Caroline Pamucku and HSH Double Sixteen. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.
Phillip Dutton will retain his points lead in the inaugural season of the US Equestrian Open of Eventing after the first qualifier of the year at Bouckaert International. However, it’ll be Caroline Pamukcu, who’s on a return tour this spring after having her first baby in the off-season, who takes the qualifier winner’s spoils this weekend with a CCI4*-S win aboard the Double Sixteen Partnership’s HSH Double Sixteen (Robin de Pres – Azaria, by Fruits of Love).
This is the second win for the 10-year-old Thoroughbred gelding originally campaigned in Ireland by Leila Barker; in 2024, he won Ocala International’s 4*-S before finishing in the top 10 in his 4*-L debut at Tryon and on the podium in the Bromont 4*-S later on in the summer. Even at 10, he’s got extensive experience competing at the FEI levels, and Caroline’s kicking on to her spring goals, which include a potential trip to Europe on the USEF European Development Tour, which she’s applied for with a few of her horses. We’ll know more about who is selected for this year’s Tour in a few weeks.
This was Caroline’s first FEI back since having her baby, Blake (named, of course, after her Paris Olympic horse HSH Blake), but she’s feeling her fitness come back and she went out of the start box this weekend with the intention of being competitive. For her, FEI events are where she likes to be competitive, using National competitions if her horses need “practice” or less competitive runs.
“When we go to FEI events, it’s important to go in with the mindset to win,” she said. “Especially with how FEI rankings [and EquiRatings stats] impact team selection now. Past generations may have thought about it differently, but going forward, my generation has to focus on that. When you go to an FEI event, you have to win.
On cross country Saturday, which this year was designed by Australia’s Clayton Fredericks, who’s taken over from previous designer Hugh Lochore, Caroline and “Six” put down the quickest turn of foot, accumulating 4.4 time penalties to end the weekend on a score of 40.2.
“I brought two horses for the four-star — Double Sixteen, my full Thoroughbred who won, and Tolan King, who was actually one of my sale horse rejects. I had him for three years, and no one would buy him. Eventually, I told the owner, ‘Hey, we should just keep him and produce him,’ because he’s a very nice horse, it’s just that no one bought him,” Caroline described.
“Both of them are kind of underdogs — they’re small and unassuming. Double Sixteen is a full Thoroughbred, and Tolan King is nearly full Thoroughbred. If you walked past them in the barn, you wouldn’t think much of them, but they are absolute lions. They love their job and have an incredible work ethic. I call Six a little Jack Russell -— he has so much personality. He even sits in the field like a dog! We call him a little Jack Russell, but he’s also the sweetest creature and always in your pocket. Tolan King is a little more of a worrier, but once you’re on him, all he wants to do is go, go, go. They both just love their job.”
Returning to riding with a full string of Advanced and prospective 5* horses, while balancing a baby, is of course a major transition, but Caroline gives full credit to her team for making sure the horses were ready to step right back in when the season got underway.
“We were really lucky,” Caroline said. “We timed having a baby as best as we could. Last year, all my horses were nine years old, so we figured if they missed moving up to five-star as nine-year-olds, that was fine. They finished their season around September, and I kept riding as much as I could, but physically, I wasn’t super comfortable, so I handed the reins over to Mason [Reidy], my head rider, and my team members like Matt Crutchfield, who’s been with me for five years, and my groom Chloe, who’s been with me for years. Sharon [White] came up and jumped the horses or flatted them as much as she could. My team really stepped up when I had to take a step back, and this weekend showed what a good job they did. I literally felt like a catch rider! They put in all the hours of fitness and flatwork -— that was Mason and my team. I just started riding again…I took about a week off after having the baby and then started riding as much as I could, but physically, I’m not strong enough yet to do 12-hour days. My crew warms up the horses for me, and Sharon still comes over a few days a week to warm them up so I can just focus on jumping them around. I’m really grateful for my owners for being patient—it’s a big deal to take six months out of my year to have a baby.”
Caroline’s got points on the board now for the US Equestrian Open, which awards a series points leader cash bonus of $25,000 to the highest points earner across qualifiers. Caroline earns 40 points for her win, as well as another 20 points for finishing fifth with the Tolan King Partership’s HSH Tolan King. This won’t be enough to threaten current leaderboard topper Phillip Dutton, who adds 55 points to his existing 75 thanks to a third and fourth place 4*-S finish with the Jewelent Group’s Jewelent and Caroline Moran’s Quasi Cool, respectively, but she will take second on the current leaderboard after this weekend. You can learn more about the points system for the Open here and view the current leaderboard here.
Lucienne Bellissimo and Dyri. Photo by Taylor Crawley for Liz Crawley Photography.
Hitting second on the final standings at Bouckaert is Great Britain’s Lucienne Bellissimo with Horse Scout Eventing’s Dyri (Diarado – La Calera, by King Milford), who finished second in the 4*-L at Morven Park to cap off his 2024 season. Initially leading the division after dressage and show jumping on a score of 25.8, Lucienne added some intentional time on cross country to finish in second on a final score of 45.8.
Lucienne has Stable View’s 4*-S next on her calendar for both Dyri and Tremanton, who also had a successful run at Bouckaert, finishing 12th overall, as she looks ahead to her bigger spring goals of both horses’ as well as her first CCI5* at Kentucky in April.
“I’m really happy with how Dyri has come into the new year, he had a big holiday after Morven in October,” Lucienne said.
“He’s still improving in the dressage,” Lucienne said. The 13-year-old Holsteiner gelding earned a 28.5, which shaves a few points off of his Morven 4*-L score of 30.7 en route to a second place finish. He’s gone as low as 26.0 at the level, and Lucienne believes “he is good enough to get sub-25 on a day when I can get him in the ring as I’m now getting him at home.”
Lucienne had positive feedback for new designer Clayton Fredericks, describing the cross country as “fresh and more challenging…you had to keep thinking right up to the penultimate fence.”
Phillip Dutton and Jewelent. Photo by Liz Crawley Photography.
Phillip Dutton is aiming Jewelent (Valent – Bellaney Jewel, by Roselier) and Quasi Cool (Quo Vados – B-Estelle, by Lord) at the 4*-L at Tryon in May, adding nothing but strategic time to his dressage marks with both horses and even jumping all the way up from 16th after dressage to third overall with Jewelent.
“I was very very pleased,” Phillip said of his rides and also with Clayton Fredericks’ designing on cross country. “I thought it was a great track. It was testing enough for this time of year but not over the top, which is hard balance to get. You want to encourage good riding and test the riders and horses but then not make it that hard that its zaps their confidence. All credit to Clayton. I think he’s not afraid to test things a bit, which is good. I think he’s got confidence in what he’s doing and he mixes up the parts where he asks for technicality and accuracy and holding a line, and then he sort of gives you three or four fences to get the horses in front of you again. It’s all pretty fair — everything he’s doing is forward riding and a good, honest horse is rewarded.”
“I am factoring the Open in [to my competition strategy this year],” Phillip said of his points standing after this weekend. “In eventing, money’s not everything — everyone does what’s best for their horse — but if there is money that’s put out there, as riders and owners we need to, within reason, support it because it’s only good for the sport. So I’m trying to support the events that are part of [the US Equestrian Open]. And even with last weekend in Aiken [at the Grand-Prix Eventing Showcase], there’s a place for people to be a little bit more targeted with the events that put on the money. They’ve got to be supported and that’s the future of the sport, so hopefully riders and owners and supporters will get behind all of that because its really good for everybody if we can get some prize money.”
Looking to the other feature divisions at Bouckaert International, the 18 years young Tsetserleg (owned by the Turner family) took home a casual win in the 3*-S with Boyd Martin in the irons, finishing on a score of 26.7. Mia Farley and Cecile Zovighian’s exciting young mare, Nikita, led start-to-finish in the 2*-S to end the weekend on a score of 25.5. Mya Poulos and her own DHI Rock Dancer moved up to win the 1*-S on a score of 32.0. Alyssa Phillips‘ Aachen partner and Cosequin Lexington 4*-S winner, Oskar, is back in action this year after spending the end of 2024 on the sidelines, winning the Advanced from start to finish and ending on a score of 42.4.
Bouckaert Equestrian International (GA) [US EQUESTRIAN OPEN QUALIFER CCI4*-S]: [Website] [Entries/Ride Times] [Volunteer] [Scoring]
