Despite it being an American event, American champions have been hard to come by over the last 18 years in the CCI5*-L at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian (K3DE), with only Tamie Smith’s 2023 win standing out in a sea of foreign victories. But Will Coleman has entered his name into the record books as just the second American in nearly two decades to take home the top prize. He and Diabolo added just 0.8 time penalties in the final phase to finish on a score of 28.1 and take home the trophy.
Double-clear show jumping rounds propelled Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake (28.6) and Great Britain’s David Doel on Galileo Neiuwmoed (30.8) to second and third respectively. Overnight leader, New Zealand’s Monica Spencer and Artist, dropped three rails to fall to seventh.
“I probably can’t put it into words,” said Coleman of his victory abord the Diabolo Group’s Holsteiner gelding. “It’s a surreal feeling; it’s something we all dream about. Winning (a five-star) is the hardest thing to do in equestrian sports, and I feel like (all the riders) deserve the win. It’s such a hard game, it takes so long to get good enough at it to contend at this level.
“I have so much respect for the sport, and the horses and riders, so it feels like it’s unfair that I’m the only one that gets to take home the win,” he continued. “But I’m overjoyed for the horse and all who are involved in his journey — the owners, my family, my coaches, and our staff at home. I wake up most days feeling like the luckiest guy in the world and today I feel extremely lucky.”
As the highest-placed American, Coleman is also the winner of the Defender/USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship presented by MARS Equestrian for the U.S. riders.
Coleman owns another record following his win, as he and Diabolo are now the first pair to win both the CCI4*-S (in 2024) and the CCI5*-L in Kentucky. This is Diabolo’s first CCI5*-L, but Coleman always knew his horse was capable of great things.
“I always thought he would get there,” Coleman said. “His route was unique — I did a four-long two years ago. But (my wife) Katie and I and our owners all sort of had a high opinion of this horse, and always thought he had a high ceiling.
“I thought he was a winner the first time I laid eyes on him,” he added. “He has an eagerness to him that we felt if we could channel the right way, he was capable of big things.”
Australian connections
Both Diabolo and Will Coleman’s CCI4*-S runner-up at Kentucky, Very Dignified, have strong Australian connections.
Diabolo (by Diarado out of Roulett M, by Aljano 2) was formerly owned by Karen Tinney and Tim Game and was campaigned in Australia by Gemma Tinney. The Tinneys purchased “Dab” at the Holsteiner Verband Elite Auction in November 2016, and Gemma enjoyed considerable success with the gelding, winning and placing at both CCN and FEI level.
In 2021, Diabolo and Gemma Tinney finished second in the CCI4*S at the Sydney Three-Day Event, followed by a third-place finish at Tamworth in 2022. The horse was subsequently sold to the United States in 2023.
The sale was facilitated by Australian-based equine agent Sharon Ridgway. Several years later, Sharon suggested another horse she believed Will would love — a mare named Very Dignified. Despite not having had a mare in his yard for years, Will travelled to Ireland to see the horse and ultimately purchased her.
Caroline Pamukcu and David Doel fill the podium
Pamukcu chased the top placings all weekend — and had two other horses in the division to boot — but was thrilled with the horse she calls her “best friend.” She also finished 14th with HSH Tolan King.
“I’m really proud of (all my) horses,” she said. “I’ve got incredible horses and I try every day to be the best person I can be. It’s the hardest sport, and I try to do the best I can for my horses, and today, (Blake) helped me out a lot. He’s such a special horse and he made up for everything that I lacked.”
Pamukcu starts every day with Blake and even named her daughter after him. He was originally purchased in Ireland for resale, but after three vettings where potential buyers backed out, she realized she would be genuinely sad to part with him, despite falling off of him in their first event together.
“I was able to keep the ride, I found an owner for him and it’s just one of those stories where we grew up together,” she said. “He’s been there through a lot of my milestones in life; competition milestones and the birth of my daughter. (Every) morning, I wake up and turn on the lights and say good morning to him. He’s a great person, and very spoiled, just like my child.”
Doel and Galileo Neiuwmoed were the only pair to finish on their dressage score, adding no penalties the entire weekend and slowly moving their way up from 12th after dressage to third overall.
“I’m very lucky,” Doel said. “He’s a bit of an unreal horse. He’s now done every northern hemisphere CCI5*-L and finished in the top ten in all of them . . . I had a super ride on all three days. It’s rare to get all phases right and he nailed it this weekend.”
Doel and his family own a dairy farm and ice cream business back in England and he said everyone had stayed up late to watch the performance and root for them. Though landing 12th after dressage may have made some riders nervous, Doel had faith in his mount.
“I was feeling fantastic after dressage,” he said with a laugh. “The horses ahead of him moved better and went better, and I was thrilled with his test. The (dressage) scores have been coming slowly down, and we know he loves to gallop and jump and is an absolute athlete. You always need a little bit of luck, and on cross country he lost a shoe and bashed his stifle, so it’s a testament to him that he looked as good as he was today. I’m chuffed with him.”
Double-clear show jumping rounds weren’t common in the CCI5*-L, but there were a few notable moments. In addition to Pamukcu and Doel, Great Britain’s Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality, Phillip Dutton and Possante, Boyd Martin on both of his mounts (Cooley Nutcracker and Commando 3), Great Britain’s Tom Jackson and Plot Twist B, and Ireland’s Padraig McCarthy and Pomp N Circumstance all brought home double-clears.
The top three riders all had praise for designer Guilherme Jorge’s course.
“He’s a fantastic course designer, one of best in the world,” Coleman said. “The time allowed in CCI4*-S was extremely tight, so I was a little worried in the CCI5*-L, but I thought he got the balance pretty right. It was difficult but not over the top. He made good sport without carnage, which is important after what they do for us on Saturday.”
“When I was walking it, you could see where they wheeled (to measure the time) and it was so inside . . . so I was very paranoid about time allowed, but it rode better than I expected,” Pamukcu said. “After hearing a couple jump double-clear early, I took a bit of a deep breath.”
“For event horses, there were a lot of twists and turns, and it is difficult on the last day to keep twisting and turning,” Doel said. “But they jumped really well on the surface. I think the track was very fair, but it required riding and we’ve got some of the world’s top riders here.”
Top ten for Sophia Hill and Humble Glory
The ever-consistent Australian combination of Sophia Hill and off-the-track Thoroughbred Humble Glory produced another stellar CCI5*-L performance in Kentucky. The duo were looking as though they were going to jump clear until they had a rail at the very last fence. They completed the course under time, ultimately adding just the four faults to their score for a total of 41.1 and tenth place overall. Rising from =23rd after the dressage, Sophia and ‘Hughie’ were clear and under time on Saturday’s cross country – with their single show jumping rail the only addition to their dressage score across three days of competition.
Fellow Australian Ema Klugman had two rails and 1.6 time penalties with Chiraz to complete the horse’s first CCI5*-L in 23rd place. In the CCI4*-S, Ema jumped clear with RF Redfern, adding just 1.6 time penalties to finish on a score of 62.9 in 20th position.
Smith sets a record with the win in the CCI4*-S
When Tamie Smith cantered through the finish flags of the show jumping with a double-clear round on Molly Duda’s Lillet 3, she didn’t just win the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S, she also became the first person to have won both the CCI5*-L (in 2023) and now the CCI4*-S at Kentucky. (Though later that afternoon, Will Coleman would match this feat with his own win in the CCI5*-L.)
“She was super, I couldn’t have asked her to be better,” Smith said of the 10-year-old Holsteiner mare. “She came out just enough to rise to the occasion and didn’t get tense or tight and jumped amazing. She keeps going from strength to strength and she was so ridable and tried her heart out. I don’t think she even touched a rail.”
There were plenty of clean show jumping rounds to go around, but only Smith managed to leave all the rails up and incur no time penalties. Coleman and Very Dignified jumped clean and added 1.6 time penalties to hold on to second place, and Mia Farley and Invictus added only 0.4 to stay in third. Sharon White and Claus 63 moved in to fourth with 1.6 time penalties after Dan Kreitl and Carmango lowered two jumps.
“The time was very influential in show jumping, and I’ll admit I didn’t think was achievable,” Smith said. “Good riding was happening and they still were not making the time. I just went in and rode to the plan of me and my coach [Australia’s] Scott Keach and it worked. It’s very rewarding to be the only double clear.”
In addition to his big win in the CCI5*-L, and Very Dignified’s top performance in the CCI4*-S, Coleman also had a strong showing in the class with his other horse, Team Rebecca’s Fahrenheit Addict also adding only 1.6 time to move into fifth.
“(Very Dignified’s) awesome, I love this mare,” he said of the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse. “She’s very opinionated, kind of an alpha female and really classy. I thought she was great all weekend. We didn’t have the dressage she’s capable of, but she jumped great for me today. This is her first advanced start of the year, so all things considered, I’m thrilled. It was Fahrenheit Addict’s first advanced run of the year too, and I thought he put forth a nice run.”
Farley was thrilled with her round on “Sammy” a 10-year-old American Warmblood owned by Karen O’Connor, especially after she admitted to learning to work through nerves on the final day.
“It was weird, I felt normal today, which is not how I normally feel going into Sundays with my other experienced horse,” she said with a laugh. “So today I just decided I wanted to ride the best I could and Sammy and I together answered everything. He jumped really well and really high. I’m so impressed with him and it was also nice to feel myself answer those questions.”
Other notable award winners:
Breeder of the Winning Horse: Fritz Maschamann
Highest-Placed-International Rider: David Doel of Great Britain and Galileo Neiuwmoed
Highest-Placed Young Rider: Braden Speck/BSF Liam
Highest-Placed Sole Owner/Rider: Alexander Conrad and Malibu Preacher
Highest-Placed Registered Thoroughbred: Artist/Monica Spencer
Buckeye Nutrition Best Turned-Out Award:
CCI5*-L: Brookfield Quality/Adam Short (groom)
CCI4*-S: Little Hail/Whitney Grabbe (groom)
Dubarry of Ireland Best-Dressed Award:
CCI5*-L (first inspection): Harry Meade
CCI5*-L (second inspection): Emily Hamel
CCI4*-S (final inspection): Laine Ashker
Richard Picken Sportsmanship Award: Alexander Conrad
James C. Wofford “On The Rise” Trophy: Alexander Conrad
Full results from Kentucky Three-Day Event can be found here.
You can re-watch every moment of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event via ClipMyHorse.TV.
Source: Event press release, edited by Equestrian Life
