United States Eventing Association

Nine years ago, Tamie Smith and Mai Baum traveled from their homebase in California and took the East Coast eventing scene by storm, winning the Dutta Corp. Fair Hill International CCI4*-L.

The 2023 Woodside Spring H.T. served as a celebration of the successes of the West Coast eventers that competed in the Kentucky Three-Day Event, as well as what’s in store for the future of the sport in California. On the eve of competition on Thursday, organizers at the Woodside Horse Trials held a party in honor of both Tamie Smith’s historic win in the Kentucky five-star and the team of cross country builders led by Bert Wood that unveiled new courses at The Horse Park. Derek di Grazia designed the new Advanced and Intermediate tracks, with Wood designing the new tracks for Preliminary through Starter.

Lexington, Ky.—April 30—Tamie Smith headed into the Rolex Stadium this afternoon with a lot of weight on her shoulders. She’d missed out on the Land Rover Kentucky win in 2021 when Mai Baum dropped a frangible pin on cross-country, and last fall, two uncharacteristic rails in show jumping at the FEI World Eventing Championship (Italy) dropped her out of medal contention.

Lexington, Ky.—April 30—When Hot Bobo first joined Karl Slezak’s barn, the Canadian rider posted on Facebook on December 13, 2017, “She’s finally here!!! After a very long journey from Ireland to England to France to Belgium then to New York for quarantine she finally made it to Florida! Meet Hot Bobo!!!!” The Monart Sale in Ireland, from where “Bobo” was sourced as a 4-year-old, shared the post to its page, saying, “We can’t wait to see how they get on!”

Lexington, Ky.—April 29—Hot Bobo has always been a a little tricky and sensitive on cross-country, so when Karl Slezak decided to bring her to the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S, he knew it wouldn’t just be Derek di Grazia’s course that would be a challenge—it would also be the crowds of people at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Lexington, Ky.—April 29—Tamie Smith has been partnered with Mai Baum for eight years, and they’ve been all over the world together. With a top-10 finish at Badminton Horse Trials (England) last spring and a top-10 finish and team silver medal with the U.S. team at the FEI World Eventing Championships (Italy) last fall, 17-year-old “Lexus” has only been getting better as he moves into the twilight of his career.

Lexington, Ky.—April 27—While Tom McEwen has enjoyed soaking up the local Kentucky bourbon and racehorse culture this week, the British rider came to the U.S. for a much more important reason—taking a shot at the top spot at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event. He’s started his weekend off right, taking the lead on the first day of dressage with Jo and James Lambert and Deidre Johnston’s JL Dublin on a score of 22.6 in his first trip to the Kentucky Horse Park.

Lexington, Ky.—April 27—Liz Halliday-Sharp has barely had Cooley Nutcracker in her barn for a year, but she and the 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding (Tolant R x Ballyshan Cleopatra) have forged a formidable partnership.

Formerly campaigned by French rider Astier Nicolas to the CCI3*-L level, Halliday-Sharp and the gelding won the Rebecca Farm CCI3*-L (Kalispell, Montana) last year and the Bromont CCI3*-S (Quebec, Canada) before moving up the Advanced level.

James Alliston finished first and second in the CCI4*-S at the Twin Rivers Spring International in Paso Robles, California, on Sunday with the two horses he plans to take to this year’s Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event—Nemesis for the Kentucky five-star and Karma for the four-star.

The top West Coast eventers produced show jumping rounds worthy of the big applause they received around the show jumping ring at the Twin Rivers Spring International in Paso Robles, California, on Friday evening.