After taking the lead following yesterday’s demanding cross-country phase at the 2024 MARS Maryland 5 Star, there was no stopping Oliver Townend (GBR) and Ballaghmor Class in the show-jumping competition. The pair rode their first Maryland victory lap after a clean jumping round for a final score of 31.3 penalties.
Today marked Townend’s ninth five-star victory and fourth with Ballaghmor Class (Burghley 2017 and 2023, Kentucky 2021). Ballaghmor Class now finds himself among the best five-star horses in the history of the sport.
Three-time Olympian Tim Price (NZL), who was the 2022 Maryland 5 Star winner and sat in third following yesterday’s cross country, and Falco clinched second, also with a clean round and finishing with a score of 34.6. David Doel (GBR) came in third on Galileo Nieuwmoed with a score of 38.5, and Buck Davidson (USA) took fourth on Sorocaima with a score of 47.6.
Townend and Ballaghmor Class’ Last Five-Star Dance?
Whether the 2024 Maryland 5 Star ends up being the 17-year-old Irish Sport Horse’s final five-star competition or not, the longtime partners couldn’t have left the weekend on a higher note. In addition to four five-star victories with “Thomas,” the pair also represented Great Britain at the 2021 Olympic Games (team gold) and the 2022 FEI Eventing World Championship. This year’s Maryland 5 Star marked the gelding’s 10th CCI5*-L start and his first appearance at Maryland.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m relieved more than anything. A lot of pressure comes with riding Ballaghmor Class, I think because I expect to do well on him. And when you’re against these guys, you know, it takes some winning. It’s a five-star for a reason, and five-stars are very, very tough to win,” Townend said. “I was very conscious that the last two times I came into the show jumping in the lead and didn’t come out being the winner. So I thought, if it went wrong this time, I’m going to have to get a jumping coach or something like that! So I’m relieved. I’ll stick to the system.”
He noted that European eventers don’t necessarily come to U.S. five-star competitions to educate their horses, but he finds that every event presents a learning opportunity.
“If we probably did it exactly the same way to exactly the same minute, it might not work for the next event. So it’s easy to say, yeah, we were brilliant because we weren’t. But in the end horses are horses. I think it’s about riding as much as learning,” he said. “It’s about all the little things you do in the warm-ups and the management with each different horse. And the more five stars you do, the more you learn what you need to be doing on each specific horse.”
Townend was visibly emotional several times over the weekend about the possibility of this being Ballaghmor Class’ last five star. When asked if he might reconsider retiring Thomas from five-star competition during the press conference following show jumping today, Townend responded, “Would you?” After cheers from an enthusiastic audience, he followed up with, “I think that’s the most ridiculous question that’s been asked all week.”
Tim Price and Falco Finish in Second
Price and powerhouse Falco also had a massive success, especially considering this was only the second five-star competition the 15-year-old Hanoverian bay gelding had competed in. The pair came out in second following today’s show-jumping competition, moving up one spot after sitting in third following yesterday’s cross country.
“I was a little bit nervous bringing him. Here was the first time he’s seen a hill. The other five-star was Pau, and so I said we’d have a little bit of a go and see how he copes with the whole job,” Price said. “He came through really well. It’s about learning a bit more about your horse, and every competition at this top level allows the horse to be more established at that level, so they know themselves and that stamina requirement at the end of the course a little bit better. They know how to come out the next day and try for you again.”
Price noted that Falco makes his job as a rider very easy. “From all the things we’ve learned after doing this for a number of years at the top level with different horses who have the ability to jump around is that you still have to be quite clever,” he said. “But Falco gives me more confidence than you can imagine. And today was no different.”
David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed Earn Third
Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed completed their eighth five star at Maryland this weekend, finishing in third place on a final score of 38.5 and marking their sixth top-10 finish at the five-star level.
“I just sort of felt that, actually, I let him down today and didn’t quite do him justice. I started in the distance going down to the treble and was a little bit quiet. And it just made him work a little bit too hard,” Doel noted. “Like Tim says, he definitely wouldn’t be an out-and-out Falco double-clear machine, but he is a pretty phenomenal horse, and normally a very, very good jumping horse. So that was definitely sort of a my mistake today. I kick myself a bit as I always like to try and put a little bit more pressure on Oliver!”
More Photos of the 2024 MARS Maryland 5 Star
Read all of Practical Horseman’s coverage of the 2024 MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill:
Second Horse Inspection report
Thanks to Mane ‘n Tail for our coverage of the 2024 MARS Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill presented by Brown Advisory.
