LEXINGTON, Ky.--Will Coleman on Diabolo won the Kentucky CCI5*-L with Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Blake second for the best U.S finish in years.
Will Coleman on Diabolo (Photo by Allen MacMillan)Coleman, going purposefully slowly to ensure a clean round in show jumping, added just 0.8 to his dressage score of 27.3 to finish on 28.1 for the win.
Other than Tamie Smith in 2023, Coleman is the first American to win Kentucky in almost two decades.
Pamukcu was clean in show jumping after adding just 2.6 time on cross country to finish on 28.6 for second.
David Doel of Great Britain on Galileo Nieuwmoed, the only one of the 29 competitors in the 5* to finish on his dressage score, was third in 30.8
Monica Spencer of New Zealand on the thoroughbred Artist, who had led through the first two phases, had 12 faults plus 2.4 time faults in show jumping to drop to seventh.
For the U.S., Boyd Martin on Commando 3 was sixth on 34.2, and Phillip Dutton on Possante was eighth on 37.7, and those four top 10 finishes bode well for the U.S. in the upcoming World Championships in Aachen in August.
EMILY HAMEL on Corvett was ninth on 40.9, while Martin was also 11th on Cooley Nutcracker on 43.7 and Pamukcu on HSH Tolan King was also 14th in 50.3.
Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Blake (Photo by Allen MacMillan)The only other U.S.rider in the top15 was Jennie Brannigan on FE Lifestyle, who finished 13th on 46.
That there were only six different U.S. riders in the top 15 shows that the U.S. still is critically in need of depth in Eventing.
Doel, Spencer, Tim Price of New Zealand, Sophia Hill of Australia and the Brits Tom McEwan, Harry Meade and Tom Jackson filled the rest of the top15 places.
“I probably can’t put it into words,”Coleman said of his victory. “It’s a surreal feeling; it’s something we all dream about. Winning a five star is the hardest thing to do in equestrian sports, and I feel like all the riders deserve the win. It’s such a hard game, it takes so long to get good enough at it to contend at this level."
“I have so much respect for the sport, and the horses and riders, so it feels like it’s unfair that I’m the only one that gets to take home the win,” he said. “But I’m overjoyed for the horse and all who are involved in his journey, the owners, my family, my coaches, and our staff at home. I wake up most days feeling like the luckiest guy in the world and today I feel extremely lucky.”
David Doel on Galileo Nieuwmoed (Photo by Allen MacMillan)As the highest placed American, Coleman also won the USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship.
This is Diabolo’s first 5-star.
“I always thought he would get there,” Coleman said. “His route was unique. I did a four-long two years ago. But my wife Katie and I and our owners all sort of had a high opinion of this horse, and always thought he had a high ceiling."
“I thought he was a winner the first time I laid eyes on him,” he said. “He has an eagerness to him that we felt if we could channel the right way, he was capable of big things.”
Pamukcu calls HSH Blake her “best friend,” and loves her mount so much that she named her daughter Blake.
“I’m really proud of all my horses,” she said. “I’ve got incredible horses and I try every day to be the best person I can be. It’s the hardest sport, and I try to do the best I can for my horses, and today, Blake helped me out a lot. He’s such a special horse and he made up for everything that I lacked.”
Blake was originally purchased in Ireland for resale, but after three vettings where potential buyers backed out, she realized she would be genuinely sad to part with him, despite falling off of him in their first event together.
Tamie Smith on Lillet 3 (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)“I was able to keep the ride, I found an owner for him and it’s just one of those stories where we grew up together,” she said. “He’s been there through a lot of my milestones in life; competition milestones and the birth of my daughter. Every morning, I wake up and turn on the lights and say good morning to him. He’s a great person, and very spoiled, just like my child.”
Doel slowly moved up from 12th after dressage to third overall.
“I’m very lucky,” Doel said. “He’s a bit of an unreal horse. He’s now done every northern hemisphere 5-star and finished in the top 10 in all of them. I had a super ride on all three days. It’s rare to get all phases right and he nailed it this weekend.”
Doel and his family own a dairy farm and ice cream business back in England and he said everyone had stayed up late to watch the performance and root for them.
“I was feeling fantastic after dressage,” he said. “The horses ahead of him moved better and went better, and I was thrilled with his test. The dressage scores have been coming slowly down, and we know he loves to gallop and jump and is an absolute athlete. You always need a little bit of luck, and on cross country he lost a shoe and bashed his stifle, so it’s a testament to him that he looked as good as he was today. I’m chuffed with him.”
Smith won the CCI4*-S on Lillet 3 and set a record doing it, but it was a short lived record.
She was the first person to have won both the CCI5*-L, in 2023, and now the CCI4*-S at Kentucky, but then later that afternoon, Coleman matched this feat with his own win in the CCI5*-L after winning the 4* in 2024.
“She was super, I couldn’t have asked her to be better,” Smith said of Lillet. “She came out just enough to rise to the occasion and didn’t get tense or tight and jumped amazing. She keeps going from strength to strength and she was so ridable and tried her heart out. I don’t think she even touched a rail.”
Will Coleman on Very Dignified (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan Photography)Smith was the only rider in the 4* to not only go clean but also add no time faults..
Coleman on Very Dignified was clean but added 1.6 time penalties to hold on to second place, and Mia Farley on Invictus added only 0.4 time faults to stay third.
Sharon White on Claus 63 moved up to fourth with 1.6 time penalties after Dan Kreitl on Carmango had eight faults.
“The time was very influential in show jumping, and I’ll admit I didn’t think was achievable,” Smith said. “Good riding was happening and they still were not making the time. I just went in and rode to the plan of me and my coach Scott Keach and it worked. It’s very rewarding to be the only double clear.”
In addition to his winning the 5-star, and Very Dignified’s second in the 4-star, Coleman was also fifth in the 4-star with his other horse, Fahrenheit Addict.
Mia Farley on Invictus (Photo by Sarah Miller for MacMillan photography)“Very Dignified’s awesome, I love this mare,” he said. “She’s very opinionated, kind of an alpha female and really classy. I thought she was great all weekend. We didn’t have the dressage she’s capable of, but she jumped great for me today. This is her first advanced start of the year, so all things considered, I’m thrilled. It was Fahrenheit Addict’s first advanced run of the year too, and I thought he put forth a nice run.”
“It was weird, I felt normal today, which is not how I normally feel going into Sundays with my other experienced horse,” Farley said. “So today I just decided I wanted to ride the best I could and Sammy and I together answered everything. He jumped really well and really high. I’m so impressed with him and it was also nice to feel myself answer those questions.”
