Lexington, Ky.—April 26

Tom McEwen flew into the lead near the end of the second day of dressage at the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L today. The British rider proved to be the only one able to beat Thursday dressage leader Yasmin Ingham’s score of 26.0. Back again on JL Dublin, the horse with whom he finished second here last year, McEwen scored 24.6—and said he knew his horse is capable of better.

“It wasn’t our best test,” he said. “For me, I think we could be softer, better, clearer, but again, we went in there and nailed what we had on the day, and I’m delighted with him.

“The bits of work he did were absolutely stunning,” he said, asked what he could have improved. “Just a little bit more fluid through his body and we’d have been well in the lead, to be honest.”

McEwen credited the 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding’s training to his former jockey, Nicola Wilson, who gave McEwen the ride after she was severely injured at Badminton Horse Trials (England) in 2022.

“It’s years of really hard training,” he said. “It’s all down to Nicola Wilson; she’s done all the work for me, so realistically, I’ve been very lucky and fortunate to basically have a five-star horse after all the hard work and training’s done, because that’s where all the hours have been put in, and I get to tinker around and change and play with movements, and finalize small details to really come out with these scores at a five-star.”

While Ingham held onto second place behind McEwen, a pair of U.S. riders on very different horses—Liz Halliday on five-star first-timer Cooley Nutcracker and Lauren Nicholson on Vermiculus, a veteran in the twilight of his career—slid into equal third place behind her on 30.6. As the top-placed U.S. riders, they are currently leading the national five-star championship.

Nicholson’s ‘Wild Arabian Stallion’

Nicholson got choked up after hearing her score on “Bug,” her 17-year-old Anglo-Arabian partner owned by Jacqueline Mars. They briefly had sole possession of second place before McEwen and Halliday rode.

“It’s always like this with these older horses, especially the ones you’ve had since they were 2 years old and unbroken. It’s almost as much all the people behind them, and all the people at home. You really feel like you owe them something, and the people that follow them. It’s kind of a lot of pressure and a relief when you don’t screw it up.

“Especially a character like Bug, he has such a fan following—which I know, even if we messed up in there, they’d still love him—you do feel a responsibility to deliver your best on them,” she added, “just because you feel like that’s what the horses deserve, especially when they get in their twilight years.”

While Bug may be in his late teens, he wasn’t feeling remotely old going into dressage today, she said. In the ring, she said she was just trying to keep a lid on her friend.

“Honestly, it felt very wild; it felt like I was on a wild Arabian stallion,” she said with a laugh. “He definitely was very excited to be back in front of a crowd. He’s funny because you can tell when he’s feeling wild because his ear starts twitching, and usually when it twitches, it’s followed by a huge leap into the air. I kind of just kept [telling him], ‘Not yet, not yet.’ He had the one little bobble, but he’s such a professional, and he’s done this a million times, and he knows what his job is on the day. I’m just relieved that, at the end of their careers like this, you just don’t want to waste any moments, so just relieved to go in there and do a good job.

First-Timer Cooley Nutcracker: ‘He’s Ready For It’

Sharing third place was a horse on the other end of the five-star experience spectrum. Cooley Nutcracker, a 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse owned by The Nutcracker Syndicate, is contesting his first five-star this weekend. 

“He’s a green horse, definitely, and he’s still a bit weak, and this is his first five-star, but honestly—with plenty of green moments—I’m thrilled with the score he got because it just shows what he’s going to be. He’s capable of low-20s; he’s had that in four-star; he just needs to get a little more solidified in his changes and get a little more calm and relaxed in the ring, and I then think he’ll be spectacular.”

Halliday said she’s looking forward to Saturday’s cross-country with the horse.

“He’s incredibly brave; he’s never done a five-star, but I truly believe he’s ready for it,” she said. “Hopefully he’ll really enjoy it, being able for me to let him go and let him gallop.”

“I always believed he would be a five-star horse, but it was halfway around Galway [Downs CCI4*-L (California)], which was a very difficult track this year, that I just thought to myself, now he’s ready for five-star,” Halliday said, as she felt the gelding stop overjumping his fences and start to measure the heights and the drops and match his efforts accordingly.

LCC Barnaby Eliminated

The shock of the day came when Lillian Heard Wood and LCC Barnaby were rung out of the dressage ring.

“The ground jury decided today that ‘Barnaby’ looked uneven in his test and eliminated me from the competition,” Wood said in a statement. “The vets have looked him over back at the barn, and there is nothing to report. My best guess is that tension made him take some short steps.

“I am clearly devastated, but I also am happy to have a healthy, sound horse, even if there is one thing no one can argue, is that Barnaby owes me nothing,” she continued. “I am here now to cheer on all my friends competing and will be back as a competitor another day.”

Will Faudree, who was 31st after dressage with Mama’s Magic Way, has elected to withdraw.

Five-star cross-country starts at 1:30 p.m. Saturday. 

See full results here.

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.