Who wins the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S?
A title contender with one remaining scoring slot and two venue specialists with top-five finishes here. The 11th qualifier is the biggest one yet.
The Kentucky Horse Park needs no introduction. One of the most storied venues in eventing, it has hosted some of the sport's most iconic moments and this weekend, the Cosequin® Lexington CCI4*-S returns for its sixth consecutive year.
If last year is anything to go by, it will be one of the standout events of the entire series. In 2025, it drew the largest field of any qualifier and ranked in the top three for overall field strength. The 11th qualifier of 2026 is shaping up to match it.
And the timing matters. The leaderboard has been shifting constantly through the opening ten qualifiers, and two of the biggest names in the title race arrive here with serious skin in the game. Tamie Smith, with three entries, and Lucienne Bellissimo, with Kitsch Couture HPK, sit third and fourth in the standings and both still have one open scoring slot. With space for six counting scores each, this could be one of the last chances for either to add a fresh result rather than trying to improve on an existing one.
The points at stake here are also significant. With Kentucky operating on the large qualifier scale, a win is worth 50 points, enough to move either combination sharply up a tight leaderboard.
The favorite: Tamie Smith & Lillet 3
Tamie Smith & Lillet 3 lead The EquiRatings Prediction Centre on an 18% Win Chance. The ten-year-old produced the highest High Performance Rating (HPR) recorded at a US Equestrian Open qualifier this season—a 99 at Carolina—to win a big, competitive class.
Tamie arrives with six international wins already this season and serious momentum behind her. She’s in form, in rhythm, and riding one of the strongest strings in the country right now. Tamie also brings her experience campaigner Danito (10% Win Chance) and Kynan (3% Win Chance) who finished in the top 10 in this class last year.
Read more about Tamie's 2026 campaign here.
Tamie Smith & Lillet 3 on the way to winning Carolina CCI4*-S. Photo: Liz Crawley Photography
Course experience: Sydney Elliott and Dan Kreitl
The two horses below Lillet 3 on the prediction centre bring something the favorite can't claim: a proven track record in this specific class.
Sydney Elliott & QC Diamantaire arrive with a 12% win chance having competed at the Kentucky Horse Park four times with two of those appearances being in the CCI4*-S. They finished third in 2023 and eighth in 2024 with a double clear on both occasions. That kind of consistency over a course of Kentucky's standard is not something to overlook.
On a 11% win chance, Dan Kreitl and Carmango have a strong record at this venue, finishing fourth in 2022 and fifth in 2023. In 2022, they led the class after cross-country before an unlucky show jumping phase dropped them out of the medals but they came back the following year and jumped clear, proof that this course holds no demons for them.
After missing the entire 2025 international season, they returned at the TerraNova qualifier with a convincing third-place finish, starting on a 21 in the dressage. That mark is the lowest four-star dressage score recorded globally in 2026 so far.
These two combinations account for the only horses in this field with a top-five finish at this competition. That track record earns its place in any preview, win chance aside.
Quick Access Links:
- Results: Results Link
- Start Times: Start Time Link
- Live Stream: Live Stream Link
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