THE BEST WEEKEND ALL YEAR

Written by Elliott Greene / Photos by Tony Bailey

Going into the final day of competition at the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event Presented by MARS Equestrian leaders Tamie Smith and Mai Baum felt the pressure of an entire nation; it had been 15 years since a U.S. combination won the event.

Essentially an equestrian triathlon, the sport of Eventing consists of three distinct elements: Dressage, Cross-Country, and Show Jumping. The horse-and-rider combination with the fewest combined penalties from the three phases wins. Smith of Murrieta, California, who has been competing with Mai Baum, a 17-year-old- German Sport Horse gelding since 2015, sat in third place after the dressage test. The pair followed that up with a textbook round on the Derek di Grazia-designed cross-country course that pushed them into first place by 3.6 points.

Another stellar performance under threatening skies before 23,576 fans in the show jumping phase clinched their victory with a final score of 24.2, one of the top three finishing scores at the event in over a decade. In addition to being the first American winner in 15 years, she was the first woman to win in 12 years.

Following the win, Smith remarked, “It’s like an out-of-body experience. In this sport, you take a beating, and you hope that one day it pays off. Today it did. I’m honored, elated, and I’m a bit speechless.” After a hard-earned rest period, Maui Baum and Smith will be training for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian is one of only seven annual Five Star three-day events in the world, along with Badminton and Burghley in England; Luhmuhlen in Germany; Pau in France; Adelaide in Australia; and the Maryland 5 Star in the U.S. LRK3DE is the largest and longest-running Five Star event in the Americas, and as the United States’ premier event, it also serves as the Land Rover/ USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship presented by MARS Equestrian for the U.S. athletes. The 2024 event is scheduled for April 25-28 (kentuckythreedayevent.com)