Boyd Martin Wins 2024 Devon Arena Eventing

The speaker talks about their success in a horse jumping event and their gratitude towards their team and supporters. They discuss the challenges of selecting and training horses for the event. They mention their partnership with Lulu and their upcoming competitions. They also mention their role as a father and the support they receive from their nanny. They end by mentioning their preparations for the Olympic Games and their optimism for the US team's chances. Devin, Irina, Bethany, Chris, Alfred, Lizard, Winner, Boyd, Warby. Yay! Same with Lloyd. Sarah and Ganga, have you tried to make her hype very clear? Good time, how was your plan going into that final round? Boyd, that was an unbelievable horse to just live with herself. She came here last year, she was very spooky and she actually had a run out last year. It's amazing what one year's training can do and she's just a fantastic, careful jumper and she's lightning fast and I sort of half considered just pottering around and getting second because I think Sarah's the only one I've done with clear. I looked through that and I went for broke and our little mare was unbelievable and she just ripped around the course and couldn't be more pleased with her. She's really come into herself and very, very happy with us. And you're a bit of a hometown hero here, so tell us what it means to win again. Yeah, Denver's such a unique event for me and our family just because Phil was out here doing pressage with Denver which helped him come out here jumping in to get an opportunity to do some eventing in front of such a spectacular crowd. It's just a real honour for him. This place has so much aura about it. It just feels like you're riding on sacred ground just because of all the history here. It's just awesome that they can do some eventing here and we are very, very privileged to be here. How did you choose these two horses to bring here today? It's a tricky event to select your animal just because they're a bit green and experiencing, they can get a real fright, you know, and they're not big, big jumps but they're, you know, with the bright lights and short turns. So you've got to be very cautious not bringing a super green horse here and then, you know, you need a careful horse just because that last bend, it feels like it's just bouncing on the edge of a cut. So you need a good, careful jumper at the end of a cross-country course where you've asked it to be super brave and courageous for you and then in a split second it's got to revert back to being a careful, sharp show jumper. So it's different. I mean, I've brought on cue some of my favourite horses in the stable. You know, on cue, sort of getting towards the end of her career and show jumping's always been a struggle for her and we saw that in the last bend today. Lulu's, I don't know, she's just quick and heavy and she's sort of heading towards Bromont three day event in two weeks' time and hopefully this will do her good. You never know, I'll give her another cross-country school next week and just slow it all down and get her a bit quiet because I'd say she's a bit closed up. What kind of ride does she like? You know, she likes to analyse the jumps a bit which is very difficult here because you're coming off short turns. So I tried to use all my time before the start of the class to reverse a couple of the tricky turns for the skinnies and the corners and whatnot and, you know, you can't just... You know, she has a sensitive horse. You can't just run her in there and give her a kick in the gut. She's got her place as well and there's a moment where she studies the jump and then she finds over it. I will say that the owner of the horse is a lady called Bonnie Stett who's probably been one of my longest supporters since coming to America. When I first got here I did clinics up in Millbrook, New York and got real friendly with Bonnie and she was right there at the beginning, never barred off. The horse was in the barn fire and we brought this mare as a four-year-old, sight unseen and Bonnie was the only crazy person but by a four-year-old chestnut mare, sight unseen and poor old Bonnie's sick as a dog. She's very, very ill and I'm very, very proud to get a great victory for Bonnie here tonight. Can you tell us a little bit about your partnership with Lulu and what she's like to ride and dream? Yes, she's a hot, hot, spicy horse, especially in the dressage. She's probably born and bred to be a show jockey in Germany. She's got a little bit of a short stride which sometimes is tough on the really big four-stars when there's long distances. So she's a unique new ride for me and she's quick and nifty and sensitive and Silver's helped me a lot with the flat work and dressage. I've been away actually the last couple of days in Saratoga coaching a clinic and my good buddy Peter Wilde was here doing the hunters at Devon yesterday and the day before and he whizzed over and gave Q and Lulu a jump school for us. One of these victories I think. Sophia, who gave him a quick jump for me in preparation for tonight. How's her season been? What's she been up to this season? She's been doing well. I mean, she's a funny horse. You know, the cross country's our biggest challenge and, you know, she did well. I don't like running off her feet too often. She had a strong run in Carolina, seeing Carolina International four-star and then she did pretty good last weekend. I think she finished third in the advanced at Fair Hills. So, you know, I think she's taken a long time just because she's sensitive and she's heightened. The great thing with her is she's ultra careful. You know, for the shows you're up in, even when she's a bit tired or a bit out of season, she wants to jump quick. Why don't you introduce us to your two... This is my manager, Heidi. And that's my career coach, Bob. Any words for us? Yeah. Oh! Can you speak for him? Well, isn't that a good way to do it? And you're a father three times over now. Talk about how you've balanced your career with fatherhood. Well, I mean, a lot of people don't realize this, but I do most of the work as a kid. And I still was sitting around drinking wine, you know. That was awful. Yeah. Lee, how many words left? Bob, that's it? Instead of that, he does all the work. Cool. I'm sorry I'm not a dad. Then you were wearing a chicken suit, reading stories to the kids at a school. Can you comment on that? That's so cool. And then I said... I don't know. Anyway, yeah. I'm a man of jack-of-all-trades, jack-of-all-trades. You travel all around the world and you still make time to put a chicken suit on every half hour. Many people don't know about that. Exactly. Exactly. In all honesty, we were very, very lucky to have a full-time nanny, Susanna, who should go straight to heaven after dealing with the four boys and Martin Hausholzky. Phil has obviously played a huge part in cracking the whip and training the horses. It's a big year this year with the Olympic Games and it's a lot of juggling with the family and the farm, and trying to be relentless to maintain this focus of trying to be a champion, which is a tricky thing to stay focused on when you get quitted in every different direction. And that's that final question. Do I dare talk about Paris? Yeah. We've got the big vet check for the US team on next Saturday down in Virginia. I feel like my two chances are Federman B and Commando 3. Both are in lightning form. Yeah, it's getting close now. I'm sort of preparing them both as if they might go. And, like, tomorrow morning we're off to the Gallops, the Cracker Dawn with them both, and, yeah, fingers crossed. I think America's got a strong chance this year. We've got, I'd say, there's three going to go to the Olympics and there's probably six horses in America that could make that team. So it's usually survival of the fittest, but this year I feel like there's some really, really good choices and there's going to be some cheers and there's going to be some tears next week. So hopefully we're cheering. And with that, there's some other great events coming up this year and we've got a strong group of horses, a great team at the farm, awesome owners, and just loving the sport. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.