The second day of dressage in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S brought a surprise leader to the front of the pack.

Florida-based rider Lucienne Bellissimo swept past the Olympic and U.S. team horses in the talent-packed division to take the top spot in the division early Friday morning, delivering an elegant test aboard Dyri that scored 26.0—nearly three points better than Thursday’s leaders, Boyd Martin and Commando 3 (28.9).

Bellissimo’s score with the 12-year-old Holsteiner (Diarado—La Calera, King Milford XX) stood alone at the top of the leaderboard until the very end of the division, when Liz Halliday and her 2023 Pan American Games (Chile) team silver partner, Ocala Horse Properties and Deborah Palmer’s Miks Master C, came down centerline. The pair, who also finished third in the five-star here last year, tied Bellissimo’s score to move into a shared lead.

Going right after Halliday, her Pan Am teammate—and individual gold medalist—Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Blake delivered another beautiful test. Their score of 27.3 was good enough to knock Martin out of the top three but wasn’t quite enough to break the tie at the top.

The score was a personal best for Bellissimo and Dyri, whose previous best score at the level was a 28.5, which they scored en route to finishing fourth in the Morven Park International CCI4*-L (Virginia) in October. She’s owned the horse since 2021, after he was developed through the two-star level by Dirk Schrade in Germany.

She characterized her horse as “a little bit introverted,” and said today’s test was the first time she’s felt he’s demonstrated his true quality in the arena.

“Sometimes when I’m at home, I feel if we were in a test [he’d score] an 8 or a 9, but every time he goes up the centerline he just loses a little bit of his confidence,” she said. “Today was the first time he really started to let me in and all of his work, including his changes; he was very much on sides. I was actually pleased for him. He finished in a confident fashion, so that’s fantastic.”

She took a rather unusual approach to taking her shy horse into the buzzy atmosphere of the Rolex Stadium.

“I did the opposite of everybody else: I did no arena familiarization with him—which was a risk, but I’m a risk-taker, and it did pay off,” she said. “I think, if I’d have brought him in last night, he would’ve come in thinking a little bit backwards, and instead I was able to put my leg on, and he lit up and came up in his wither and actually let me ride him. So it’s interesting, I learned something about him today: He’s better when he’s a little bit in shock!”

Bellissimo said she’s aiming him at the upcoming Tryon International CCI4*-L (North Carolina) but has big hopes for his future.

 “He doesn’t know how good he is, and he’s only just starting to shine, and I think he’s capable of doing a lot more than he’s done today, so I’m very excited for him for the future,” she said. “My intention is to try and make him a very good five-star horse, so I want to take my time and get him trusting me at this level, and hopefully we can repeat it when he steps up again.”

Next to her in the top spot is a horse with far more experience: Halliday and “Mikki” were third in the five-star here last year.

Looking ahead to the Olympic Games this summer in Paris, Halliday wanted to make sure she did right by the 12-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding (Mighty Magic—Qui Luma CBF, Flyinge Quite Easy 958) and opted to run the CCI4*-S instead.

The Chronicle is on-site at the Kentucky Horse Park with two reporters to bring you everything you need to know at coth.com, so you don’t have to miss a minute of the action. You can find all of our coverage from the week here. You can also follow along on Instagram and Facebook. Be sure to read our May 20 issue for more in-depth coverage and analysis of the event.