California Girl is Undeniable: Tamie Smith and Mai Baum Claim

First U.S. Kentucky CCI5* Victory Since 2008

The year was 2014. The eventing season was winding down for the year, and young rider Alex Ahearn called her coach at the time, Tamie Smith. Would Tamie like to join her and her mother, Ellen, for dinner? While at dinner, Alex laid out her grand plan. “I want to go to college,” Alex, who was 19 at the time, told Tamie. “And you need a great horse.”

That “great horse” was a tall, lanky black German-bred gelding, originally sourced by Alex’s family via Michelle Pestl. His name was Mai Baum (Loredano – Ramira, by Leoni), and now, a few years later, on a dazzling Sunday afternoon in Lexington, KY, he and Tamie Smith captured the victory in the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by MARS Equestrian, becoming the first U.S. winner since Phillip Dutton’s victory in 2008 and the first female winner since Mary King (2015).

Alex had competed the gelding herself through what is now the CCI3* level, climbing from the Junior Beginner Novice ranks onward. He also was a graduate of the USEA Young Event Horse program, having competed with Michelle Pestl to begin his career in the U.S. first. Now feeling her priorities and focus shift, she made the offer of a lifetime to Tamie.

Mai Baum was qualified for the Advanced level by the time Tamie took the reins, and within a few months they’d already collected a string of wins at the Intermediate and Advanced levels. A year later, Tamie definitively put Mai Baum on the international radar with an emotional and emphatic win at Fair Hill’s then-CCI3*. One would be forgiven for assuming that from there, Tamie went on to take “Lexus” to his first CCI5*. But in fact, the gelding’s debut at the uppermost level would be delayed, set back by injury that would keep him from competing at the Advanced level for three seasons.

As a result, it wouldn’t be until 2021 that Mai Baum made his long-awaited debut at the level — and he may have even won there in his debut, had it not been for an ill-timed frangible pin penalty on the latter third of the cross country course. Tamie regrouped and aimed for Badminton in 2022, where she finished ninth overall. The pair were subsequently named to the U.S. team for the FEI World Championships for Eventing in Pratoni del Vivaro, where they contributed to a team silver medal.

But Tamie knew there was more to come. “I wasn’t certain whether it would ever happen, but I just wanted him to have his moment in the sun a bit, and today he did,” Tamie said. “He’s missed out a few times even though he’s been very competitive on the world stage. I feel like it eluded him, and I’m just more happy for him because I think he is unbelievable; he’s an unbelievable creature.”

Tamie admitted on Saturday that she was more nervous that she typically is ahead of today’s show jumping finale — and for good reason. For the first time in 15 years, a U.S. rider was leading the charge following cross country — but while she had the lead, it wasn’t by much. Just 3.6 penalties separated her and second-placed Tom McEwen (GB) and JL Dublin — and then Tom cantered in and laid down a fault-free round, and the pressure was on.

“To be completely honest,

I was quite nervous going into the show jumping with him today, because I had an uncharacteristic two rails at the World Championships,” Tamie said. “I was in bronze medal position at that moment and ended up losing that and moving down to ninth. When you’re on a horse that show jumps as well as he does, and then you have two down, you just know that sometimes the odds are just a little bit against you — I mean, he hadn’t had a rail in a few years.”

Here, Tamie credits her show jumping coach, Scott Keach, for his help to get her into the right space to go in and perform under the crushing pressure. “Scott Keach, who I show jump with, has been instrumental in the progression of myself — [he helped me with] just kind of keeping my cool and understanding how to stay in the moment, and to care enough but not care too much.

“I think all of us have been rooting for an American to win the Land Rover Kentucky Five-Star for a very long time,” Tamie said. “Phillip brought it here in 2008 and we’ve been so close so many times — I know Boyd, a few times — I think everybody’s just so grateful. I’m so happy an American won, because I’m so tired of the Europeans coming over and taking our national championship! We all have our own struggles in this sport, and we’ve all had our own ups and downs in anything at elite level — I envision that picture of the iceberg and the little tip is poking out but the bottom underneath is massive — and the struggle is a lot. In this sport, as everybody knows, you take a beating, and the resilient ones just keep coming back for more. You hope that one day it pays off, and today it did. I’m honored, and I’m elated, and I’m so excited, and I’m a bit speechless, honestly.”