United States Eventing Association

The standings after today’s CCI4*-S show jumping at the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International shuffled with 14 double-clear rounds out of 35 to start, but Liz Halliday stayed right where she was at the top of the leaderboard aboard Miks Master C.

Liz Halliday’s found the perfect formula to set up her top horses for their spring three-days, and it always includes the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International. She’s found herself in a strong position for the win after day 1’s dressage, taking the top three spots aboard Miks Master C (22.5), Cooley Moonshine (25.5), and Cooley Quicksilver (27.1). She also slotted into fifth with Cooley Nutcracker (28.5).

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 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.

When Will Coleman first sat on Chin Tonic HS as a 3-year-old, he knew the horse oozed talent on the flat and over jumps, but his future as a top-level eventing horse wasn’t so certain.

“He was a pretty stunning horse,” he said. “You watched him trot up and you were just kind of drooling over him, even at that stage. I rode him in this very small indoor [in Europe], and you couldn’t believe that you were riding a 3-year-old horse. Just the presence and the way that he sort of just connected into the bridle was just a very incredible, athletic feeling but he was not really a galloping horse. He was more of dressage and show jumping breeding, so I think it’s taken him a little while to develop a step on cross-country.”

Sometimes you just have to be a goldfish, as Ted Lasso says to his team on the Apple TV series of the same name—forget what happened quickly and move on.

Will Coleman came into the CCI4*-S show jumping today at the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International on top of the class with Chin Tonic HS and in third with Off The Record, but by the end of the class he was ready to forget his wild day.

Will Coleman came to the Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International with two totally opposite horses in Off The Record and Chin Tonic HS, but at the end of dressage day for the CCI4*-S, they both proved they have one thing in common—talent in the sand box.