is so good for horses to learn before they go to championships. That’s the big reason that [the CCI4*-S at Kentucky] makes it harder than anything else for the four-short level.”

Sitting in third after dressage in her first time competing in the United States is not a bad place for Elizabeth Barratt to be. She brought over Barratt Eventing’s 14-year-old Selle Francais gelding Ride For Thais Chaman Dumontceau (Top Berlin du Temple x Cocagne Des Pins) to Kentucky as part of a new initiative in England called the Rising Lions.

“We got given the incredible opportunity to come here by a new initiative called the Rising Lions, which has sent myself and two other under 25 riders over to Kentucky to compete here and gain experience by coming to one of the biggest events in the world. It was an amazing opportunity.”

Barratt got the ride on “Chaman” in the spring of 2025 after acquiring him from French rider Stephane Landois. The horse’s name is a tribute to his former rider, Thais Chaman who lost her life in 2019 in a riding accident.

“He's a super special horse,” said Barratt. “He's done lots before with a French rider, and I took over the ride on him at the start of last season. So we spent all of last season doing three-stars, young rider classes, and stepped up to the four-star level at the end of the season. Last year was really good to get to know each other and feel like we’ve come out this year, and we've got a really strong partnership.”

Her decision to compete at Kentucky was made in hopes of testing her abilities in a whole new atmosphere.

“I've only done a couple of four-stars before– I've done two on this horse, and then one on another horse that I've got,” she said. “I'm very new to the level, so it was a good opportunity to come and ride a different track, a slightly stronger track than what we used to do in the UK, and something slightly different whilst I'm still kind of getting to grips with the level.”

She feels the terrain will be quite different from what she is used to riding at home and is planning accordingly.

“For me, I think the main difference from the courses that I'm used to riding in Europe would be the terrain-–you're kind of always either galloping up a hill or down a hill or turning to a fence,” she said. “You're never really on the flat, or you don't really have too much time to think in between. There's always something that you've got to be thinking about. So, I think it will definitely require full concentration the whole way around, because even the singular fences that you would normally call a let up fence, they're either off a turn or slightly go downhill, so it's definitely going to require a lot of concentration.”

Cross-country for the CCI4*-S begins on Saturday, April 25 at 9:00 a.m.

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