Foreign riders, led by New Zealand’s Monica Spencer, took control of the Mars Maryland 5 Star dressage on the second day of action (Friday, 17 October), holding four of the top six positions on the leaderboard ahead of cross-country.

Monica scored a new personal best of 23.7 with the 14-year-old thoroughbred Artist, saying: “He was amazing – he was offering so much energy and I was like, ‘Whoa boy, whoa Max.’ But we held it together, he stayed with me and showed off, which was really nice.”

Since they burst into the spotlight with world team bronze in 2022, Monica and Artist have become a consistent five-star combination, with four top-11 results at the level including seventh here in 2023 and 11th at Burghley Horse Trials last year. Monica and her family – husband Spence (Andrew) an

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