H&H magazine and eventing editor Pippa Roome reflects on the Defender-sponsored US five-star and shares her favourites to win the title at Mars Badminton
Kentucky is one of those places where they say, “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” Event week this year lived up to that, with everything from biting wind to monsoon-like rain and blazing sun.
Ask any foreign rider why they come to Kentucky and they say they just love it there; it’s easy to see why. The permanent facilities at the Kentucky Horse Park are excellent, the main stadium is impressive and Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course always gets a result without punishing horses.
The Americans also can’t do enough for their visitors. You know as soon as they hear a British accent, they’ll ask where you’re from and give you a warm welcome. At the Wednesday night party for riders, connections and officials – held at the immaculate sales complex at Fasig-Tipton – they lay on a lavish buffet and free bar.
I flew to Kentucky early this year and spent four days with family as tourists before the event. I’d never even looked at the horse park’s offerings, including a 64,000sq ft museum dedicated to horses, and there’s plenty to do in the local area too, from watching racing or early morning training at Keeneland to bourbon distillery tours and much more.
The riders who travel to Kentucky from Europe are understandably the cream of their country’s crop – few people will put a horse on a plane without even a hope of winning back their airfare. Boyd Martin proved he can mix it with those competitors, with three horses in the top seven, all of whom put in double jumping clears, but otherwise the US riders were off the pace.
There were bright sparks for the home side in their first-timers, all five of whom completed. At opposite ends of the age scale, Mary Bess Davis, 46, and Shannon Lilley, 45, have both had long journeys to five-star – while Cassie Sanger is just 20 and will be in Britain later this year, based with Ros Canter, courtesy of the Wilton Fair Grant.
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The US team don’t have a championship this year – their regional championship, the Pan American Games, is four-yearly, falling in the season before the Olympics, unlike our Europeans, which take place every other year. That will give time for new team managers Leslie Law and Karyn Shuter to establish themselves and build towards the Aachen World Championships in 2026.
Olympians head-to-head at Badminton
Trying to pick a winner in the Mars Badminton Horse Trials field, it’s hard to see past Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, who won there in 2023, were European champions that season and took Burghley last autumn after team gold in Paris. Ros was a wide-margin winner two years ago, which might not happen again in easier conditions, but “Walter” has only gained in experience since then.
Their closest challengers could well be their Olympic team-mates Tom McEwen and JL Dublin or Oliver Townend and the all-time great Ballaghmor Class, who has an extraordinarily consistent five-star record, iced by four wins, although none of them at Badminton (yet). Tom starts with the benefit of having got his eye in for a big track at Kentucky.
If you want a longer-priced one to watch, consider Tim Price and Vitali. This lovely little horse has historically been let down by his showjumping and his single fence down at Burghley last year to hold second drew a huge cheer in the press office; it was one of the moments of the season. Hopefully it wasn’t a one-off.
The Prices didn’t have luck on their side in Kentucky – only one of Tim’s three rides went clear across country and two, including the well-placed Jarillo, were withdrawn on Sunday morning, while Jonelle had a run-out on Hiarado. Team Price will hope to turn the tide in Gloucestershire.
● Who do you fancy for the Badminton title? Write to hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and county, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
