Gemma was riding her Hickstead Eventers Challenge winner Cooley Park Muze, a nine-year-old gelding owned by the Rex Syndicate, who is known for his exceptional jumping ability and scored a huge personal best in this phase for 22.9.
“This was completely not expected!” said Gemma. “He’s still very green, having only evented for two years, since he was seven. But I’ve always believed he could get a really good score, it was just about getting it together on the day.
“He has the most amazing brain, he’s not bothered at all by any sort of atmosphere. Today he was really with me, happy and settled.”
Gemma was first into the GFS Saddles arena with Chilli’s Jester, scoring 33.3, but it was her second ride Cooley Park Muze who sauntered into the top spot towards the end of the first day of dressage. Fiona Kashel and Monbeg Cazador, who were 13th in this class last year, sit in second on 25. Gemma noted that the four-star test plays to her dressage leader’s strengths.
“He has an incredibly light contact, and I rode him in a thick rubber snaffle with a very loose noseband,” Gemma explained. “I managed to get him taking the bit more forward than I have done in his three-star tests. The four-star test suits him because you can ride him more forward and he likes being ridden like that.
“He has the most amazing canter, he’s very good at his sideways work and it all came off and the judges absolutely loved him.
Horse & Hound Newsletter
Never miss out on the latest happenings in the equestrian world
“Even though it’s a shock today, I’ve known that he has it in him to do that sort of score. I just hope we can now do him justice and carry on like this for the rest of this show and career going forward. He’s a very exciting horse.”
How the Blenheim Horse Trials dressage phase played out on day one
For a long while, it had been a day of tight scores at the head of the leaderboard, ever since New Zealander Samantha Lissington was second into the arena on the Finnish-bred Lucas Stone, scoring 29.5 for top spot, where she stayed until lunchtime.
Australia’s Kevin McNab snuck into the lead by 0.1 of a penalty with Wilfred Lancer, and then Britain’s George Hilton-Jones crept ahead by the same tiny margin, for 29.3, aboard Feardorcha Diamond MH on the horse’s first attempt at four-star. Samantha also steered her second ride, Malibu TS, into this bracket for 29.8.
Finally the 29 deadlock was broken midway through the afternoon when Fiona Kashel sailed out in front on her own and Frank Breach’s Monbeg Cazador, who scored 25, and the floodgates opened. Gemma conjured by far the horse’s best mark at any level, before Sian Coleman also came into the mix with Kilroe Frolic on 26.8.
At the end of the day one, here are the dressage standings:
Gemma Stevens and Cooley Park Muze: 22.9
Fiona Kashel and Monbeg Cazador: 25
Sian Coleman and Kilroe Frolic: 26.8
George Hilton-Jones and Feardorcha Diamond MH: 29.3
Kevin McNab and Wilfred Lancer: 29.4
Samantha Lissington and Lucas Stone: 29.5
To stay up to date with all the breaking news from the Blenheim European Championships and other major shows throughout 2025, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website
You may also be interested in:
(Image credit: Agria Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials/1st Class Images)
Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now
Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
