Tim Price is King of the Hill at MARS Maryland 5 Star

After a Saturday that split opinions, it’s been enormously exciting to have an action-packed afternoon of influential competition at the MARS Maryland 5 Star.

Though our top three would ultimately remain unchanged after cross-country, the short and sweet showjumping finale was jam-packed with action and excitement, with a beefy, technical course of 16 jumping efforts. Both the time and the course itself — which featured jumper-style lines including a rollback turn between fences 8 and 9, followed swiftly by a sharp square turn to a treble combination at 10abc — proved influential, and just five of the 21 starters would deliver faultless rounds.

Cross-country leader Tim Price wasn’t one of them. He came into the arena with less than a rail in hand over Tamie Smith and Danito, who had just delivered an exceptional clear, adding 0.4 time to stay just one-tenth of a penalty ahead of Oliver Townend and As Is, who had added nothing in their round. Like Tamie and Oliver before him, he cantered through the starting line on an unseasoned five-star debutant and, again like those before him, crossed the finish on a newly-established superstar. In doing so, he took his fifth five-star title — won, quite remarkably, aboard a fifth different horse.

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Article written Tilly Berendt