Boyd Martin leads the Kentucky Three-Day Event four star Olympic selection site over Will Coleman
- Details
- April 26, 2024
- By Staff Writers
LEXINGTON, Ky.--Boyd Martin on Commando 3 leads the four star competition at the Kentucky Three-Day Event, the division that may be more important than the five star this year, as the four star is a selection site for the Paris Olympics Eventing team, and given that many of its competitors are aiming for a spot on that team
Three-time U.S. Olympian Martin of Cochranville, Pa., leads after the first day of dressage on a score of 28.9.
Martin has only had the horse for about a year, and he was previously owned and campaigned through the 4* level by Louise Romeike from Sweden, who’d owned him since he was 2.
“It’s not very easy buying someone else’s horse,” Martin said. “But I knew I wanted him as a potential Olympic horse so had to go quick [with competing him and moving him up]. It’s not really your horse until about a year in, but this horse is such a class animal that even as we were figuring each other out and ticking the boxes, he jumped a lot of big courses. But it wasn’t until this year that I felt we have a real partnership, we understand each other, and I know how to ride him.
“Buying a mega horse doesn’t often work out,” Martin said. “It’s huge pressure and scary because they are expensive as hell, but I feel like these days in the sport of eventing, the top 10 or 15 riders are about as good as each other and it comes down to who has the best horse. You have to have a mega horse if you want to be a winner.”