October 21, 2023 
When William Fox-Pitt booked a flight to America for the MARS Maryland 5 Star he believed he was coming to a “light” event.
“I’d very much been led to believe that it was a good five star but it was an encouraging one—the time was quite friendly and it was a good sort of first time, five star experience,” said the British Olympian.
Ian Stark course corrected that notion on Saturday. The veteran cross country course designer built a massive track even by eventing standards, complete with canoe waterfall. But that’s what you expect from Stark, according to the Brit.
“Ian Stark likes to be a rider frightener,” said Fox-Pitt in Friday’s press conference.
“And in the modern sport I think we’re seeing less and less of rider frighteners. We’re seeing many more technical clinical courses that aren’t scary. You know, they’re difficult, they’re tricky, but they’re not scary. And certainly the course here, you look at a couple of these jumps walking down to that Chevron hedge over that ditch—that’s a good ol’ rider frightener.
“Questions coming out of the water jump couple of fences earlier, yeah, that’s five and a half star.”
The difficulty of the course showed on the scoreboard. Of the original 26 starters only 16 completed Stark’s cross country course. Of the ten that failed to cross the finish line, four retired, five were eliminated, and one, USA’s Jennie Brannigan and Twilightslastgleam, withdrew.
By day’s end, just one pair managed to finish within the 11:25 minute optimal time.
Five star debutante Mia Parley (USA) and Phelps were the only combination to finish on their dressage score of 32.9, jumping from 10th in the provisional standings to third. She’s the first U.S. rider in since Daniel Clasing at the 2013 Kentucky Three-Day Event to make the time in their first ever five-star appearance.
“When I started, I just wanted to get to the finish line, and Phelps did that for me,” said Farley. “I think what I learned about him today is that he’s a true fighter. When I wasn’t fully there for him, he was like ‘It’s ok, I’ve got you,’ and it was a wonderful feeling for him to kind of step in and take over the reins.”
Atop the leaderboard is overnight leader and world no. 1 Oliver Townend (GBR) and 9-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Cooley Rosalent. The pair added six time penalties to their score, despite a few hairy moments on course, to bring their total to 29.1. Equiratings post-cross country predictions give them a 68% win chance.
Fox-Pitt and Grafennacht collected 5.2 time penalties to climb from second into third on 31.3 penalties. A single rail separates the top three heading into Sunday’s show jumping phase.
Twenty Americans started in the CCI5*-L at Maryland. Only four finished in the top ten, while all six international riders managed the feat—several on unproven horses. Maryland marks the five star debut for Townend’s Cooley Rosalent and teammate Piggie March’s Brookefield Cavalier Cruise (current 5th) and is the career second CCI5*-L for Fox-Pitt’s Grafennacht and New Zealand’s Monic Spencer’s Artist (current 9th).
“I know that Ian [Stark] has tweaked his course and he’s tweaked it into a true 5 Star, and probably one of the toughest 5 Stars in the world right now,” said Townend, echoing Fox-Pitt’s sentiment from the day prior.
“I think that’s what the sport needs and to attract the riders from overseas…the great footing for the horses, the amazing staging, the list goes on and on. It has really gone the direction that we hoped and hasn’t disappointed in any way, shape, or form.”
The MARS Maryland 5 Star podium will be decided Sunday with the show jumping. Tune in on USEF Network.
