LEXINGTON, Ky.--Boyd Martin on Shanroe Cooley won the $60,000 USEA Advanced Final on Friday evening at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Boyd Martin on Shanroe Cooley (Photo by Haley Johnson)Martin, leading after cross country, added just .4 time faults in show jumping Friday evening to win the Championship on 40.5.
Mary Bess Davis on Imperio Magic, who was one of only two to jump clean without time faults in show jumping, moved up from fourth after cross country to finished as reserve champion on 44.3.
Maya Clarkson on Maks Mojo, second after cross country, had eight faults jumping to drop to third on 51.1.
Katie Lichen on HTS Jensen R and Hickstead Mustard finished fourth and sixth respectively on 54.8 and 54.9, while Buck Davidson on Sorocaima finished fifth on 54.8, tied with Lichen but slower cross country to break the tie.
“He's brilliant,” said Martin of the horse with the barn name of Dallas. “He's a fantastic jumping horse. For all the big shows that are really important, he seems to prance out there and jump like a stag. I felt like he jumped the course really well. We had a good warm up, and I’m very pleased with him tonight.”
MARTIN on Dallas placed third at Luhmühlen CCI5*-L in Germany in June.
Mary Bess Davis, Boyd Martin and Maya Clarkson on the Advanced podium (Photo by Haley Johnson)He took over the ride from Liz Halliday, who produced Dallas from a young horse before a riding accident in 2024.
In an emotional moment, she came to help Martin accept his awards at the end of the night.
Martin and Dallas started the weekend in third place after dressage, and a fast cross-country round moved him up to the lead.
"I think he's evolved and matured and developed a lot since Luhmühlen, and I think that was a great turning point in our career just because it's one of the toughest events in the world, and he finished strong there," said Martin. "And sometimes when you do those big five-stars, it can rattle a horse, or in this case, it's made him stronger and more seasoned. So I must say, all three phases this weekend with Dallas, he just felt like a more established, mature horse, and to ride him here in Liz's hometown in front of Liz was very, very rewarding for me because Liz put her heart and soul into this horse, and nothing made me happier than seeing her patting and smiling and hugging her champion horse.”
Martin is just back from winning a team bronze medal at the World Championship in Germany, so he only had two horses to ride at the AEC.
"The AEC is like the Olympic Games for a lot of the younger riders and the amateur riders, and the sport of eventing is thriving in this country,” he said. “When you walk through the barns here and see the passion in all the people that are obsessed with this sport, it’s really, really exciting. I love coming here just because there's a lot of faces that remind me of when I was 15 years old, dreaming of what could be in this sport, and I love coming down here just because obviously Kentucky's the mecca of all horse sports, and it's great being around people that share the same passion as you.”
For Davis, competing at the Kentucky Horse Park this weekend was a bit of redemption as she fell off on cross-country at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this spring.
She injured her leg during the fall, so she had to take about three months off from riding to heal.
“This year at Kentucky, it's just heartbreaking a little bit because I know what he's capable of, and I know what I'm capable of,” she said. “And then I got hurt. The first thing I told my husband was like, ‘I'm quitting. I'm tired of hurting.’ And he was like, ‘Let's just give it time.’ He always says that, and of course, like two days later, I was back in with everything, and planning where I was going!”
“Karen O'Connor talked to me coming into this, and she said, ‘You've got to learn how to win," said Davis, referring to her coach. "You know you're competitive. You have to learn how to win.’ So, we came into this, and we really focused hard on every aspect of the show and performance, and it really paid off. The dressage is getting better; it needs to be better. It was about this close to being amazing, so we're still getting there. But it was really important that she had that conversation with me, and then we applied it all week, and just every day he was amazing. So, it worked.”
Clarkson moved up from 12th after dressage on 33.5 to third overall, adding 9.6 time penalties on cross-country and two rails in show jumping to finish on a score of 51.1.
“He was better than me tonight,” Clarkson said. “The rails were my fault, and I was bummed about them, but that’s OK. This was both of our first time jumping in this ring together, so I was pleased. He was amazing. He jumped the same as he does in every other ring, and I was a little bit just not quite on my game.”
“Advanced on him in the past has not always been that easy,” she said. “The horse has the biggest heart of anything I’ve ever ridden. He’ll just find the flags regardless of what position I’m in, but it was nice to have all of the rounds feel pretty smooth. I was proud of that today.”
