The Series Leader Is Heading to Aachen
The US has named its squad for the FEI Eventing World Championships in Aachen this August. Four of the five combinations sit inside the top four of the US Equestrian Open of Eventing Series, including the Series leader.
The United States has named its squad for the FEI Eventing World Championships in Aachen. Will Coleman and Diabolo, Phillip Dutton and Possante, Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker, Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake, and Tamie Smith and Lillet 3 make up the five combinations heading to Germany in August.
Four of the five sit at the top of the US Equestrian Open of Eventing leaderboard. Smith, Coleman, Martin and Pamukcu sit in first to fourth in the 2026 Series.
Dutton, the veteran of the group, completes the squad. A fixture of American teams across multiple Olympic Games and World Championships, he adds championship mileage to a selection with a strong 2026 Series thread running through it.
Tamie Smith and Lillet 3 lead the Series on 235 points. The pair won two of the twenty qualifiers this year, back to back, and turned a strong season into selection.
It started at Carolina in March. Smith swept the weekend, three classes and three wins, with Lillet 3 taking a big and competitive CCI4*-S. The mare came closest to the optimum cross-country time to finish on 29.7 and post an HPR of 99, the mark of a genuinely high-quality performance in a strong field. It was their fifth international win together.
Kentucky followed in April. Smith arrived at the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S as a heavy favorite across three rides, and again it was Lillet 3 who came out on top: the fastest cross-country round of the day, then the only clear inside the time in the show jumping, for a final score of 31.3 and an HPR of 96. Back-to-back qualifier wins for Lillet moved Smith into the Series lead for the first time. She has not been caught since.
Lillet 3 is a ten-year-old Holsteiner mare owned by Molly and Jennifer Duda. Aachen will be a huge championship for a horse still early in her top-level career, and the Open has been the route: two qualifier wins, the Series lead, and now the biggest team in the sport. That is the pathway working exactly as designed.
There is more to come this week. We will break down the HPRs, the form lines and the numbers behind the squad as the countdown to Aachen begins. For now, the headline is simple.
The Open Series leader is going to the World Championships. So are the three riders chasing her.
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