Lexington, Ky.—April 25

Yasmin Ingham started her week at the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L in much the same way she did last year: taking a firm lead in dressage. The 26-year-old British rider and Banzai Du Loir scored a 26.0 to give them a 5-point margin on the rest of the field.

Fellow Brit Kirsty Chabert is in second on Classic VI (31.0), and Germany’s Malin Hansen-Hotopp—a farmer who refers to herself as a “semi-professional” rider—is breathing down her neck with Carlitos Quidditch K on a 31.1.

Ingham, who is making her third trip to Kentucky in as many years, said she keeps returning because she and “Banzai” love the Kentucky Horse Park. The striking 11-year-old Selle Francais (Nouma D’Auzay—Gerboise De Cochet, Livarot) owned by Janette Chinn and The Sue Davies Fund, who won the dressage phase last year and was second to Michael Jung in 2022, produced another of his trademark tests.

“I was just delighted with Banzai today,” Ingham said. “He did some really beautiful work in his test.”
Ingham, who finished second here in 2022 and 18^th last year after a mistake cross-country, said she’s been training hard at home to improve in every phase. That work paid off in dressage, she said, and she hopes it will pay off Saturday as well.

“We’ve been working really hard recently on trying to get more expression in the trot, and he carries himself so beautifully in the arena now,” she said. “He’s got so much presence when he’s in between the boards. I think he’s definitely displayed that today.

“Maybe my first centerline could’ve been a little bit straighter, I think, which is something I can work on for the next one,” she continued, “but he mostly was really on the button, on my aids with all the movements.”

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

And the work at home has not been only in the sandbox. After missing the “C” element of the Park Question on cross-country last year, she’s back with that combination in the back of her mind. (Last year, it appeared early in the course, as Fence 6ABCD; this year’s iteration is back much later, as 23ABCDE.) 

“We’ve been out and looked at the course, and it looks amazing. I’m just so excited to get out and ride,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of training since last year, and made a few changes here and there with my riding, so I’m really hoping that this year it pays off, and we can go out and ride a good, clear round. So fingers crossed.”

Behind Ingham on the first day of dressage is her compatriot Chabert, who also is returning to Kentucky after running Classic VI here last year. The pair also have a score to settle with the cross-country course after notching 20 penalties in 2023. 

Chabert had to overcome her mare getting upset about people standing in the chute leading into the Rolex Stadium before her test.

“There was just a collection of people at the entrance, and she wouldn’t be that fond of,” Chabert paused, searching for the right word, “humans—[at least] not her humans.”

But once the mare was into the arena, she rose to the occasion.

“She definitely, as a whole, knows exactly where she is,” Chabert said. “She knows it’s special.”

Due to an exceptionally rainy spring in Great Britain, both riders have had minimal show preparation for this week, each getting in one CCI4*-S run—and coincidentally both finishing third, Ingham at Thoresby Park (Great Britain) and Chabert at Kronenberg (the Netherlands)—before arriving in Lexington. 

Both praised Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course.

“The way that Derek di Grazia produces the cross-country course and designs is spectacular,” Ingham said. “It’s all dressed beautifully. So Saturday, lots of questions throughout the course from the beginning to the end. He’s challenging the horses throughout.”

Behind the British duo in the standings is Germany’s Hansen-Hotopp, who will be seeking her first five-star completion on Carlitos Quidditch K. She previously attempted the Luhmühlen CCI5*-L (Germany) in 2021 on a different horse but retired cross-country. 

A part-time rider, she keeps her horses on the family crop farm, riding in the mornings before turning to farm business in the afternoons. 

The horse she’ll be riding here, a 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Quiwi Dream—Amsterdam, San Patrignano Cassini), was one a friend bred and sent her as a 5-year-old to sell. She didn’t want to take him on at first—she was busy with her own horses, the farm, and her children (now 11, 15 and 17) who were young at the time. When she relented, she found he was “grumpy” in the stable but fun to ride.

“I felt something—he was really scopey and loose, and really naughty and bucking all the time, but I had [a feeling] he was just a great horse, so I asked her if I could buy him,” she recalled.

After jumping clean cross-country at the European Championships last year, she picked Kentucky for her first five-star attempt with this horse as the fulfillment of a childhood dream—and a chance for family in Wisconsin to watch her ride.

“I have a whole family in America … and so it was my biggest dream, and everything fit well with this horse just to ride here, so they can join me here,” she explained.

Here in Kentucky, she feels confident her gray gelding will get her through the finish flags.

“I’m sure he is [a five-star horse]—if I’m riding good enough,” she said.

Like Chabert, she had some tension to overcome at the start of her test.

“He was a little bit nervous, and then I just rode in and tried to relax, really, and he just started to trot,” she said. “It was like, ‘Ugh… how could that happen in Kentucky?! But OK.’ So I really just took a breath, and said OK, I will just give my best and stay relaxed and try to ride for every point that I can get, and I think we did that.”

As for the cross-country, she said she’s looking forward to tackling the course Saturday.

“I love it; it looks really good, but I think you just have to pay attention all over,” she said. “The jumps are high and wide, but I have a really good jumper so I am not so afraid about the height. I just need to be really smart about riding the technical stuff.”

Dressage continues Friday with the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S starting at 8 a.m. and the five-star division at 1 p.m.

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.