Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
As the final ride of the day, Boyd Martin and Commando 3 slotted themselves right into the lead position in the first day of dressage for the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. The 4*-S is being considered by many as potentially the more influential field this weekend, with many top horses and riders working to put their best feet (hooves?) forward for the Olympic selection committee present here this weekend. The 2024 Connaught Grant recipient pair delivered one of only two sub-30 scores today, taking first in the division overnight on a 28.9.
Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Owned by Yankee Creek Ranch LLC, the 11-year-old Commando 3 (Connor 48 – R-Adelgunde, by Amigo) is on a recent winning streak, having won the last three competitions he’s started at, to include the Stable View CCI4*-S just weeks ago. Boyd referred to “Connor”, as he’s known in the barn, as “one of those horses of a lifetime”, after the second of those three wins at the Morven Park International CCI4*-L in October.
“I’ve been slogging away at the sport for 30 years, riding any horse that comes my way, and after all these years and years and years I feel very blessed that now we’re able to select some of the best animals in the world,” Boyd said of Connor’s test today. “Horses like Commando 3 rarely come on the market — they’re a needle in the haystack. I’m just very honored and privileged to be in a position to ride a horse of this class and quality. He is young and still needs work, but we’re nowhere near his peak and the sky’s the limit.”
This is only Boyd’s second year campaigning the Holsteiner gelding, having gotten the ride from Sweden’s Louise Romeike, who had been with the gelding since his two-year-old year. “You think if you buy a Ferrari, you’re off to the races, but it’s often not the case,” Boyd explained of his partnership with Connor. “In the back of my mind I wanted to have him as a potential Olympic horse, so I had to get going with him real quick. My second or third event was a four-star short, and my fourth event was a four-star long, and it’s not really your horse until about a year later. To me, [Commando 3] is such a class animal that even while I was figuring him out, we still ticked the boxes and jumped a lot of big courses. It wasn’t until the end of last year to the beginning of this year that I really feel like we got a connection and a partnership and we understand each other — I know his little quirks now and got an understanding on how to ride him.”
The Olympics are, of course, in the back of everyone’s mind, and Boyd is no different — but he states he is trying his best to focus on what’s in front of him first. “I’ve been lucky enough to go to three Olympics, and I’ve learned that you don’t get to the Olympics unless you have a great performance here — it’s pointless thinking about until next week,” he explained. “It’s all about doing a great job this week, making sure the horses perform well, that they’re happy and healthy, and then not let your mind even wander off on outcomes or possibilities. Next week, we can start thinking about one of these horses hopefully going to the team, but at the moment we’ve got a mission ahead of us here at Kentucky — I’ve got three good horses and they’re in good shape and we’re ready to rock.”
Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Will Coleman held the lead for all of five minutes on the penultimate ride of the day with Diabolo (Diarado – Roulett M, by Aljano 2), moving down to second place behind Boyd and Commando 3 to finish the day on a 29.9. Will is also looking to catch the eyes of the Olympic selectors with his three mounts this week, and had held the lead for most of the morning after his test with Off the Record, who ended the day in third position.
“It’s unique, given the fact that it’s an Olympic year,” Will said after his success today. “I think everybody has a little bit of a different approach, both in terms of how they want to put themselves forward for selection, and whether they feel like they’re going to make a stronger case for themselves doing the five-star versus the four-star, or if they’re focusing on just their horse.”
The Diabolo Group LLC’s gelding is a newer horse to Will’s barn, having taken the ride in May 2023 after being campaigned by Gemma Tinney of Australia through the 4*-L level. Will is aiming “Dab” at Luhmühlen for his first 5* after the pair had a successful first season last year, to include a second-place finish in the Intermediate Championships at AEC and two third-place finishes at the 4* level at both Terranova and Morven Park. The 12-year-old Holsteiner has never been out of the top ten with Will, and is easily keeping up with both of Will’s other mounts this weekend, both champions in their own rights.
“I’m really lucky to have him in my stable,” Will said of the newest addition to his string. “I’ve got a great group of people that came together to acquire him for me, and I’m just thrilled. I think he’s going in the right direction.”
Will’s choice to add Diabolo to his Kentucky plans with Chin Tonic HS and Off The Record was mostly to help give the gelding an experience in the high atmosphere while still allowing him an easier track. “He’s still a relatively new horse for us, and to get the experience in that main arena and even just around Kentucky Horse Park during the week, on the cross country on Saturday, and then back in that stadium on Sunday — that’s just a experience you can’t really duplicate in too many other places in the world, so it’s nice to be able to get that under our belt,” Will stated. “It’s going to help me know a little bit better how I want to prepare him going forward, and just get a sense of where we’re at in terms of his readiness for big time events, five-star events, and championship events down the road.
After leading for most of the morning on a 30.1, Will and Off The Record moved down to third place after the conclusion of his second ride of the day and Boyd’s ultimate overnight victory.
Will’s relationship with Off The Record has certainly been star-studded with success in recent years. The Off The Record Syndicate’s Irish Sport Horse gelding won first place at Aachen in 2021, a historic first-time US win for the event. Will and “Timmy” also took seventh place in the 2022 World Championships at Pratoni — contributing to the US Team’s silver medal — with another seventh-place finish at the 5* here at Kentucky last year.
Will and his three-horse powerhouse team have been sweeping the podiums, taking a one-two punch victory at the Grand-Prix Eventing at Bruce’s Field, where he won the event aboard Hyperion Stud’s Chin Tonic and earned a close second with Off The Record. Timmy also left Stable View’s CCI4*-S with a fourth-place finish behind Boyd and Commando 3’s win (and another second place ribbon by Will on Chin Tonic).
Partnered together for over nine years, Will has high hopes for the 15-year-old in the rest of his career. “Off the Record is an older horse, and if he was going to be asked to go to Paris, for him, I think doing the five-star here and then turning around and doing Championship in July would be a lot for him,” Will explained of his decision to aim his trio for the four-star short.
“All three of mine are on that four-star short track for various reasons,” Will explained of his preparation for Kentucky with all three of his mounts in this division. “I think, as always, if you just listen to your horse and you try to make the best decision based on your horse and what’s going to make him be at his best, then the selection stuff is out of our hands and I think it’s not really worth even putting too much thought into.”
Tamie Smith and Danito, Phillip Dutton on Jewelent, and Great Britain’s Leslie Law aboard Lady Chatterley take up the fourth, fifth, and sixth place overnight positions, respectively — but don’t go away, because tomorrow’s lineup is just as competitive as today’s and we can hardly wait to see how the positions shift after tomorrow morning’s performances.
We’ll be right back in the sandbox tomorrow morning at 8:00am EST, so be sure to stay tuned for much more from the #BestWeekendAllYear!
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