Ingham Takes Over at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN™
Halliday-Sharp and Smith Dominate in Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S
Great Britain’s Yasmin Ingham had a fairytale year in 2022, and she’s looking to do it again after taking over the lead of the CCI5*-L at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian™ aboard Banzai Du Loir. Ingham and the 12-year-old Selle Français gelding owned by The Sue Davies Fund put on a show for a crowd of 13,252, the largest Friday crowd since 2017.
“He was incredible out there,” Ingham said of the test which scored 22.1. “I’m so proud of him. He did everything I asked, and he just really did focus in there.”
Ingham and “Banzai” finished second in this competition in 2022, and then went on to win the Eventing World Championships in Italy later in the summer. It was a fairytale ending to an incredible year for a young lady from the Isle of Man who was a relative newcomer to the top levels of the sport. As a result, the decision was made to try to keep the magic going by returning to the Kentucky bluegrass.
“(This event) was an amazing setup for our success at (the World Championships in Pratoni, Italy) last summer, so the thought process was to come back here and have a great ride to hopefully set us up again,” Ingham said. “It’s an awesome event. I feel very lucky to be here and just want to give it my best shot and stay as close to my dressage score as possible.”
Thursday’s top pair — Great Britain’s Tom McEwen and JL Dublin — had to settle for second place behind their countryman with their overnight score of 22.6. With only a single cross-country time penalty separating them, their performance on cross-country tomorrow will be critical.
American Tamra Smith and Mai Baum (24.2) also moved down one place to stand third overnight, just ahead of Will Coleman (USA) and the young phenom Chin Tonic who is right behind them with a score of 25.0. As the highest-placed American, Smith currently leads the Land Rover/USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship presented by MARS Equestrian.
Coleman and Chin Tonic have been winning everything with out-of-this-world dressage scores as he’s come up the levels, and the 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Hyperion Stud continues to impress. However, he’s new to the 5* level, and Coleman thinks he needs a little more time and strength to reach his full potential.
Read more:
Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event | April 27-30, 2023 (kentuckythreedayevent.com)
