Adamstown, Maryland – Since Laine Ashker’s FEI record began in 2003, she’s competed in 31 events at the CCI4* level. This weekend in her 32nd four-star start, she took home her first win.
It’s evidence of the difficulty of the sport of eventing – the determination and tenacity required to come back and keep trying, again and again. To be clear: it’s not always solely about the wins, especially in this sport. The development of an event horse is one requiring patience and time, something Ashker has experienced many times over as she produces horses to the top of the sport. With the 10-year-old KWPN mare Lovedance (owned by Lovedance LLC), it’s been a journey of development, making this weekend’s win all the more special.
It was a unique circumstance for Ashker, who has historically produced Thoroughbreds for this sport. Lovedance is, as such, the first warmblood horse she has ridden at the upper levels, which required her to continue her own education to fit this different type of horse. It had also been several years since she had a horse competing at the four-star level.
“It’s been a learning curve,” Ashker said. “I’ve had a lot of thoroughbreds coming into the sport, and she’s my first proper warmblood, so I have left strides out, I’ve scared her by getting too long in my eye, and it’s been a journey. Philip [Dutton] has been really instrumental in helping me understand how to ride a horse of her quality and her stride, and just getting quicker overall. So I spent the time, put in the show jumping work, the dressage work, and then the cross-country work has come, just getting her learning how to move her feet, which comes so naturally to the Thoroughbred. It feels good to have the work pay off, because it doesn’t always go that way. And when it does, you have to celebrate that, so I feel good about it.”
Ashker came into the weekend with a good feeling. She found herself in third after the dressage and added 3.2 time penalties in yesterday’s show jumping before going on to jump clear on cross-country with 19.2 time penalties added on a Andrew Heffernan-designed course on which the optimum time is notoriously tough to catch. Ashker felt prepared this morning before her ride.
“I’ve been envisioning this,” Ashker said. “I’ve been manifesting it, writing it in my affirmations, so I felt good about it. My horse has seen all the questions. This wouldn’t be the best course as far as quickness. She’s quite a slow horse, but just step by step, we’re chipping away at the speed and not having to do so much set up, and she just was wonderful. She answered all the questions, she felt super ready for what’s to come.”
Ashker now becomes a dual-sport winner at the upper levels, having won a CDI3* with her US Equestrian Open dressage horse, Zeppelin, in 2025. With her goal of competing in the US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final at Morven Park in October, she would become the first rider to compete in Open Final competitions for two different sports. With this win, Ashker wins 40 points towards the Open series leaderboard and a berth in the Final.
“It makes you feel so motivated,” Ashker continued. “I mean, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I think I was doing my first four-star at 20 or 21 years old, and I’ve had really great horses. I think it’s a culmination of all the lumps and bumps, and putting your — I don’t think it’s 10,000 hours, I think I put in like 40,000 hours at this point – but it’s finally come to fruition. I think the biggest thing for me as a competitor, which I think many people may not realize that they struggle with, has been the mental game, because I think I’ve had the work ethic, but I think I haven’t always thought that I could do it. The last few years, from the dressage world to here, I’ve sort of envisioned that I can do this, and like I said, chipping away, because just as much as I’m preparing my horse, I have to prepare myself, both fitness wise and mental wise. So I’m very, very humbled, and I’m very, very excited. I hope there’s more to come.”
Completing the podium in the Triple Crown Feed CCI4*-S are Australia’s Ema Klugman with Chiraz in second on a score of 54.8 and Canada’s Lisa Marie Fergusson with Ratheoin Quality Imp on a final score of 60.3.
Arielle Aharoni Takes Finish Line Horse Products CCI3*-S with Notorious
Arielle Aharoni was confident in the jumping ability of Notorious, who at eight years old has shown himself to be a true horse for the future. Aharoni, another dual-sport athlete who also competes in upper-level show jumping, was riding a high on cross-country today, adding just 7.2 time penalties to seal the victory in the Finish Line Horse Products CCI3*-S on a final score of 39.2.
“To be honest, he set out of the box and he was totally focused the entire time, and I really just had to sit there and tell him which direction to go, which was amazing,” Aharoni said. “When I sat up, he sat up, when I let him go, he let go, and that was extra validation that I needed.”
“This is my first time here since a really, really long time ago,” Aharoni continued on her decision to add The Maryland International to her schedule this season. “I came here because I know that there is a selection trial here in the future, and I’d like to get my horses acquainted with the atmosphere and with the terrain, because I actually don’t think I’ve ridden on terrain like this before – those sharp drops and sharp inclines, and [the course is] not long, but it is steep out there, so it was very different than most events that I’ve been to in the last five years.
Australia’s Ema Klugman also hit the podium in this division, taking second with FVF Wildflower on a score of 43.1 and Kiersten Miller with Rosconnell Alto finishing third on a score of 52.0.
Lead Changes Hands in Stubben NA CCI2*-S as Emeline Gilbert Takes First and Second
Emeline Gilbert packed a one-two punch in the Stubben North America CCI2*-S, winning the division on cross-country today with MS Spirit on a score of 29.1 and following that up with second on Adamas with a final score of 33.9.
Both horses are nine this year, and Gilbert is excited for the future with them after a spring of strong results. “This is kind of my finale for the spring/summer season, before we make some big fall plans,” she commented. “So I was wanting to come here, give them a kind of tough track, and try to go for a top placing, ideally, and go fast to really see what they can do. And they were so good – I was happy it was a good test for them.”
Calling MS Spirit her “comfort horse,” Gilbert was pleased to get to take him out of the Horse Sport Maryland start box as her first ride of the day. “I got a good idea of how the course went. [Adamas]’, my second one, is a little bit spookier sometimes, but he is so bold, and he was just a champion out there today, and wanted to attack it, and it was so nice to have that from both of them.”
Jennie Brannigan completes the podium in the CCI2*-S with Grand Finale, a homebred of longtime supporter Tim and Nina Gardner who is out of Brannigan’s former Advanced horse Catalina and by National Anthem, who also sired her CCI5* horse Twilightslastgleam. This weekend marked the 8-year-old Warmblood/Thoroughbred gelding’s first FEI event, and he finished nearly on his dressage score, adding just 2.4 time penalties on cross-country to end on a 34.4.
Pamukcu Packs a One-Two Punch in Virginia Maryland Tractor CCI1*-S
Another one-two finisher came in the Virginia Maryland Tractor CCI1*-S as U.S. Olympian Caroline Pamukcu won the day with HSH Van Conquistator (owned by Gayle Davis and Sherrie Martin) and finished second with HSH Winston (owned by Cathy Hare and Sherrie Martin). These two six-year-olds are former sales horses sourced by Kelley Hutchinson in Ireland who came through Pamukcu’s bustling program and wound up finding owners so that they could continue their careers with her. This weekend marked both horses’ first FEI events.
“It’s so fun for me to produce these young ones,” Pamukcu said. “When you get them as four- and five-year-olds, you don’t know what they’re gonna grow up to be. I just so much enjoy the process, and I love being here at Loch Moy, because I think it’s such a great education for them. The dressage has great atmosphere, the show jumping is beautifully designed by Chris Barnard, and it’s a lot of atmosphere there too. And then the cross-country is unreal, it’s a great terrain and I love how they do the roping – it kind of gives you that big show feel. I’m thrilled with both horses.”
For Cathy Hare, the experience of event horse ownership is a dream fulfilled. “I met Caroline down at the Carolina Horse Park two years ago, and I just blurted out, ‘I would really be interested in owning a top level horse!’ and it’s just sort of evolved from there. It’s been really a lot of fun, and Caroline is a great partner to be with because she makes it easy, and she includes us all in a lot of things so it’s like one big happy family, which is really great.”
Lea Adams-Blackmore completes the CCI1*-S podium with Cindy White’s Commonwealth Chrome, moving up from seventh into third on a final score of 36.1.
New Leaders Emerge in USEF Eventing Young Rider Championships
Two new individual leaders emerged after cross-country across divisions in the USEF Eventing Young Rider Championships, with both the CCIU253*-S and CCIYR2*-S top spots changing hands.
16-year-old Sterling Pollard takes over the CCIU253*-S lead with Michael Pollard’s Tinto, moving up from second and adding just one second of time on cross-country for a two-phase score of 31.1. This score gives her two rails in hand for Sunday’s show jumping finale.
“I think with me being in second place [after dressage], it actually, gave me a little grit and wanting to chase for first place,” Pollard, who also competes in show jumping and will be competing in the FEI North American Youth Championships later this summer with her show jumper, said. “So I really was happy with the fact that I was in second. My plan was really to not necessarily make the time, but be as close as possible, and just have a good ride for him and do everything, make quick lines, and know exactly where I’m going, looking to the next fence really fast, getting away from the fences, just trying to minimize wasting time, and keep moving forward.”
University of Kentucky student Eleanor Winter took over the CCIYR2*-S lead with her own Mosstown Rebel, who has been her first Prelim+ horse and has now brought her to her first Young Rider Championships.
“My plan was just to ride forward,” Winter said. “I knew a lot of the combinations just required a big, confident ride, and so I tried my best to remember that and not think about finding a distance so much as just going forward. He’s a good horse, and he wants to jump, and he looks for the flags, but if I make a mistake, he does sometimes remember that. So I just wanted to have a big confident ride, and did just that.”
Kennedy Langmo maintained her CCIJ1*-S lead with her own Knock Out, remaining on her dressage score of 24.0 with a double clear cross-country run today. “He came out of the start box flying,” Langmo said. “He was super good, taking me to everything and backing off when he needed to. I was definitely focused on making time, knowing that the majority of the previous riders had time, so I was able to let off the brakes at the end and take my time when I needed to, because of how fast he came out of the start box.”
In this division, Area 3 leads the way on a total score of 96.6 after two phases. Area 8/9’s team leads the CCIYR2*-S with a cumulative score of 104.5, and the Area 3/6 team leads the CCIU253*-S on a two-phase score of 131.5.
Competition concludes tomorrow for the Young Rider Championships, starting with the Horse Inspection at 7:30 am and the start of show jumping at 8:30 am.