When Tamie Smith and Mai Baum landed off the last fence in show jumping at the 2023 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, the crowd inside Rolex Stadium erupted. In response, the 17-year-old German Sport Horse gelding “shot out of a cannon,” Smith said, seemingly aware of what the pair had just accomplished for their home country.
For the first time in 15 years, a U.S. rider had won the prestigious event at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. On top of that, Smith is the first American woman to be champion since 2005. She and Mai Baum maintained their dressage score of 24.2 through cross country and show jumping to claim the win ahead of second place finisher Tom McEwen of Great Britain. Smith spoke with Practical Horseman a few weeks after her big win on Ellen and Alexandra Ahearn and Eric Markell’s “Lexus.”
PH What does it feel like to win the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event for America after such a long drought?
TS It’s such a thrilling feeling going over that last jump and knowing that we brought the win back home to the United States. It was something that was unforgettable, and
