Will Coleman and Diabolo. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Despite the fact Will Coleman admitted he felt he didn’t have things completely perfect in his final warm-up ahead of Diabolo‘s first CCI5* dressage test at Defender Kentucky, the efforts made between the boards today were plenty for a Thursday lead. Will and the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by the Diabolo Group earned a 27.3 (with two penalties added for an error for halting at the wrong letter to end the test), a pleasing result in any scenario but certainly one to build off of at the 5* level.
“The first time you do a five-star at a place like this — this kind of atmosphere — you’re never totally sure how your horse is going to cope,” Will commented after his ride. “Diabolo got a little excited. Even my final warm-ups, I didn’t feel like I totally had him. But to his credit, he went in there, and he really stayed with me, and he did his job as best he could. There’s little things I’d love to clean up, but I can’t be anything but proud of him and I just really, really adore this horse.”
It’s been a slow build to this point with “Dab”, who was brought up from Australia at the end of the 2022 season after starting his career with Gemma Tinney. It was actually Will’s wife, Katie, who saw the video of Diabolo (Diarado – Roulett M) first and put the bug in Will’s ear. Will and his dad traveled to Australia for a whirlwind trip to try the horse, and soon enough he was on a plane to the States.
Dabs for “Dab”? Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Some health issues acclimating to life in the Northern Hemisphere and other niggling things cropped up, as they do with horses, and truthfully Will’s always been more of the patient type — especially with a horse that had already competed to the 4* level with another rider. That means more time building a partnership — it’s certainly not a scenario in which a rider can or should just get on and kick on with a horse that’s competed at a high level.
That patience has paid off over the years, resulting in a win in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S that runs alongside the CCI5* here in 2024 and a podium finish in the pair’s first 4*-L together at TerraNova in 2023.
“[It was a] very good program there with the Tinneys, but a different program, probably, to what he has here,” Will elaborated. “And I think it takes time for him to adjust to that, and for us to learn him and learn what he needs from us. I would say now you’re sort of seeing it come to fruition a little bit, but the weekend’s still not done, and we’ve got to see how the rest of the event goes. But happy with today and happy with this horse. He’s trying for me, that’s all I can ask for.”
Phillip Dutton and Possante. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Phillip Dutton didn’t quite have the fall season he was hoping for with the now-13-year-old KWPN gelding Possante (Namelus R – Wendelien), but that’s all behind him now and he’s full-steam ahead with this new slate, earning a 28.1 from the Ground Jury today for second place overnight. Our Ground Jury in the CCI5* is headed up by Andrew Bennie of New Zealand; he’s joined by Seppo Laine (FIN) and Valerie Pride (USA).
“He’s a great horse on the flat, and I think the best is still ahead of him, which is exciting,” Phillip said. “We started off not that great, we spooked in the corner so it wasn’t the best way to start off, but I thought he was very good from then on. Dressage comes reasonably easy for the horse, so it’s more just a case of keeping him calm and me riding well, and then it usually goes well.”
Phillip admits he’s had to be patient with the production of this horse as well. He was first produced to the 4* level by Great Britain’s Emily King, showing his promise by finishing fifth in the famous future-star spotlight 8/9-year-old CCI4*-S at Blenheim in 2022 before transferring to Phillip and the Possante Group.
Phillip Dutton and Possante. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
“I mean, we’ve taken it slow,” Phillip said. “Actually, we struggled a little bit when I first got him, so I’ve had him for quite a few years now, but he’s starting to come together. He’s a kind horse — he wants to do the right thing, and he’s not trying to get out of things. It’s just he’s a bit bigger, and it’s taken a while to get him a bit quicker-footed and secure in what he does.”
Phillip as well as fourth-placed Harry Meade (GBR) noted that this test — FEI CCI5* Test A — is rather horse-friendly in the way it’s written, but nonetheless still a proper test of your training.
“Certainly doing the shoulder-in on the quarter line is a little bit more of a test, you don’t have the boards to hold you there, and then to half-pass right across the arena takes a bit more education from your horse as well. The first two changes are out of the counter-canter, so I think it does test the education and your training of the horse. I think it’s a pretty nice test — maybe one of the easier ones at the five-star.”
Tim Price and Global Quest. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Tim Price (NZL) rounds out the top three with Global Quest (Metropole – Broadford Star), a horse formerly ridden by the late and loved Georgie Campbell, earning a 29.8 for third place overnight. “He’s not God’s gift to dressage,” Tim laughed. “He’s quite a big horse, and he finds it all quite difficult, but I think the recipe was good this time. He was relaxed and giving as much of himself as he could, and it was quite fun.”
Tim credits the great footing in the dressage with some of effect to allow Global Quest to relax and give through his body. “It’s always nice at these big events, especially the ones when you’ve got such premium surfaces all the way through — horses that are natural, big, flamboyant movers, they can be in mud, they can be in grass. But the ones that are really working at their maximum in terms of the movements and pushing through their bodies the right way — I just love the fact we’ve got such consistent surfaces all the way through to the main ring.”
“I ride him in her honor,” Tim said of Georgie, who passed away after a cross country accident at Bicton in May of 2024. “She’d done, I think, a four-Long with him and she was targeting Luhmühlen when that happened. So I did a couple of four-Longs with him, built up to Pau last year, and then his owners, Dinah and Lance [Morish], and I just kept talking about Kentucky. It’s such a great stepping stone to the five-stars back in the UK that will always be there. And it’s great for the owners to come here, they have such a great time, so we thought it would be a fun thing to do.”
Harry Meade and Superstition. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Fourth overnight will be World #1 Harry Meade, who’s armed with two horses with an equal shot at a podium finish. The first of those was his own and Mandy Gray’s Superstition (Satisfaction FRH – Calendula), who at 17 truly has his own way of doing things at this point in his career – and both Harry and Mandy are happy to make life the simplest it can be for him. This means light, light scheduling — in fact, the 17-year-old British Hanoverian gelding hasn’t run an event yet this season, and his last start as a fifth-place finish at MARS Badminton last May. For Harry, the prep is done at home — the horse’s experience certainly helps here, as he’s already done five CCI5*s and never finished outside of the top 7 — and it’s more important to mind Superstition’s mental health more than drill the techniques.
“He’s quite intense horse to work,” Harry explained. “He’s very sort of fractious in his mind, gets very stressed at competitions. He’s done nothing since Badminton up to here, and it’s not what I would choose for every horse. But for me, it was the balance of what, actually, do the prep runs do for him, and the benefit — does that outweigh the tension? And I felt that it probably made him a less secure person in his own mind. So a lot of it’s just about keeping him feeling very comfortable and confident and happy and enjoying it and not under the spotlight, and then bring him out to a big one. I’m well aware that it’s unorthodox, and if I go and fall off at fence five, people might be quick to put two and two together, make seven and say, ‘Oh, it’s because the horse wasn’t prepared.’ But he’s been a very well proven, secure, five-star horse who’s demonstrated, hopefully, a partnership and real competence, and he feels just as prepared. This year we’ve done it at home.”
Harry Meade and Superstition. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
To be honest, I think it’s a respectable approach. Of course, it remains to be seen how this “unorthodox” prep will pay off on Saturday and Sunday, but Harry is nothing if not a consummate horseman — and he’s fortunate to have a supporter like Mandy Gray, who agreed that there was no reason to push for more results. One three-day a year, when most others would do two, is not a common approach, but isn’t it better to think of what sets the horse up for success?
The 30.2 earned by Harry and Superstition today isn’t their CCI5* personal best, but Harry echoed Phillip’s thoughts that this test was rather horse-friendly.
“I think it’s quite a horse-friendly test in the fact that you start opening them up in the medium and have a little bit of quite forward lateral work, and then another extended,” Harry elaborated. “And it’s that way throughout both the trot and the canter in that it’s not a backwards test. It encourages the horse to keep thinking forward and is quite rewarding for horses to execute.”
Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Boyd Martin had a very special guest in the stands today: Liz Halliday made her first public appearance this afternoon just in time for her Olympic horse, Cooley Nutcracker (owned by Liz’s Nutcrackers — yes, that is the owner group’s name and we’re very here for it), to go down centerline. Liz, who continues her incredible recovery from a traumatic brain injury sustained in a fall in August of 2024, recently obtained her para dressage certification (LA28 BABY) and will be in attendance all week at Kentucky to cheer on Boyd and “Bali” as well as all of her friends and teammates competing this week.
“I heard Liz might be coming when I finished, I looked up in the stands, and there she was, just in the seating with all the gang,” Boyd smiled. “So I’m about to go over and say hello to her. I hope she’s proud of her horse — hope she was happy with this. It’s great to see her here.”
Welcome back, Liz! Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Boyd would’ve loved a score in the 20s as is more Cooley Nutcracker’s MO, but a 30.7 is good for fifth overnight and certainly something to climb from in the jumping phases.
“I’m still getting to know him,” Boyd said of his test with Bali, who is by Tolan R and out of Ballyshan Cleopatra. “He’s a fantastic horse, and he’s not my normal type of ride. Usually I’m quite on hot, spicy horses, but he’s got that sort of laid back aura about him, and so I’ve got to ride him every step of the way. So all in all, I was pretty pleased with it.”
We’ll be back with you tomorrow in the CCI5* at 1:00 p.m. EST, and of course the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S dressage wraps up first (you can read our morning report from today here), beginning at 8:00 a.m. EST tomorrow. You can find full scores, live stream info and more in the links below.
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