The entry list for this year’s Mars Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill includes two former winners: U.S. rider Boyd Martin (2021) and New Zealand’s Tim Price (2022). While Martin will go for a second win with On Cue, Price will be riding a different horse this time around. He brings forth his team and individual bronze medal-winning mount from the 2022 FEI Eventing World Championships (Italy) Falco, who is fresh off a sixth-placed finish at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The gelding was supposed to contest Maryland last year but underwent surgery instead when a tumor was located in his digestive system.
As of Oct. 2, 23 pairs are expected to compete in the event that takes place Oct. 17-20 in Elkton, Maryland.
The field also includes the only other U.S. pair to win a five-star in this decade: Tamie Smith and Mai Baum, who won the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky CCI5*-L. Smith has said this is likely the 18-year-old German Sport Horse’s final outing of his storied career.
Great Britain’s Oliver Townend is looking for a fourth five-star win with his 2021 Tokyo Olympics team gold medal-winning mount Ballaghmor Class, who has won Burghley (2017 and 2023) and Kentucky (2022). Townend has come to Maryland every year since the five-star’s inception, finishing second with Cooley Master Class (2021) and third with As Is (2022) and Cooley Rosalent (2023).
Martin will be the busiest rider of the field. In addition to On Cue, he’s bringing Tsetserleg TSF, with whom he’s competed at major championships across the globe, and his rising star Commando 3, who is competing in his first five-star.
ADVERTISEMENT
Harry Meade also joins the British contingent flying across the pond. He rode Superstition in 2021 and 2022 but skipped last year’s event. Thanks to a strong five-star string in his barn, he’s able to bring two this year: Away Cruising and Et Hop Du Matz.
Two British riders, David Doel (Galileo Nieuwmoed) and Bubby Upton (Cola), will also be making the trip to Maryland for the first time. While Doel rode “Galileo” at Kentucky last spring, this will be Upton’s first time competing in the United States.
U.S. young rider Cosby Green will be competing in her first five-star on U.S. soil. She made her five-star debut at Pau (France) last fall with five-star veteran Copper Beach and has spent the last two years basing in England with Price and his wife, Jonelle Price. Green’s since completed Badminton (England) and Burghley (England) with the gelding this year, finishing 16th at the latter. At Maryland, she’ll ride Highly Suspicious in the gelding’s debut at the level.
Two other Great Britain-based U.S. riders will be joining Green in their first run at the Maryland 5 Star. Young rider Grace Taylor is making her third five-star start after finishing 18th at Badminton this spring with Game Changer. Tiana Coudray, who represented the U.S. at the 2012 London Olympics, will ride Cancaras Girl in the mare’s third start at the level.
The field includes two Canadian riders. Jessica Phoenix will be riding Wabbit and Fluorescent Adolescent, the latter of whom is competing in her first five-star. The second Canadian rider, Lindsay Traisnel, is also the only one in in the field competing at the five-star level for the first time. She’s had top results with her gelding Bacyrouge at the four-star and advanced levels ahead of her five-star debut.
