Tim Price has set a new eventing five-star record, becoming the first person to complete the cross-country at all the world’s seven five-stars after his round today (Saturday, 16 October) at the newest top-level event, Maryland 5 Star.
“That’s something to be proud of, I guess – it does pay to come from the other hemisphere!” said Tim, who finished ninth at Adelaide back in 2002 before he moved from New Zealand to the UK.
“What’s important about any five-star event in the world is they have their own stamp or their own brand of five-star. Maryland feels like it’s got its own identity and I’m sure we will see evolution over the coming years, which will be exciting to come back to and witness.
“It’s great to have another five-star on calendar for us to target and there will be a certain type of horse that suits this one at Maryland. We’ll hopefully have one of those for each of the years to come.”
As a bonus, Tim has actually ridden round five-star tracks at eight different venues as he also finished in the top 10 at the one-off five-star at Bicton Horse Trials in September this year.
The USA’s Boyd Martin, who currently sits third at Maryland behind Tim in second, has also ridden at all the world’s seven regular five-stars, but he fell across country on his only attempt at Badminton Horse Trials, in 2016, so he has not completed the cross-country at all of them.
Australia’s Clayton Fredericks, who had completed the six older five-stars before this week, did the dressage at Maryland 5 Star, but withdrew FE Stormtrooper before the cross-country, so has also started all seven regular five-stars.
Britain’s William Fox-Pitt and New Zealand’s Andrew Nicholson have won at the widest range of five-stars, as they have both taken top spot at five different ones – Badminton, Burghley, Luhmühlen, Pau and Kentucky. Until Maryland 5 Star kicked off this week, they could claim to have been victorious at every northern hemisphere five-star.
Alice Dunsdon has ridden at the most five-stars on the same horse as she has started all the events except the new Maryland 5 Star on Fernhill Present. She completed all of them except Badminton and H&H followed her epic journey to the Australian five-star at Adelaide back in 2015, as well as her Badminton campaign the following year.
You might also be interested in:
How to watch Maryland 5 Star live from anywhere in the world
Oliver Townend holds his lead after Maryland 5 Star cross-country: ‘I’m so honoured to ride him, he’s a top-class trier’
Mixed day for Britain on Maryland 5 Star cross-country: how Oliver Townend, Harry Meade, Zara Tindall and Leslie Law fared
Zara Tindall drops down leaderboard after Maryland 5 Star cross-country
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