From Germany to Virginia? The USA's CHIO Aachen riders all have previous form at Morven Park CCI4*-L.
So will they go to the $200,000 Final? They've all placed in the top spots there before...
Will Coleman, Boyd Martin, Phillip Dutton, and Caroline Pamukcu - four of the USA’s top riders contested this year’s CHIO Aachen CCI4*-S.
All four also have previous form at Morven Park CCI4*-L which, in the context of this year’s US Equestrian Open Final, is very interesting.
Who of the four will target the $200,000 CCI4*-L Final at Morven Park this October? Who will they bring? Will they replicate their previous efforts in the class (if so, each would land well within the prize money)?
Will Coleman & Off The Record
Will Coleman & Off The Record winning CHIO Aachen 2021 - the first and only US winners. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Will and his 2021 CHIO Aachen winner Off The Record were the highest placed US pair at Aachen this weekend, finishing fourth after adding just 0.8 cross-country time penalties to their dressage score. They were the second fastest round of the day (after New Zealand's Monica Spencer & Artist who added 0.4 time penalties).
Off The Record first stepped up to the CCI4* level in April 2018. Since then, he has tackled 24 top-level cross-country courses (CCI4*/5*). He has jumped clear in all but one (CHIO Aachen 2023). On metrics, he is ranked in the top 1.0% of CCI4*-L cross-country jumpers and the top 1.3% on speed. A record like that is always a leaderboard threat when cross-country day rolls around, making sure we all remember it’s not a dressage competition.
Not particularly known for producing super low dressage scores (unlike his stable mate Chin Tonic HS), Off The Record has nonetheless been competitive with his most recent CCI4* tests. These are his last five CCI4* dressage scores:
- Apr 2025 - Cosequin® Lexington 4*-S (Qualifier 11): 21.8 (went on to win)
- Sep 2024 - The Fork at Tryon 4*-S: 30.1 (went on to win)
- Apr 2024 - Cosequin® Lexington 4*-S: 30.1 (finished 3rd)
- Apr 2024 - Stable View 4*-S: 31.2 (finished 4th)
- Jun 2023 - CHIO Aachen 4*-S: 28.1 (finished 38th)
Of all four previous runnings of the Morven Park CCI4*-L, winning scores have ranged from 29.4 to 34.5. In Off The Record's international career, he's produced 12 top-level finishing scores in that range (and lower). If we do see the US stalwart - and 2022 World team silver medalist - in October, Off The Record will challenge for the top spot. He usually does.
Boyd Martin & Commando 3
Boyd Martin & Commando 3 placing 2nd at the 2024 Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Boyd and Commando 3 finished fifth in Aachen by adding just 3.2 cross-country time penalties to their dressage score. The result boosted Commando 3 to the number four horse for the US right now according to the EquiRatings Elo rating as he holds 721 Elo points.
Currently fifth in the US Equestrian Open standings, Boyd earned 50 of his 135 Series points by winning Stable View (Qualifier 8) with Commando 3. That Qualifier win was the latest of Commando 3’s four career international wins, all at CCI4*:
- Apr 2025 - Stable View 4*-S (Qualifier 8)
- Apr 2024 - Stable View 4*-S
- Oct 2023 - Morven Park 4*-L
- Sep 2023 - The Fork at Tryon 4*-S
We can’t gloss over that Morven Park CCI4*-L win two years ago. It was Boyd on Commando 3 winning what this year will be the $200,000 US Equestrian Open Final. Can they replicate in 2025?
Phillip Dutton with Possante & Denim
Phillip Dutton. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
With Possante, Phillip placed 11th at Aachen. It was Possante’s third international appearance this season after finishing third at TerraNova CCI4*-S (Qualifier 6) and second at the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S (Qualifier 11). At the CCI4*-L level, however, Possante’s show jumping has been a challenge; on both of his appearances at the level, he had two rails down on the final day (Boekelo 2024, Tryon 2024).
With Denim, Phillip finished 14th in Aachen. Though younger than Possante (12 YO), Denim (10 YO) has had better CCI4*-L results. Two of his three appearances at the level include an eighth place finish at Blenheim last year after a fifth at Tryon - both times adding just time penalties to his dressage score.
The Blenheim result - eighth out of 78 competitors - was especially impressive and contributed to Denim’s rank as the number two 10-year-old in the US right now according to the EquiRatings Elo Rating. The only 10-YO ahead of him is Paris Olympian HSH Blake (Caroline Pamukcu).
Right now, Phillip is our Series leader on 215 points. If he is still atop the leaderboard come season-end, he will earn $25,000 before the Final even rolls around. It’s been four years since Phillip has contested the Morven Park CCI4*-L but maybe this year he's planning to carry his Series momentum into even more winnings.
Caroline Pamukcu & HSH Blake
Caroline Pamukcu & HSH Blake. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Two rails down on Friday and 18.0 time penalties on Saturday saw Caroline and HSH Blake finishing 27th in Aachen. The pair did however produce the lowest first-phase score of the US combinations and they reclaimed their clear-jumping ways across the country after penalties at the Paris Olympics and 2025 Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S.
When HSH Blake was selected for Paris, it wasn’t a big surprise for those of us on the EquiRatings team. We’d seen him climbing up our ratings and, as a young horse, we had him pegged for LA 2028 but Paris 2024 was no stretch either. So, because it seems like he’s been on our radar forever, it feels weird that Blake has “only” done eight top-level (CCI4*/5*) events in his career. Starting with TerraNova CCI4*-S in March 2023, he's done six CCI4*-S events including this weekend, the Olympics, and just one CCI4*-L at Tryon 2024.
That one CCI4*-L outing happened to be a 28.6 finish-on-dressage score to secure the win. According to the EquiRatings High Performance Rating (HPR) which quantifies the quality of any given result, it was the pair’s best-ever performance (HPR of 98). So, will Blake go to Morven Park 2025? It’s a data-set of one, but so far CCI4*-L looks good on him.
Series Standings as of July 8th, 2025 (After Qualifier 14):
See the full series standings, updated after each qualifier, here.
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