‘I think winning a five-star is one of the hardest things to do in equestrian sports’: milestone win at Kentucky

Will Coleman topped the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event results today (26 April) when he showjumped clear to win his first five-star.

The US rider and the syndicate-owned Diabolo were sitting second after cross-country but moved up when overnight leader Monica Spencer had three showjumps down and 2.4 time-faults with Artist.

“I’m just really proud of my horse and happy for all the people that are part of my life and part of this horse and part of what I do, with [my wife] Katie and our staff and my family. It feels like a big village, sharing in this, so I think that’s the most satisfying part, if I’m being honest, but it’s pretty cool,” said Will.

“I think winning a five-star is every event rider’s dream. I think it’s one of the hardest things to do in equestrian sports. I have so much respect for the sport, for how difficult it is. I feel like we all deserve to win because of how hard it is sometimes and I just feel really blessed that it was me this week.”

Will had a busy morning riding in the CCI4*-S, so he didn’t have time to ride Diabolo, as he usually would.

“But I rode him at lunchtime, around 1pm, and it just felt like he knew what today was all about, so I had a lot of confidence going in there. I really just wanted to focus on staying present and enjoying the moment and trusting my horse, and I think we did that,” said Will.

Will is the first US winner of Kentucky since Tamie Smith in 2023 and the US doubled down when Caroline Pamukcu took second on Blake.

She too showjumped clear on the 11-year-old owned by Mollie Hoff, rider’s mother Sherrie Martin, rider and her husband Deniz.

Caroline said: “Blake’s been with me every step of the way for every big milestone – being top 10 in the young horse World Championships at Le Lion was a special moment, winning the young event horse class, winning the Pan American Games at my first real senior championship.

“He was there for me at my first Olympics and now another good top-five placing at five-star. It’s unreal. I’m hoping that this will be our staple moment, that I’ve kind of proved myself to be a proper rider now I’ve done a good five-star, and I can keep improving and keep producing more horses.

“I’m really proud of HSH Tolan King [14th] too – he’s quite green, a little bit rogue, and he really did each phase super well. I only want Blake to outshine him!”

Britain’s David Doel finished third with Galileo Nieuwmoed.

Kentucky Three-Day Event results: Spencer drops to seventh

While there was joy for the top three, there was devastation for New Zealand’s Monica Spencer. She started showjumping with a fence in hand, but used that up early when Artist clattered fence four. Two more fences came down and with 2.4 time-penalties as well, she dropped to seventh.

Let’s hope, for Monica’s sake, that Artist is not the sport’s new Vitali – Tim Price’s lovely horse who has such a consistent record at five-star but has never quite managed to win one, with showjumping his Achilles’ heel. This is the second five-star in a row that the thoroughbred Artist has lost in the final phase.

Vitali himself jumped his first five-star clear today – cross-country time-faults have been his downfall this weekend instead – and moved up from fifth to fourth. This is his ninth top-10 placing at five-star, from nine starts.

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