TAMIE Smith ended a 10-year drought for the home nation when landing the CCI5* in spectacular style at last weekend’s Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event with the beautiful black stallion Mai Baum.

As well as it being her first success at the level, Smith was the first female winner of the competition since Mary King in 2011. Third after dressage, she rose to pole position after a tough cross-country day when she was clear inside the time and kept a clean sheet to finish on her dressage score of 24.2, ahead of Britian’s Tom McEwen and JL Dublin in second (27.8). Elizabeth Halliday-Sharp made it two Americans on the podium when placing third with Miks Master C (28.5).

“To (win a five-star) here in the USA and at Kentucky… I know so many people wanted an American to win, and I’m so grateful it was me,” an emotional Smith (48) said after her show jumping round. “I’m a bit speechless and a little bit in awe right now.”

Smith and the 17-year-old black stallion by Loredano 2, who is owned by Ahearn family, did not have a fence in hand when last into the arena to jump; they had to be clear to beat McEwen, and after two fences down in Pratoni last year, she felt the nerves.

“To be completely honest, I was quite nervous going in with him today because of an uncharacteristic two rails I had at the World Championships (in 2022),” Smith admitted. “When you’re on a horse that show jumps as well as he does and then has two down, you feel like the odds are against you.

“Scott Keach, who I show jump with, has been instrumental in helping me keep my cool and stay in the moment. He helped me learn that my job is to ride the right way, and my horse’s job is to jump the jumps. I’m glad Lexus (Mai Baum’s stable name) felt healthy and strong and full of it. He knew the crowd was there, and it felt like everybody carried me over that whole course.”

Tamie Smith (USA) and Mai Baum on cross-country during the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day-Event which they went on to win \ Michelle Dunn

Smith will now take Mai Baum home and let him rest before focusing on his show jumping this autumn. She’d like to have him in contention for the Olympics next year but admits that at 17, they have to take it day by day.

“He’s healthy and strong, and he’ll tell me what he wants to do next,” she said. “He doesn’t owe me anything after something like this, and he’ll tell me when he’s ready to throw in the towel, but he doesn’t show any signs of that. He was feeling fit and fresh at the trot-up, and he was jumping out of his skin today.”

Early leaders

Smith took the early dressage lead on Thursday, before McEwen scored 22.6 with the former 2021 European champion JL Dublin (ridden then by Nicola Wilson) to lead overnight. On the second day of dressage, it was the reigning world champions and runners-up at the venue last year, Britain’s Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir, who took over the lead on a score of 22.1.

“He was incredible out there,” Ingham said of the 12-year-old Selle Français gelding owned by The Sue Davies Fund. “I’m so proud of him. He did everything I asked, and he just really did focus in there.”

That moved McEwen to second and Smith to third ahead of cross-country, while Will Coleman (USA) and the young talent Chin Tonic were right behind the leading pack with a score of 25.0.

It was all to change on cross-country day. Early to go, Tamie Smith put Mai Baum into the lead when she was one of just six clear inside the time and that is the spot she held at the end of the day.

“It was definitely a fight to make that time,” Smith said after her round. “It was a big effort out of the last water, that got a little hairy for me.

"Right when I thought he was tired, he pushed and kept fighting. There’s not a lot of Thoroughbred in there, but he’s got a heart the size of Kentucky, that’s for sure.”

McEwen added 5.2 time penalties to his score aboard JL Dublin, but at the end of the day, he remained in second place on 27.8. Liz Halliday-Sharp (USA) moved up from fifth to third on Miks Master C with 28.5, after adding 1.6 time penalties to her dressage score.

McEwen was delighted with his round, a first five-star cross-country completion for the horse who fell at Badminton last year. “I’ve had a very short partnership with him, so his performance shows what a partnership [former rider] Nicola Wilson had with him. I’ve only done six events with him, and I’ve never had a test of him here at the level. It’s a shame to have a few time penalties, but at the same time, the plan was to bring him home safely and have a good result.”

Overnight leaders Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir came to grief early with a runout at 6C, the first narrow brush out of the Park Question ditch combination. She finished with 20 jumping and 20 time penalties to drop out of contention. Coleman’s Chin Tonic, jumped clear but appeared to tire on course, coming home with 14 time penalties to drop to 11th overnight.

Of the 38 horses set to start the cross-country test, only six managed to come home inside the time including Germany’s Sandra Auffarth and Viamant Du Matz who jumped up to fourth.

Tamie Smith (USA) and Mai Baum on cross-country during the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day-Event which they went on to win \ Michelle Dunn

Final showdown

The pressure was heaped on Smith and Mai Baum when last to jump, with no fence in hand. Auffarth and Halliday-Sharp both jumped clear to cement their places at the top end of the leaderboard and the eyes of the world were on the top two.

When JL Dubin put in a fault-free performance under McEwen – despite a rattle at the penultimate and a flyer to the last – Smith had to jump clear to win; a fence down would drop her to second place.

However, a foot perfect round for the notoriously good jumper secured the pair their first win at the level and, with that, the USA National Champion title in front of a crowd of 23,576 who went wild after 15 years waiting for another American winner.

McEwen didn’t get much of a chance to celebrate his second palce. As soon as his round was over, he had to race to the airport to catch a plane back to England, where he has two horses entered in the Badminton Horse Trials this weekend.

The highest placed Irish Sport Horse in the field was Off The Record, ridden by William Coleman, in seventh (35.6). Bred by Peter G Brady, the former Aachen winner is by VDL Arkansas out of Drumagoland Bay (Ard Ohio). The pair were clear inside the time across the country, just adding 4.04 show jumping penalties to their dressage score.