Dressage in Kentucky got underway Thursday with the best in the business—Boyd Martin, Will Coleman, Tamie Smith and Phillip Dutton—showing off the potential of their newer rides.

Martin, the penultimate rider to go in this morning’s section of the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S, took the lead aboard Commando 3 on a score of 28.9 penalties.

Hot on his heels is Will Coleman in second and third places. Diabolo, one of his newer rides, sits in second with a score of 29.9, while he’s holding down third place with his 2021 CHIO Aachen (Germany) winner Off The Record on a score of 30.1.

Martin, who took over the ride on Commando 3 at the beginning of last year, praised the horse and also talked about the pressure of riding a top horse that was developed by someone else. The 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Connor 48—R-Adelgunde, Amigo XX), now owned by Yankee Creek Ranch, was developed from age 2 up to the four-star level by Sweden’s Louise Romeike.

“To me, the horse has just got exceptional quality,” Martin said. “For me, I’ve been slogging away at the sport for 30 years riding any horse that comes my way, and after all these years and years and years, I feel very blessed that now we’re able to select some of the best animals in the world. Horses like Commando 3 rarely come on the market, and they’re a needle in the haystack, so I’m just very honored and privileged to be able to ride a horse of this class and quality. He’s young still—we’re nowhere near his peak—and the sky’s the limit.

“Buying a mega-mega horse often doesn’t work out,” Martin continued. “You think you can buy a Ferrari and you’re off to the races, and it’s often not the case. It’s a huge amount of pressure, and it’s bloody scary, because they’re expensive as hell.”

Watch their division-leading test, courtesy of USEF Network:

After acquiring the horse as a possible prospect for the Paris Olympics, Martin started competing at the four-star level, with qualifying for the fast-approaching Games in mind.

“It’s not very easy riding someone else’s horses,” he said. “It’s not really your horse until about a year later. But to me, the horse is such a class animal that even as I was figuring him out, he still ticked the boxes and jumped a lot of big courses.”

Now, he said, he feels he’s developed a partnership with the gelding “so we understand each other, and I know his little quirks, and [have] and understanding of how to ride him.”

Of their test today, Martin acknowledged it left room for improvement—which his coaches, including wife Silva Martin, let him know about as soon as he got out of the arena.

“To be honest, there were a number of mistakes in the test that I was kicking myself about, and as soon as I finished, they reminded me of that part, and then at the end, they say, ‘Oh, the other parts were pretty good.’ “

Coleman talked about his decision to run his horses in the four-star for different reasons: Diabolo is at Kentucky as he works his way toward a planned five-star debut at Luhmühlen, Germany, in June. As an older five-star veteran with the potential to get picked for Paris, Off The Record is running the four-star to avoid taking too much out of him before the Games.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s cross-country, Martin thought the four-star course—his first time riding the level at the Kentucky Horse Park—looks stiff.

“It looks to me like a five-star over 6.5 minutes,” he said. “The coffin looks pretty massive, and it’s early in the course when the horses are a little bit sharp and spooky, so you’ve got to pay attention to that. It’s one of those courses where I think you could have a mistake anywhere on the course.

“He’s a pretty tricky designer, old Derek [di Grazia],” Martin continued, “and I noticed there’s a couple of combinations right at the end, where you’re pressing for the time, and the horse is a little bit tired, so I could see a little mistake anywhere around the course, especially the last minute or two.”

Both Martin and Coleman both said they do their best to ignore the specter of Olympic selection hanging over this particular four-star.

“I’ve been through three Olympics, and I’ve learned you don’t get to the Olympics unless you have a great performance here. It’s pointless thinking about next week; it’s all about doing a great job this week, making sure the horses perform well, and they’re happy and healthy. You don’t let your mind even sort of wander off in outcomes and possibilities. … Next week, we start thinking about if hopefully one of these horses can go the team bit. At the moment, we have a mission ahead of us here at Kentucky.”

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.