THE Irish-bred gelding Ballaghmor Class (ISH) has cemented his place as one of the greatest horses in eventing history, after claiming his fourth five-star competition victory last Sunday at Mars Maryland, Fair Hill in the USA with Britain’s Oliver Townend.

For the 17-year-old grey gelding by Courage II, bred by the late Noel Hickey and owned by Karyn Shuter, Val Ryan and Angela Hislop, it was his 12th run at five-star level and a fourth win means he has won one out of every three events he has done at the highest level. Only two-time Olympic champions Michael Jung (GER) and La Biosthetique Sam have won more five-stars, their number being six.

The win at Maryland 2024 adds to Ballaghmor Class’ five-star wins at Burghley in 2017 and again in 2023 and Kentucky in 2021. He was also part of the gold medal-winning British team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“I just wish he could carry on for another 10 years, so we could retire together,” Townend said afterwards. “You’ve seen what he’s done, he’s a monster – he’s a monster at home to look after, but when it comes to doing his job, there’s no better horse in the world.”

For Townend – who is turning 42 next month – it is a ninth win at the level. He joins Lucinda Green and Andrew Nicholson – joint fifth in the all-time winners list now, behind only William Fox-Pitt (14), Michael Jung (11), Sir Mark Todd (11) and Ginny Elliot (10).

Townend, who finished second in the inaugural Mars Maryland 5-Star in 2021 and had consecutive third place finishes the last two years, finally pushed his way to the top of the podium. “I fully expected that Tim [Price] would go clean and keep the pressure on me,” he said. “Fortunately, I am lucky to ride one of the sport’s great horses and he delivered big time.

“A lot of rubbish has been spoken about his show jumping over the years – he’s usually in a grass arena in mud going last, when it’s almost an unfair playing field, but when you put him on a surface like Kentucky where he won or here, he’s a different level.”

The beautiful flea-bitten grey had nothing to spare on the final day and showed a clean pair of heels to finish on a final score of 31.1 to see off New Zealand’s Tim Price with Falco (34.6) in second and Britain’s David Doel in third with Galilei Nieuwmoed (38.5).

Swansong

Townend was lying in second place after the first phase of dressage at the venue on 26.5, behind USA’s Tamie Smith and the black gelding Mai Baum (25.3). The 18-year-old, who won Kentucky in 2023 and was part of the silver medal-winning USA team at the 2022 World Championships, missed out on a place at the Paris Olympic Games due to an injury.

“That was probably his best test – he’s getting better with age. It’ll be his last five-star, so it’s a bit bittersweet, but it felt really good to feel that test after all the hard work we’ve been putting in. He feels like he’s a 10-year-old,” Smith commented after their leading test.

In third after dressage was Bubby Upton - one of four British riders who made the trans-Atlantic trip – with Cola on 26.7, ahead of Price and Falco on 27.4. Closing out the top five was USA’s Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg TSF (27.7), who was subsequently withdrawn before cross-country.

Pure relief: Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class after winning the Mars Maryland 5-Star in Fair Hill \ Shannon Brinkman Photography

Cross-country

Ian Stark’s cross-country course on Saturday proved extremely influential and the most high profile casualty was Smith and Mai Baum. The pair flew around the early part of the course, but the gelding tired on the hill approaching fences 17 and 18ab. Smith immediately felt the loss of power and put her hand up to retire.

The addition of 4.8 time penalties saw Townend move into pole position with ‘Thomas’ after the gelding’s 20th consecutive clear cross-country round.

“I tried to look after him all the way and ended up a bit slow because of it, we know what he’s done, he’s special,” Townend commented afterwards, adding that Maryland was as tough as it gets. “It’s a proper five-star – for me Maryland is right up there with Badminton, Burghley, Kentucky, the others are a level less. This is the top, top of the sport and it’s not easy,”

His compatriot David Doel rose from 16th to second after dressage, with the only clear inside the time aboard the speedy 13-year-old gelding Galileo Nieuwmoed. “It definitely wasn’t the most straightforward of rides or the prettiest at times – I really had to work for that one, but he’s a phenomenal horse,” Doel said. Tim Price rose one place to third after picking up 7.2 time penalties.

USA’s Bruce Davidson Jr rose from 13th to fourth with just 5.2 time penalties aboard Sorocaima, while Bubby Upton slipped two places to fifth when Cola broke the frangible pin at fence 12a for 11 penalties, as well as 12.8 for time.

Just eight of the starting 23 completed the cross-country course to go through to the final show jumping phase.

Nerve

Going in reverse order of merit on the final day, three of the eight jumped clear inside the time. Tim Price was one of those when third last to go, piling the pressure on the pair in front of him when there was not even a fence between them.

He was guaranteed at least the runner-up spot when Doel finished on four faults – his horse just knocked the middle part of the triple combination – to slip to third place. The pair have now finished second, third and have been in the top-10 six times at the level.

Often labelled an unreliable show jumper, Ballaghmor Class had nothing to spare. A foot-perfect clear round finally secured Townend’s first Maryland win at the fourth time of trying and wrote the brilliant Irish Sport Horse into the history books. Davidson Jr was fourth, ahead of Upton.The Linda Courtney-Cadam-bred LLC Barnaby finished eighth with USA’s Lillian Heard Wood.

Young horses

Irish Sport Horses dominated the USEA Young Horse five-year-old Championship, filling six of the top 10 places. The highest of those in second was Centerfold (aka Belline Jack The Lad), ridden by USA’s Alyssa Phillips. Bred by Richard Ames, Centerfold is by Sligo Candy Boy out of the Animo mare Temple Polly.

Third and fourth both carried the HSH prefix indicating they came from Kelley Hutchinson’s Kilkenny operation. Hutchinson’s business partner Caroline Pamukcu guided the Peter Leonard-bred HSH Afterglow (Hype x Osilvis) to third, ahead of Erin Kanara with HSH Juniper (Coupe De Coeur x VDL Arkansas).

In the four-year-old championship, there were two Irish-breds in the top four. Once again, it was Pamukcu aboard HSH Hercules (French Connection x Voltaire), bred by Victoria Jepsen, who was best in third. Fourth was the Patrick Connolly-bred CSF Darwin (Dallas VDL x Ars Vivendi), ridden by USA’s Chris Talley.

Numbers

102 – five-star runs for Oliver Townend

20 – cross-country clears in-a-row for Ballaghmor Class (all at 4* and 5* level)

17 – the age of Ballaghmor Class

12 – five-star completions for the pair, finishing within the top five 11 times

9 – five-star wins for Oliver Townend

4 – five-star wins for Ballaghmor Class