Elkton, Md.—Oct. 19

At the beginning of the year, Ballaghmor Class’ season got derailed by a “few niggles,” as rider Oliver Townend put it, and it would be easy to wonder whether that was the end of the 17-year-old gelding’s career. But on today’s cross-country, “Thomas” showed the prowess that’s helped him win three five-stars. The veteran put in a strong round with just 4.8 time penalties to move into the lead (31.3) on a day that saw just eight riders from a field of 22 complete the course.

“Unreal,” Townend said of how his longtime partner felt, with emotion in his voice. “Too keen. He knows he’s at a big one.”

Thanks to the mishaps earlier in the season, the Irish Sport Horse (Courage II—Kilderry Place) wasn’t quite fit enough to run at Burghley (England), where he’s won twice, so Townend decided to bring Thomas across the Atlantic.

“I’ve tried to mind him all the way because, you know, he is who he is, but he’s done it again,” said Townend. “And I got told if I was ahead of schedule on my minutes, then take the longer route after the skinny brush over the corner of the water [at the Sawmill Slices] because horses weren’t seeing that all day. I think he’d have jumped easily. But you know, I’m just trying to look after him and mind him, because, you know, he’s good.”

Dressage leaders Tamie Smith and Mai Baum were among those who struggled at the Sawmill Slices, and they retired after a refusal there, at Fence 17.

“He thinks he finished,” Smith said of the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky CCI5*-L winner, who was competing in his final five-star. “He literally ran out of steam, and I just came up and around, and he just didn’t have any steam. He didn’t have it in him. I already said if I had a problem, I would stop.”

Jumping into second place was Great Britain’s David Doel, who was the only rider to make the time. He was 24 seconds inside aboard Galileo Nieuwmoed, and now the pair sit within a rail of Townend on their dressage score of 34.5.

“He’s an absolute phenomenal galloper and jumper,” said Doel. “He was sort of 10 seconds up at about the 7-minute mark, and I just sort of felt like he kept on cruising, really. I just let him gallop underneath me, and he’s so smooth to ride I don’t really need to do too much on top. I really felt sort like he was phenomenal in his assessing of the flags today, and really tried to make sure he jumped between the flags.

“It was almost a little bit embarrassing going that quick, but he just was within his stride,” he said. “I never really felt like I was pushing him. I never felt like I was actually going to going to his limit. He definitely still felt like he had a few more gears in there.”

Doel decided to come to Maryland after the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Carambole—Sjaloma, Harcos) dealt with a hock infection this summer that put him off his schedule to go to Burghley, and his owner Gillian Jonas supported the choice to travel to the U.S. rather than contesting Pau (France) again.

“He just makes it feel so easy,” he said. “He’s an absolute privilege to ride. And probably, you know, a little bit of a freak as well, and one-off horse.”

Tim Price, who won this event in 2022 with Coup Du Coeur Dudevin, moved into third with Falco after adding just 7.2 time penalties to sit on a 34.6. While the 15-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Cardenio 2—Witta, Weinberg) has won Pau, he’s focused more on championships the past few years, which has yielded a pair of bronze medals at the 2022 FEI Eventing World Championships (Italy) and a sixth-place finish at the Paris Olympics this summer. He too had the choice of doing Pau again or taking the gelding to a new track and decided to bring him to Maryland.

“It’s the first hill he’s seen properly,” Price said. “He’s been a few places, but not like this. And he’s a horse that just keeps on delivering, keeps on showing how many facets he’s got. I’m just incredibly proud of him, because he’s tiny. We’re always surprised how small he is, and he does things out of pure will and desire and enjoyment.”

While five-stars fields are known to shrink on cross-country day, with just 22 starters at Maryland, the attrition was very apparent this year. Only eight finishing Ian Stark’s course today.

“The statistics are not great, and it’s not quite how I wanted to end my career [as a course designer], but I thought there was some good riding, and there was maybe some green riders, green horses that were barely ready for it,” Stark said. “And it’s a difficult one when your first horse doesn’t go around. It sort of makes other riders begin to question. And so maybe the greener ones weren’t quite so confident setting off.”

Stark pointed out that the course was very similar to the previous year, where there weren’t quite as many problems.

“The trouble was spread all over, and the only two fences of the riders questioned were the waterfall and the keyholes at the end, and no one had a problem,” he said. “None of them even looked at them. So it’s interesting, because sometimes horse riders think, ‘Oh, you know, these are the problems.’ And then in their heads, you feel the rest is going to be fine. And so, you know, there’s a bit of that as well. It’s a psychological thing.

“I thought there was some very great positives to take away from today,” he continued. “I’m just disappointed for them, and for me, that we didn’t have more completions.”

After falling in the three-star Saturday morning, Boyd Martin fell again with Commando 3 at Fence 3A, and he ultimately withdrew his second ride Tsetserleg TSF. Both horse and rider and fine. There were three rider falls on course. Harry Meade parted ways with Et Hop Du Matz at 12D, meaning neither of his horses finished as he pulled Away Cruising up at 20C when the horse pulled a shoe. Grace Taylor also parted ways with Game Changer at Fence 24 after a refusal there. Ema Klugman fell from Bronte Beach at 22.

Two riders were eliminated due to refusals, Cosby Green, who was the Day 1 dressage leader with Highly Suspicious, and Colleen Loach on FE Golden Eye.

Seven riders retired on course: Smith (Mai Baum), Meade (Away Crusiing), Lindsay Traisnel (Bacyrouge), Tiana Coudray (Cancaras Girl), Allie Knowles (Morswood), Jessica Phoenix (Wabbit) and Joe Meyer (Harbin).

Phoenix withdrew her first horse, Fluorescent Adolescent, prior to the start of cross-country.

Townend said while it was a tough day in terms of finisher numbers, that he feels Maryland is going to be in the same league as Badminton, Burghley and Kentucky, and while last year’s course was tough, this year’s was a step up.

“It’s Ian’s last year, and why shouldn’t he let his imagination go a little wild?” he said. “He wanted to build a five-star, and that’s what he’s done. And it’s a fair course. It’s just [that] we haven’t got 80 runners, so when 23 set off and only 10 or 12 come home, it doesn’t look great, but that’s nothing to do with being an unfair track. It’s just the field and the way it’s panned [out].”

Price felt if the world ranking of riders were taken into account when building courses, it could help with the overall percentage of finishers. While there were several top-ranked riders in the field who ran into trouble, riders with less experience over these types of tracks are more prone to mistakes.

“This is an abbreviation of the top riders. If you had a few more of those, I think they’d say more clear rounds and good rounds,” he said. “And riders are good, on good horses, and they’ve mastered these courses after they’ve walked them a few times. And they will come out with a plan and nail it, but it’s just a decent track. I think you would still see good combinations struggling, and whether it was with the time or whether it was with a combination here or there, or jump here or there, it’s five-star.”

Sunday’s five-star jog will take place at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, and show jumping will begin at 3 p.m., after the conclusion of the CCI3*-L.

Full results here.

The Chronicle is on-site at the Mars Maryland 5 Star, bringing you photos and stories from all phases of the event. You can find all of our coverage of the event in one spot, and you also can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. You can read more in-depth coverage in the Nov. 18 issue of the Chronicle.