Award Winners Received Special Trophies from L.V. Harkness at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN

May 3, 2019
A man is riding on the back of a brown horse.

Oliver Townend, the winner of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN won $130,000 in prize money, a new Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch, and a 12-month lease for a 2019 Land Rover Discovery. Based on where they placed, the top 20 competitors also shared proportionally in the $400,000 pot of prize money.


Team Great Britain/Switzerland won the Dubarry of Ireland Nations Team Challenge. Oliver Townend/Cooley Master Class; Piggy French/Quarrycrest Echo; Felix Vogg/Calero; and Leslie Law/Voltaire De Tre’ split the $200,000 prize.


The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN also presented a number of other prizes and awards. Most of the awards were supplied by L.V. Harkness, the event’s official award supplier.


Located in the heart of downtown Lexington, L.V. Harkness & Co. offers a wide selection of equestrian-themed pieces, fine tableware, decorative home accents, and exquisite gift items including china and porcelain, silver, leather and crystal, as well as beautiful trophies of all styles. The boutique store is just 15 minutes from the Kentucky Horse Park and offers free parking!


“L.V. Harkness is well known in the equestrian world for their beautiful trophies and we’re thrilled they partnered with us again this year,” said Stewart Perry, president of Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI), organizer of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Even presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN.


L.V. Harkness supplied the commemorative silver cup given to the owner of the winning horse, Angela Hilsop who owns Cooley Master Class, ridden by Oliver Townend. The breeder, John Hagan, received a silver conus vessel on an ebony wood vase. The highest-placed international rider, Townend, also took home a custom silver claret.


The highest-placed owner/rider Lillian Heard, who rode LCC Barnaby, received a cut crystal vase, while the highest-placed young rider went to Chris Talley riding Unmarked Bills who took home a silver scallop bowl with horse heads on both sides.


A stirrup adorned ice bucket was given to the Equistro Oldest Horse Completing, Harbour Pilot, ridden by Hannah Sue Burnett. Harbour Pilot is a 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse.


The winner of the 2019 Land Rover USEF CCI5*-L presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN Championship, Boyd Martin and Christine Turner’s Tsetserleg, took home the Roger Haller perpetual trophy, a bronze created by Olympic bronze medalist Kerry Milliken.


The groom of the winning horse, Susie Cooper, took home an engraved glass cookie jar, a bouquet of flowers, a ceramic from Ouisha, and a cash gift from Susan Domonkos in honor of her mother Jane Ginn, as well as a check for $500 from EEI.


Other special awards given out on the final day of competition included the FLAIR Protect and Perform Award given to the highest-placed horse and rider pair using FLAIR nasal strips during both the cross-country and show jumping phases. This year’s winning pair was Oliver Townend and Cooley Master Class.


The Equis Sportsmanship Award was given to Buck Davidson, who fell and broke his collarbone on his first horse on Cross Country, but who stayed on the grounds to help and cheer on his fellow competitors. The prize of luxury clothing and tack from Equis Boutique is chosen by the competitors and is given to the rider who “throughout the competition exemplifies the spirit of the event, serves as a good role model for the sport, respects others and overall exudes a positive demeanor and attitude.”


The MARS EQUESTRIAN Best Turned Out Horse Award for the best-turned-out horse at the first horse inspection was awarded to Leslie Law’s Voltaire De Tre’ and his groom Isabel Holden. The Shapeley’s Groom’s Award is given to the best-groomed horse in the show jumping phase. The winner this year was Emma Ford, groom for Phillip Dutton’s Z.


The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN will be broadcast on NBC on Sunday, May 5, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. EDT. It will also be broadcast on NBC Sports Network on June 23, from 1:00-2:00 p.m. EDT. USEFNetwork.com will livestream the competition in its entirety – including the two CSI jumping classes – in the U.S. and abroad. Competition will also be archived and available on demand.


Further information on the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS EQUESTRIAN is available at www.KentuckyThreeDayEvent.com.





April 28, 2026
Lexington, Ky., April 26, 2026 Despite it being an American event, American champions have been hard to come by over the last 18 years in the CCI5*-L at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian (K3DE), with only Tamie Smith’s 2023 win standing out in a sea of foreign victories. But Will Coleman has entered his name into the record books as just the second American in nearly two decades to take home the top prize. He and Diabolo added just 0.8 time penalties in the final phase to finish on a score of 28.1 and take home the trophy. Double-clear show jumping rounds propelled Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake (28.6) and Great Britain’s David Doel on Galileo Neiuwmoed (30.8) to 2 nd and 3 rd respectively. Overnight leader, New Zealand’s Monica Spencer and Artist, dropped three rails to fall to 7 th . “I probably can’t put it into words,” he said of his victory abord the Diabolo Group’s Holsteiner gelding. “It’s a surreal feeling; it’s something we all dream about. Winning (a five-star) is the hardest thing to do in equestrian sports, and I feel like (all the riders) deserve the win. It’s such a hard game, it takes so long to get good enough at it to contend at this level. “I have so much respect for the sport, and the horses and riders, so it feels like it’s unfair that I’m the only one that gets to take home the win,” he continued. “But I’m overjoyed for the horse and all who are involved in his journey — the owners, my family, my coaches, and our staff at home. I wake up most days feeling like the luckiest guy in the world and today I feel extremely lucky.” As the highest-placed American, Coleman is also the winner of the Defender/USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship presented by MARS Equestrian for the U.S. riders.
April 28, 2026
Lexington, Ky., April 25, 2026  Fresh off his win in the show jumping World Cup Final, world #2 Kent Farrington continued his winning ways by streaking home fastest in the jump-off with Descartes SR at the Kentucky International CSI5* $340,000 1.60m Grand Prix presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute part of the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian (K3DE), the penultimate stop on the Major League Show Jumping tour. Mclain Ward and High Star Hero put in a strong performance to stop the clock in 40.42 but couldn’t quite catch Farrington’s time of 39.92. Shane Sweetnam of Ireland and James Kann Cruz chased them both, but his time of 40.71 was only good enough for third. “I’m really excited about this horse,” Farrington said. “He’s just 9 and this is his first five-star, and we started it the right way. He has an incredible stride like a racehorse and I know he can eat up the ground.”
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