Tamie Smith and Mai Baum
Tamie Smith and Mai Baum took out the 2021 $50,000 LiftMaster Grand-Prix Eventing at Bruce's Field, Aiken, USA on March 6th
The optimum time on Capt. Mark Phillips Cross-Country course, presented by the City of Aiken, proved to be a formidable test, but when the dust settled it was Tamie and the 15-year-old German Sport Horse gelding Mai Baum, owned by the Ahearn family and Eric Markell, who led the competition start to finish and brought home the win
Tamie and Mai Baum laid down a 23.3 score in the dressage ring to take the lead after the first phase of competition on Friday March 5th, and never looked back. A flawless round over Michel Vaillancourt's Show Jumping track saw them head into Saturday's competition in the lead. The cross-country phase was run in reverse order of standing, so Tamie and Mai Baum were the last pair out on course. They knew they had six seconds to spare to stay in the lead.
"Lexus (Mai Baum) was completely wild and crazy at the beginning of the course, but he finally settled in and we managed to make the time!" said Tamie after her ‘wild ride’.
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Deniro Z
Right behind Smith all weekend were GPE 2020 Champions, Liz Halliday-Sharp & Deniro Z, owned by Ocala Horse Properties. The pair finished on their dressage score of 25.8. Liz also took third place on her 2019 GPE Champion mount, Fernhill By Night (28.4), owned by Deborah Halliday, and fifth on Cooley Quicksilver (30.0), owned by The Monster Partnership.
On finishing three horses in the top five, Liz said that she was ‘thrilled with my horses’
“I knew coming here, Tamie’s horse is a freak of nature and I knew that if Deniro did his best he’d be close, but that horse [Mai Baum] is one of the best dressage horses in the country and one of the best jumpers. Though I’d like to think mine are not far behind. But honestly my horses were absolutely outstanding today, I couldn’t have asked for more”
“It was tough this year to make time, a lot tougher than previous years so kudos to Mark Phillips for giving us a real challenge. And yeah, like I said I’m not disappointed to finish all my horses in the top five, it’s super cool. This is such a great event, it’s always a pleasure to be here. I’m happy for Tamie that she came over here and had a great run and like I said I couldn’t have asked for any more from my horses, they gave me everything this weekend."
The rest of the top 10 shook out as follows:
Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night, 3rd (above) and Boyd Martin on Long Island T, 4th (below)
There were also a raft of other awards and prizes
2021 $5,000 Retired Racehorse Project Highpoint Thoroughbred Award
Holly Jacks-Smither and More Inspiration
The 2020 LiftMaster GPE debuted the $5,000 Highpoint Thoroughbred Award and the 2021 event continued the tradition, proudly awarding first place to Holly Jacks-Smither and the 16-year-old gelding More Inspiration, owned by Holly. Colleen Rutledge and the 11-year-old stallion Confidence Game, owned by Colleen Rutledge and FSG, Inc, took second place.
The Retired Racehorse Project exists to increase demand for Thoroughbreds after racing and works to empower equestrians with the skills and education to be successful with them as sport horses.
2021 $5,000 Ride For Charity & Popular Vote
A feature of the showcase since the inaugural event in 2019, riders competing in the LiftMaster GPE are sorted into teams and paired with local charitable organisations. The top three finishing teams earn a check for their respective charity.
NEW IN 2021, in addition to the traditional Ride for Charity competition, the event added an online popular voting platform so fans could vote for your favourite team. At $5/vote the 2021 #RideForCharity popular vote raised $7,120! 100% of the proceeds go directly back to the represented charitable organizations.
The 2021 teams were structured and placed as follows:
1st Team Orange – Tri-Development Center of Aiken County
Captained by: Liz Halliday-Sharp
Nilson Da Silva
Clayton Fredericks
Karl Slezak
Jules Ennis
2nd Team Yellow – Brothers & Sisters of Aiken County
Captained by: Doug Payne
Colleen Rutledge
Tamie Smith
Missy Miller
3rd Team Red – Community Medical Clinic of Aiken County
Captained by: Allison Springer
Dana Cooke
Sara Kozumplik-Murphy
Sharon White
4th Team Blue – Great Oak Equine Assisted Programs
Captained by: Phillip Dutton
Amanda Beale-Clement
Sydney Elliot
Valerie Vizcarrondo-Pride
Annie Goodwin
5th Team Green – Megiddo Dream Station
Captained by: Emily Hamel
Buck Davidson
Holly Jacks-Smither
Ashlynn Meuchel
Waylon Roberts
6th Team Purple – Alzheimer’s Association – South Carolina Chapter
Captained by: Boyd Martin
Alexandra Baugh
Lillian Heard
Jenny Caras
Mike Pendleton
2021 Triple Crown Sportsmanship Award
Aiken's own Nilson Da Silva was awarded the 2021 Triple Crown Sportsmanship Award. He was unanimously nominated by his fellow competitors after graciously retiring during Friday's Show Jumping when his horse Magnum's Martini just wasn't going right. Nilson was applauded for his horsemanship and sportsmanship and always placing his horses' well-being above all.
“We are proud to support such a prestigious, competitive equestrian showcase here in Aiken,” said Triple Crown Representative Kelly Payne. “We appreciate the opportunity to help grow the sport and strengthen our long-term relationships with some of the best riders in the world while also supporting the Aiken community.”
2021 Shapley’s Best Turned Out Award
The 2021 Shapley's Best Turned Out Award was given to Annabelle Nieman & Alyssa Dobrotin, grooming for Tamie Smith and keeping her horses in incredible condition during their long visit from the West Coast
