The inaugural Notting Hill Stables $10,000 Combined Test Invitational, held Wednesday at the Florida Horse Park, was indisputably an overwhelming success. Chris Barnard has long been mulling over the plans for this event. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this,” he confirmed. “I’ve had the idea for a long time, but this was the first year that I could find a date that worked for me and for the calendar. I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes.”
32 combinations started, with dressage getting underway at around 9 a.m., and then the show jumping in reverse order beginning mid-afternoon. Between the ringside sponsor/rider tent, the vendors on one side of the arena, a respectable turnout and a strong breeze flapping the flags, there was plenty of atmosphere. Ultimately, it turned out to be an incredibly close competition with less than a rail separating the top six.
Alyssa Phillips added just 0.8 time penalties show-jumping to her dressage score to move up two places and win on the lovely 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding, Rockett 19, flanking last year’s phenomenal form which culminated in a second place finish at the Maryland CCI3*-L in October.
“Normally the first time the horses see atmosphere in their springtime schedule with what I’ve had in the past is [at Bouckaert Farm in Georgia]”, she elaborated. “I think some horses can get pretty lit up there, but they’ve really done a great job here with the banners, the tents, the ringside stuff. It’s impressive and I think since we come here a lot and it’s more low key, it surprised some of them so it’s really just great to be able to have this type of atmosphere here.”
Alyssa and Rockett kicked off their 2026 campaign here at the Florida Horse Park with a quiet run in the OI at the start of February, but are aiming to move up to the Advanced level at Bouckaert Farm next month before targeting the CCI4*-S at Terranova and Kentucky. Until today, they hadn’t ridden this test, or jumped a course this big at an event.
“It’s the first time I’ve run him through the test,” Alyssa shared. “I came out this year at this event and just ran him in an Intermediate and he was really ready to go, so I just wanted him to have a well put together test, which meant me not running through it too many times so he didn’t learn. I thought it was really great. I think my coach was a little bit disappointed in my score — he thought it was going to be lower — but I can’t do anything about that, and I’m really happy with my horse, and I look forward to giving him a good jump around this afternoon.” she said. “I’m so grateful that Chris Barnard and everybody involved put this on for us, to get the horses in an atmosphere like this.”
Buck Davidson and Cooley Candyman. Photo by Haley Boothe / Impulsion Media.
Buck Davidson capitalised on his solid dressage test with Cassie Segal’s Cooley Candyman with an immaculate jumping round, also moving up a couple of places to finish in second place.
“He’s a bit of a character,” he shared. “But he’s quite good in the show jumping.” The pair have an Intermediate run at Rocking Horse earlier this winter under their belt so far for 2026 but not much else yet. “I don’t jump him a lot, especially this time of year, “ Buck explained. “He’s a bit better fresh anyway.”
Buck and “Rolo” are aiming for the CCI5* at Kentucky, and Buck says he feels as if he is sitting on a different horse this season. “He really has grown up this year a lot since I took him to [Maryland 5 Star] and he ran out of gas, but only because he jumped too good. He was amazing at [Maryland], and he showed me a lot, and he kept trying. He jumps beautiful, he’s beautiful to ride. He’s my pet, really,” he smiled. “And so it’s fun that he goes well.”
Buck was equally complimentary about the Invitational, and happy to take home a nice portion of the $10,000 prize pot. “It’s awesome!” he stressed. “and it’s awesome that Chris puts in the effort to do this and get the prize money. Hopefully it’s like a wake up call for the rest of the events that it can be done. He’s done a great job, it’s an awesome course and everybody’s having a good day. It’s fantastic!”
Will Coleman and Fahrenheit Addict. Photo by Haley Boothe / Impulsion Media.
Finishing on his dressage score in third place on Team Rebecca’s Fahrenheit Addict, Will Coleman could not agree more.
“It’s really wonderful,” he affirmed. “It’s just a great opportunity for us to get out and get to practice under some atmosphere, and it was a fabulous dressage arena with very good judging.”
Will is hoping to contest the CCI4*-S at Kentucky on this horse, who was second in his first CCI*-L at Rebecca Farm last summer, and thinks the Invitational was a perfect prep for him at this point in the season. “And we had a beautiful course built by none other than Chris Barnard,” he grinned. “We’re very, very spoiled here in Ocala to have so many different ways to get our horses out and school them in a competitive atmosphere and this is just another great example of that. We’re just very lucky that Max [Corcoran] and Emily [Holmes] and Chris [Barnard] went to such great lengths to provide us with a wonderful show.”
Speaking of which, Will has been honing his show jumping skills this winter. “I’ve got a few pure show jumpers now, and I’ve been doing some of the National Grand Prix,” he shared. “I have a nice young mare that’s doing the 1.35-1.40 meter: she’s a nice horse, she’s relatively new, very, very green, but I’m excited about her. I love the jumping, and I’m in a great place to get a chance to do a bit of both, and although it keeps us a little bit busy and somewhat manic I really love it so it’s added a nice little wrinkle to our schedule down here.”
Will’s student, Meg Pellegrini, and Falcon Crown Z added just 0.8 time penalties in the jumping phase to finish in equal fifth place, a scant 0.5 behind Will and on the same score as Elisa Wallace and Donna Biggs and Rosemarie Spillane’s Lissavorra Quality.
Rory Frangos and DHI Rocketman. Photo by Haley Boothe / Impulsion Media.
“We’re proud of Meg every day,” Will smiled. “She’s first class in every way. She really has a wonderful attitude and approach to her craft. We just are delighted that she’s with us. She’s a joy to help — she’s obviously very talented, but more than that, she has a tremendous work ethic and a real love for this game, and that’s, I think, the biggest reason why she is and will be successful.” High praise indeed.
It was important to Chris Barnard that the entry list include the Ocala crowd, and some high profile international riders as well — Monica Spencer (NZL) and Sophia Hill (AUS) — but also he was delighted to include some of the up and coming younger riders. “It’s what I hoped it would be,” he said.
Monica Spencer and Artist led the first phase with an outstanding score of 25.8, although their test was one of a couple that the judges (Bobby Stevenson at C and Valerie Pride at E) did not agree on, scoring a six point differential. We’ve come to expect first phase brilliance from this combination and they didn’t disappoint today, despite a couple of errors. “He went in there and was a little bit excited today,” she shared. “He’s happy to be out. He hasn’t been out since Maryland [5 Star], so he was a little bit nervous in the arena, but he held it together. There were a couple of little canters when we were supposed to be trotting, but I think he enjoys when people watch him.”
Artist enjoyed a well-deserved holiday after his podium finish at Maryland CCI5* last fall and really only came back into work at the start of the year. “So I’ve been slowly building strength and relaxation and suppleness,” Monica explained. “and he knows the moves, so it’s more about just keeping him feeling good in his body and happy and enjoying his work.”
Three rails down in the show jumping scuppered their chances of a win today, but Max has not been anywhere since Maryland last October and Monica has bigger goals in mind. “I very much build as the season goes on,” she shared. “because I feel like if you ride with the same amount of intensity for the whole season, the horses just get sore in their bodies, or a bit burnt out or a bit too excited. I like to quietly build into the season,” she said. “it’s like allowing to get to the point where I need to be at Kentucky, allowing that to happen gradually instead ofjust putting so much pressure on the horse and yourself too soon in the season.”
From here, Monica and Artist will go to the Liftmaster Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase at Bruce’s Field next weekend, then “probably a little canter around the Intermediate at Ocala, then the CCI4* at Terranova, and then, hopefully Kentucky CCI5* again. Then,” she smiles. “cross our fingers and toes to be selected for the World Championships at Aachen.”
Caroline Pamukcu and her own, Sherrie Martin and Luann McElduff’s HSH Connor had an expensive rail, dropping them to fourth place but like several of the riders, Caroline had brought along a few of her string of horses to ride during the day, and was full of praise for the event.
“Oh, I love it,” she smiled. “You know, we’re so lucky to have people like Chris to do stuff like this. Obviously he’s an amazing course builder for show jumping, but he gives back so much back to the sport and we’re so genuinely lucky. He’s just one of those people. We’re really lucky as a whole in the sport but he gives back so much and he seems to really care about the eventers.”
She picked HSH Connor to compete Wednesday with the long game in mind, she explained. “I think he’s a really proper, proper dude!” she said. “I’m looking way ahead in the future, but I think he’d be a really good Pan Am prospect so we’re just trying to get him out more and expose him more, and especially at the four-star level – that’s what the Pan Ams is going to be: four-Short dressage and show jumping, then three-star cross country.” It (almost) goes without saying that Caroline won an individual gold medal and team silver three years ago at the Chile Pan American Games on HSH Blake, before they represented Team USA the following year at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
HSH Connor competed in an Intermediate earlier this year in Ocala, and then Caroline will decide whether to run him in the CCI4*-S at Bouckaert. “We’ll see how the weather is, if it rains and how the footing is, and then we’re just going to pick and choose and aim to do a four-Long sometime this spring, either Tryon, Bromont, or maybe Montana.”
Maya Clarkson finished in 10th place on a very fresh and fit looking Maks Mojo C, another combination to add just a smidge of time to their dressage score.
“I’m so pleased with him,” she grinned. “He was wonderful!” They did an AI division here at the Florida Horse Park a few weeks ago and are aiming for the CCI4*-L at Tryon. They took some lessons with British European champion Nicola Wilson in January while she was teaching in Ocala for a week, and now Maya and her horse are excited to be heading over to England in June to be based with her, taking advantage of winning the Wilton Fair grant for the fall season overseas.
Jack Curtis and Luska Candy Clover. Photo by Haley Boothe / Impulsion Media.
With the Aiken Grand-Prix Eventing next weekend and then the FEI season kicking off at Bouckaert Farm the following week, this is exactly the perfect warm-up for the Ocala riders that he had envisioned, Chris explained. The dressage test — FEI 4* Test C — is the same one they’ll use at Aiken and at Kentucky, and the show jumping was equally a true 4* track.
“I build here all the time so I know the rings,” he said. “and the new 3D jumps from Get Jumps just jazz up the ring quite a bit so I think it’s going to take a little bit of jumping. It’s what I would build for four-star even though it’s the middle of February. It will be 1.25m and it will be normal width, and the footing is so good here, the weather’s super today. Also I think it’s a good gauge for these guys to know where they are in February. I think that’s my vision with the show jumping is tough, but not super hard — but up to height.”
Indeed: there were just seven jumping clears within the time from 30 starters.
“The jumps are beautiful, it’s big enough, it’s interesting enough, there’s enough verticals you have to jump cleanly, and you have to keep going to get the time allowed. I think it’s great,” Sharon White, who was one of the seven to add nothing to her dressage score with Claus 63 to finish seventh explained, adding, “I’m just so grateful for these people — to Chris and Max [Corcoran] and Emily [Holmes] and everybody involved; I just thank you guys so much because it’s fun, it’s so fun. I just have had the funnest day!”
This was a sentiment oft repeated throughout the day and shared by us all.
Mia Farley and Phelps. Photo by Haley Boothe / Impulsion Media.
Chris assembled a dream team to help him pull the day off so smoothly: Max Corcoran and Emily Holmes, Chris’ wife Justine, and Jonathon Elliot who flew in from Aspen Farm (“the Seahawks won the Super Bowl so he’s happy, he’s on his victory tour!” Chris acknowledged) were all vital cogs in the machine. Valerie Pride and Bobby Stevenson judged the dressage, and Hugh Lochore took care of the commentary.
Next year, Chris would like to stretch the competition over two days, perhaps adding a lower level division which would allow for more horses and riders. One can’t help but think that “if you build it, they will come”.
A grateful mention to all the sponsors, and the riders who stepped up and showed up, but also backed the event financially or in kind — especially Sara Kozumplik and Overlook Farm, Jack Curtis, Rebecca Brown and Alyssa Phillips; not only was the prize money substantial and welcome, but there were some unique and valuable prizes in kind, and particularly thoughtful, a grooms prize and check for the winning groom, in this case Brie Doublin for Rockett 19.
The 2026 eventing season feels simultaneously as if it is just getting started but also well underway. It’s going to be an exciting year ahead and it’s been an exciting debut for the Notting Hill Stables $10,000 Combined Training Invitational — the best is yet to come. Go Eventing!
