October 18, 2025 
If the last few years have not yet proven, the 2025 edition certainly has. Horses that succeed at Maryland have the blood and grit to handle the terrain and intense questions.
“Every time I walk a five star, I’m like this is the hardest one I’ve ever done,” New Zealand’s Monica Spencer said. “I was talking to Jock [Paget], my mentor, and he said he did 22 and they didn’t get easier. Before I went, he said: “This is an opportunity, go take it. Just be Monica.”
So she did.
Spencer and her OTTB Artist, known as Max, finished 24 seconds under the time to retain their lead after a fast and furious cross-country day at the Maryland 5 Star. Max’s strength is his gallop and Spencer leaned on that huge stride to make the time between fences.
“It was tough out there,” she remarked. “I love that I can let [him] go on the straights, and then I still have so much time to set up for the jumps. I don’t have to feel rushed, because I know I can make up time after the jumps, so it allows me to be more accurate.”
The course that kept everyone up last night rode like a proper five star. The biggest culprit of the day was the Pierre’s Puzzle, the coffin obstacle with cantilevered logs hovering above ditches on a steep mound as the C and D elements. Six combinations retired there or had jumping penalties by way of refusals or missed flags. It’s certainly not surprising as it was the most head scratching question on course.
Unexpectedly, the second most problematic part of the course, with three combinations having jump penalties, was the Quarry View Building Group Fox Catcher Flyer.
An iconic Maryland fence, it’s a huge, winged V lined along the top with tall brush and a ditch in front. Usually designed as a “rider scarer,” horses handle the question with aplomb. However, added this year was a small ground line with brush that mirrored the top line in an opposite V. Perhaps with the buzz of anxiousness about the course this year, the rider scarer did its job a bit too well.
One combination who had zero problems on cross country was Maryland favorites of Mia Farley (USA) and Phelps. The Thoroughbred that brought Farley to the highest levels of the sport continues to shine in the days when fitness counts the most. They moved from ninth to third with a double clear round through the hills and valleys.
“How can we not love Thoroughbreds on a five star?” Farley laughed at the press conference. “I don’t have much experience at five stars, but they [go] for it and get everything done. They’re gritty and fun to watch!”
Phelps proved herself a rider fully capable of reacting capably to the twists and turns of a true five star course.
“[The course itself] walked how it rode—sometimes we couldn’t set a clear plan about the combinations. It was acting off feel today.”
Sitting in second position on a horse that makes up for her lack of Thoroughbred blood with sheer fitness, is Switzerland’s Felix Vogg with Cartania. The 14-year-old Holsteiner mare has had top 15 success with Vogg at both Badminton and Burghley along with a top 15 finish at the 2022 FEI World Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro. The double clear cross country round today moved them up one spot on the podium.
“She has not a lot of blood, like 45% I think,” he said. “But I think it’s about the fitness, and it’s a mare, which makes it easier. Often they don’t stop; they keep fighting for you. I was bit worried beginning of the year to go to Badminton, and she might be not fit enough, but turns out quite the opposite. She was way too fit. Now she was Burghley ready. They have to be fit; I think she was perfect. She didn’t get tired.”
Vogg himself has come back from an injury this spring where he suffered paralysis in his arm after a fall from a young horse. His personal fitness regime included four hours of physio a day while his girlfriend kept Cartania in work.
“We focused mostly on the jumping and the fitness,” he said about keeping Cartania in work while he was rehabbing his injury. “The dressage, I don’t think, is the big problem, especially when you build up to these events. Mostly you do too much dressage. So for me, it was more important that she stays fit, she keeps jumping.”
Hypothesis: Maryland requires the same kind of fitness as Burghley.
Evidence: The top four horses after cross country and all four horses who made the time (the whole podium plus Australia’s Sophia Hill and her own OTTB, Humble Glory) have all had successful Burghley completions.
Conclusion: Big Bad Burghley has met its match in Mighty Massive Maryland.
