Eventing

MARYLAND AT THE AECs: Championship Finals; Day 5 Overnights; Day 6 Ride Times

Eventing

The Novice divisions completed their AECs for this year today, with some shuffling up the leaderboard and some shuffling down. The Beginner Novice and Starter levels completed the cross-country phase today and go on their division finals tomorrow. The big news in the Starter divisions is that one Maryland rider and one Maryland-bred horse are sitting in first place after their respective cross-country rides. Another Maryland-bred horse is sitting in second place, one rail away from first. CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS Novice Amateur Master Arlo Bello and his rider Sarah Crocker (Marshall, Virginia) came into the final phase today in ninth place, but had an unfortunate rail in stadium to end the competition in 10th place on a final score of 38.3. Novice Amateur Dayna Blumel of Davidsonville and her Thoroughbred Brave Sand Rider rode their competition this week in the points equivalent of Base 10. They started in 40th place after ...
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MARYLAND AT THE AECs: Cakewalk’s Championship Win; Day 4 Overnights; and Day 5 Ride Times

Eventing

Dark bay mare show jumping in Kentucky.
The big news of Day 4 at the 2026 American Eventing Championships in Kentucky is that we have a Maryland-bred CHAMPION in the house! High Point Hanoverians’s Oldenburg mare Cakewalk (OHBS name Cake Walk) won the Training Rider division in Kentucky this afternoon by finishing on her dressage score of 30 flat. She was ridden by Catherine Ramsay of Culpeper, Virginia. The pair’s primary rival was the 2017 Irish Sport Horse gelding Fernhill Cool Confection (Sligo Candy Boy x Princess Cool Diamond (Coolcorron Cool Diamond)), who ran a mere 0.3 points behind Cakewalk from start to finish. That horse already has victories at the international levels and rising star Maddie Temkin took him to the top of the CCI2* division at Tryon in May this year. Cakewalk served him dessert after stadium though — she held the talented Irish Sport Horse off with a razor thing margin for three days ...
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MARYLAND AT THE AECs: Day 3 Championship Finals; Day 3 Overnights; Day 4 Ride Times

Eventing

Dark bay horse jumping a cross country jump
Photo: MD-bred Cakewalk in the lead going into to final day of the Training Rider division. PC USEA. The third day of competition at the 2026 American Eventing Championships saw champions crowned in seven divisions, changes on the leaderboard after the Training cross country rounds, and new starts for all of the Novice entries. Two Maryland-bred horses and four Maryland riders finished the cross-country phase, and two Maryland-bred horses and four Maryland riders completed their dressage tests. CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL SCORES Intermediate: Fifty horse-and-rider pairs started in the Intermediate division on Wednesday but only 41 of them completed the competition today. One horse and two riders fell on the cross country course, one rider retired, one withdrew, and the 6th suffered a technical elimination. Today, two riders were eliminated in the stadium and a third withdrew. Preliminary Amateur Open Preliminary Modified Amateur Modified Rider: STANDINGS AFTER CROSS COUNTRY Advanced: There were ...
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MARYLAND AT THE AECs: Overnight Standings from Day 2 and Ride Times for Day 3

Eventing

Looking into an arena at riders through the rail.
The second day of competition at the 2026 American Eventing Championships saw some impressive leaderboard gains after cross country and some solid dressage scores for Maryland-bred horses and Maryland riders. Five Maryland-bred horse and four Maryland riders finished the cross-country phase on the Intermediate, Preliminary, and Modified divisions; three Maryland-bred horses and five Maryland riders finished the dressage phase in the Training divisions. Tomorrow, champions will be crowned in the Intermediate through Modified divisions, and two Maryland-bred horses and four Maryland riders will start the dressage phase in the Novice divisions. STANDINGS AFTER CROSS COUNTY Open Intermediate The Intermediate cross-country course took its toll today. Two riders fell, one succumbed to a mandatory retirement, another retired voluntarily, one withdrew, and one was eliminated for a technical error on course. Both Maryland-breds finished without any jumping penalties. Open Preliminary Preliminary Amateur: Modified Amateur Modified Rider STANDINGS AFTER DRESSAGE Advanced Training Horse ...
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142 Maryland-Bred Thoroughbreds Competing in 2026; 32 Qualified for the AECs

Eventing, Thoroughbreds

The Thoroughbred is the State Horse of Maryland. Thoroughbreds have been racing in Maryland for at least 300 years, and they have been competing in the Olympic disciplines — eventing, show jumping, and dressage — since those disciplines opened to civilians in 1952. At least 142 Maryland-bred Thoroughbreds are competing in the Olympic disciplines this year, and thirty-two of them qualified for the 2026 American Eventing Championships running this week at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. We have listed each AEC-qualified Thoroughbred below, along with their pedigrees, their breeders, and the level for which each horse qualified. You can see their career results by visiting our Results Database. Maryland-bred Thoroughbreds have been competing at the highest levels of sport for decades. For example, two Maryland-bred Thoroughbreds competed on the US team at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles — JJ Babu and Touch of Class. The 1974 gelding ...
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MARYLAND AT THE AECs; Overnight Standings from Day 1 & Ride Times for Day 2

Eventing

All 9 of the Maryland connections competing today at the 2026 American Eventing Championships completed their dressage tests and moved on to their cross country phase tomorrow. Overnight Standings & Ride Times for Wednesday Open Intermediate: Open Preliminary: Preliminary Amateur: Modified Amateur: Modified Rider: Three new Maryland-bred horses and four new Maryland riders kick off their AEC competition with dressage on Wednesday. The first Maryland-bred in the dressage arena on Wednesday is Cakewalk, a 2018 Oldenburg mare (Coeur d’Amour x Rubintanz WOR (Rosenthal)), bred by High Point Hanoverians in Chestertown and ridden by Catherine Ramsay of Culpeper, Virginia. They are entered in the Training Rider division and their dressage time is 9:30 a.m. Cakewalk won two Training divisions earlier this year — one at the Virginia Horse Center on May 21 and one at Hunt Club in Berryville, Virginia on July 26. The second Maryland-bred out is Crescenda, a 2016 ...
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Marylanders at the 2026 American Eventing Championships

Eventing

The American Eventing Championships (AECs) are this week at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, and Maryland will be well represented. Forty-six Maryland-bred horses qualified for the AECs along with a whopping 120 Maryland riders. Event horses come in all shapes, sizes, and breeds. The only requirement is that they have the athleticism and skill to handle three entirely different disciplines, one each on consecutive days (or all on one day in the case of a horse trial). Of the Maryland-bred horses: 30 are Thoroughbreds; 4 are Hanoverians; 4 are Oldenburgs; 2 are Rheinlanders; 1 is a Dutch Warmblood; 1 is an Irish Draft; 1 is a Trakehner; and 1 is a Westphalian. Competition begins today for five Maryland-bred horses and four Maryland riders, as follows: The first Maryland-bred out today is Wonderful Courage, a 2018 Thoroughbred gelding (Bourbon Courage x Wonderful Secret (Stevie Wonderboy)), bred by Timothy L. Keefe ...
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Ryan Keefe and Point Nemo Win “Highest Earner” at the Real Rider Cup

Eventing, Racing, Show Jumping

Brown horse jumping a large show jumping fence
Ryan Keefe, born and raised in Sandy Spring, and Maryland-bred Thoroughbred Point Nemo, won Highest Earner at the The Real Rider Cup on July 11 at Mereworth Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. The pair finished second out of 33 entries. Point Nemo was bred by Dr. & Mrs. A. Leonard Pineau and is by Songandaprayer out of Wood Knot (Kissin Kris). He was trained at the track by Ryan’s father Tim Keefe. Tim Keefe is a past President of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association, and as we reported last year, he has been on the Board of The Maryland Jockey Club since 2025. Point Nemo has had post-racing career as an international eventer at the international levels. His international debut was with Ryan Keefe in the CCI2*–S at the Maryland International at Loch Moy Farm in July 2020. Ryan’s younger sister Carlin Keefe moved him up to the CCI3* level in ...
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Power & Patrick Power Through the Rain at the CCI2* YRC

Eventing, Young Riders

On Sunday, June 28, James Power (Mt. Airy) and Brambleridge Ponder the Truth (Patrick) powered through the rain to a top-ten finish in a field 19 in the CCI2*-S Young Rider Championship at Loch Moy Farm. The pair had one of only 4 double clears on course designer Andrew Heffernan’s (NED) 2* track but picked up eight penalty points in stadium for a final score of 45.3 Power and Patrick skipping between the rain drops at the final jog on Sunday morning. PC Erin Gilmore Photography Power and Patrick competed as part of the Area II team (which is comprised of the mid-Atlantic states plus North Carolina), which team took home the silver medal. They beat out a combined team from Areas I (New England & NY) and VI (California & Hawaii), which took the bronze. Power with a few of his Young Rider colleagues. From left to right: Sam ...
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Mt. Airy’s James Power to Contest CCI2* Young Rider Championship

Eventing

This coming weekend, June 26-29, US Equestrian’s Eventing Young Rider Championships (YRC) will take place at Loch Moy Farm in Adamstown. James Power of Mt. Airy and his 10-year-old Connemara/Thoroughbred gelding Brambleridge Ponder the Truth (“Patrick”) will represent Maryland in the CCI2*-S at this prestigious event. US Equestrian’s Young Rider program is the pipeline that develops the next generation of elite equestrian athletes in the United States. It focuses on high-performance talent development only. Riders from across the county will compete in three international-level divisions — the CCI3*, the CCI2*, and the CCI-1*. Power and Patrick have been together since 2021 when they entered the Beginner Novice division at the Full Moon Farm H.T. in November. They moved up to Novice at the Olney H.T. in 2022 and a year later they moved up again, to the Training level at the April 2023 competition at Morven Park in Virginia. Power ...
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