Felix Vogg and Cartania on the precipice of a major win. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Just over three years ago, Felix Vogg cantered into the main arena at Luhmühlen’s CCI5* aboard his veteran Olympic horse, Colero. It had been over 70 years since a Swiss rider had last won at this level, when Hans Schwarzenbach won Badminton with Vae Victis. He came in with the overnight lead, going on to jump clear to seal his first 5* victory.
Every rider dreams of winning a 5*. Few of them do (unless your name is Andrew Nicholson or Oliver Townend or Michael Jung or Ros Canter, etc, etc), but they spend their days, nights, lives in pursuit of that ultimate pinnacle.
For Felix, the road to now clinching his second 5* win (and becoming the first ever Swiss rider to win two of them) at the MARS Maryland 5 Star, was littered with one very large obstacle. Near the end of August, Felix fell with a young horse while competing in the CCI2*-L at Saulieu in France. In the aftermath, Felix tried to ride his other horses that weekend, but something was wrong. With alarming rapidity, Felix was losing feeling in his right arm and, eventually, couldn’t move the arm altogether. It turned out he’d injured the nerves in his shoulder in the fall, and his arm was partially paralyzed.
He went straight into physio to help heal the nerve compression and gain the use of the arm back. He spent four hours daily in therapy, under the watchful eye of a physio as he worked on small, targeted exercises to mobilize the area. Somehow, he was ready to ride again within just a few weeks, rallying to compete in the FEI Eventing European Championships for Seniors just under a month after the accident.
But he missed out on Burghley with a horse he knew was a contender for the title. Cartania (Cartani 4 – C Tenda, by Clinton), a 14-year-old Holsteiner mare owned by Phoenix Eventing S.à.r.l., had had an abbreviated run round Badminton this spring, taking a tumble just three fences from home after a rather rocky ride where Felix struggled to coax rideability out of the mare. He’d decided to focus on 5*s with the mare instead of championships since she’s a real cross country specialist, but he admits she was a bit of “horse #3” in his string, behind his 5* winner Colero and Europeans horse Freida.
Felix and Boyd share a moment in the prizegiving ceremony. Photo by Veronica Green-Gott/Golden Fleece Marketing
“When you’re prepping horses for Championships, sometimes they come a bit more first,” Felix said. “She’s sometimes a bit too brave, so that’s hard work. My other horses are a bit more — you’ve got to teach them and educate them, but on the other hand they have other qualities. [Cartania] struggles maybe a little bit in the dressage or show jumping but overall, a few years ago, I think we made a good decision to focus on five-star with her and keep her there.”
To help Cartania improve her show jumping — before today, she had never jumped a clear round at the 5* level in three completions — Felix enlisted the help of former German show jumping coach Marcus Döring, who now visits Felix’s home base in Germany about once a week. “It improved all the horses, but especially her,” he said. “What helped me as well was putting my girlfriend, [Olympian for Austria] Lea [Siegl], on them, to see how she does it, how she’s riding the horse. You can always take a little bit of something from that.”
Felix Vogg and Cartania. Photo by Veronica Green-Gott/Golden Fleece Marketing
A dental issue also reared up for Cartania this year, which, while now healed, prompted Felix to begin jumping her in a hackamore, which he also used today. In fact, Felix says that may have been the biggest change he’s seen. Just before coming over the U.S. for Maryland, Cartania finally won her first FEI event, a Nations Cup CCIO4*-S at Avenches in Switzerland. “She went really well with it,” he elaborated. “And I thought, ‘Okay, I try it on at the show.’ Since that, I only jump in a hackamore, and now out of three rounds, we’re three times clear.”
While Cartania hasn’t been put on the Championship track, Felix nonetheless remains a part of a burgeoning Swiss system helmed by Andrew Nicholson. At the European Championships this summer, the Swiss were mounted on primarily young, developing horses. And as the nation builds towards the 2026 World Championships at Aachen, and with the depth Felix currently has on his string, this win certainly adds more wind to the Swiss sails and harbors a certain feeling of things to come.
Cartania’s groom, Orla Thompson, enjoys the win with her charge. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
I spent an excessive amount of time plugging photos of Felix into various AI celebrity döppleganger sites in an attempt to put my finger on who exactly Felix looks like. They spit out a bunch of options ranging from James Marsden (who has the advantage based on his cheekbones alone) to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (who played Jamie Lannister in Game of Thrones) and Patrick Dempsey. I can’t really see an exact match, but one shared trait is great hair — though it sounds like Felix may be losing some in the coming days: “My groom said if I win, she’s allowed to cut my hair,” Felix said wryly. “I didn’t expect it happens, but we made a deal. If I don’t win, I am allowed to cut her hair, so, she’s pretty lucky.”
Monica Spencer celebrates her podium finish with Artist. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
It wasn’t meant to be today for our beloved top two Thoroughbreds (though a win from a nice guy with aforementioned great hair and a “strong woman” of a mare is a nice consolation). We knew today would be challenging for both Artist (Monica Spencer) and Phelps (Mia Farley), but as Michel Vaillancourt’s track revealed itself to the early riders, it felt like the course was riding well. Would the seemingly impossible happen?
It wouldn’t, but as heartbreaking as a loss on a Sunday can be, I think the biggest impression I’ve been left with from both Monica and Mia is their pragmatism for what value their special horses bring. Monica punched the air, despite lowering two rails (one at fence 6 and one at 8, both verticals) and dropping into second overall on a score of 31.7. It’s her and “Max’s” best 5* finish to date, and to see Monica in the prizegiving and press conference, you’d think she had won.
And in so many ways she did. She earned a 5* personal best in the dressage and achieved one of the biggest ever margins of lead heading into cross country at a 5*. She and Max did the damn thing on cross country and achieved their first clear inside the time at this level. And frankly, a two-rail performance for Artist is not a slouch. He’s not a classical show jumper, and Thoroughbreds do struggle in this phase. Their time to shine is on Saturday, and Monica certainly got the benefit of that notion this weekend. I don’t think she’ll be crying into her marmite toast tonight (I don’t know, do people eat marmite toast at night?).
Monica Spencer and Artist. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
“To be second at a five-star is the stuff dreams are made of,” Monica said. “I’m just keeping it real. I’m just happy to be here, and I’m happy to have had the lead I had to allow me to still be in the position I’m in.”
Monica will now look forward to returning home to New Zealand for the first time since she and her family moved to the U.S. full-time nearly three years ago. “We need to make sure our farm is still there!” she laughed. “The time’s flown by, to be honest, and everyone is so welcoming here. ‘Spence’ and Gus and I are going home as a family, so that’ll be nice, but we love it here and we’re just riding the wave. It’s been an exciting time for us.”
Photo by SDH Photography.
Mia Farley got the best she could out of David O’Connor’s Phelps, who eventually lowered four rails and dropped into seventh place overall. Mia’s always remained realistic about her little Thoroughbred that could, always reminding us that she has him for Saturdays at big three-days as she continues to gain experience at the level. After cross country yesterday, David gave Phelps a pat. “You’re very lucky,” he said to Mia.
“I don’t know how we’re going to replace him,” she said. And Monica summed it up well in yesterday’s press conference: “Mia and I were saying that Max and Phelps are doing it for all those average brown Thoroughbreds out there. It’s nice they can find a second career. And I have so much love and respect for [them].”
Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
Boyd Martin used some of his US Equestrian Open of Eventing Final prize money to make a very important addition to his family this week: a bengal cat named Gennadiy, after boxing champion Gennadiy “Triple G” Golovkin. He’s already paid that money back now, earning another payday by climbing the standings to get onto the podium with a beautiful double clear today on Yankee Creek Ranch LLC’s Commando 3.
I walked a portion of the track with Boyd’s coach, Peter Wylde, who’s always very gracious as I toddle along behind him, clinging on to every word. He’d given Boyd some advice on showing “Connor” some spookier portions of the track, as well as some nuanced tips on how he felt the course would ride. As a result of this coaching and the work that leads up to days like today, Boyd continued his stellar show jumping form to finish with a final score of 38.3. Boyd’s had just one rail in FEI competition since this spring, and he’ll be looking to add to his pile of clear rounds and cash next week as he competes the Nutcracker Syndicate’s Cooley Nutcracker at Pau.
Boyd Martin and Commando 3. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
“Commando, he’s just a champion this year,” Boyd, who finally completed his first Maryland since taking the win in 2021 and put to rest a stint of bad luck at this event, said. “He’s finished second at Kentucky and now third at Maryland, and then I think he finished fourth or fifth at Aachen. So he’s had a wonderful year, and I think the best is still to come. I think next year I’d like to hopefully try and win one of these.”
“This has been a wonderful year for my team of horses,” Boyd added. “Felix sort of lived with us in America for about a year, and my wife is secretly in love with him! He’s a top fellow, and he lived at our farm, and then obviously me and Monica are great mates. She’s my next door neighbor. So I love to win, but it’s not so bad being third to these two champion riders. They’re both fantastic people, great horsemen and horsewomen, and I just feel honored to be here with them.”
Caroline Pamukcu finishes fourth in HSH Blake’s first 5* on a score of 39.4.
Michel Vaillancourt set a balanced track with an even number of jumps off of each lead, creating a flowing track that exerted influence but also allowed for some beautiful clear rounds. Four riders jumped double clear (Felix and Cartania, fourth-placed Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake, Australia’s Sophia Hill and her Thoroughbred Humble Glory, and New Zealand’s Jonelle Price with Chilli’s Midnight Star). Sophia and Humble Glory were the sole pair to finish on their dressage score, ending the weekend in sixth on a 46.2. Sophia plans to leave “Hughie” with Monica Spencer over the winter and will fly back and forth to prepare for either Kentucky or Badminton in the spring.
“It’s tricky jumping in here,” Boyd analyzed. “It’s quite spooky with the crowds quite close to you. And it’s like a square ring, if that makes any sense, it’s not like a rectangle ring, so there’s seems like you jump one or two jumps or a line and you’ve got to make a turn. There was some short distance and some long distances, and then you had to skedaddle along to get the time. So when I walked it, I thought this is going to be a huge challenge to jump well in and I felt like a lot of horses had to push hard yesterday, and then they all trotted up really well this morning, which is a credit to the footing and the course design. I think the bulk of the horses jumped really, really well in there. The footing was good, and it was a good track.”
Jennie Brannigan hushes the crowd to keep FE Lifestyle focused en route to a fifth place finish on a score of 40.4. Photo by Atalya Boytner Photography.
And so the curtain closes on the fifth anniversary of the MARS Maryland 5 Star. It’s of course disappointing to see lower entries than its 5* counterparts, but I hope as the identity of this wonderful event continues to grow in profile, it will truly find its footing among the great events of the world. There is a special type of horse required to win any 5* event, and even more so at these uniquely challenging venues like Maryland. But with the capable designs of people like Pierre Le Goupil and Michel Vaillancourt, the future is bright, and we’re already looking forward to next year.
Go Eventing.
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