‘He’s not ready to retire yet’: Emily Hamel makes five-star history with record-breaking veteran at Pau Horse Trials
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In finishing 14th at Pau Horse Trials, Emily Hamel and Corvett have made history as the only horse-and-rider combination to complete all six of the northern-hemisphere five-stars. Corvett, a grey Holsteiner by Corrido, was 42nd after dressage, and added 7.2 time-faults in a clear cross-country round to move up to 25th. He jumped one of only 10 clears in the final showjumping phase to gain another 11 places.
Corvett – known fondly as Barry – finished in the prize-money, and although there is no official reward for the feat of his five-star completions, the American rider said: “It’s pretty special. I’ll give myself a pat on the back! I think our partnership has really shone through this week.
“I feel very emotional,” she added. “I got him as a nine-year-old. He had done one preliminary [novice] and I produced him from there. He was a late starter because he was in the jumper world until then, but he was a bit tricky and I ended up with him.”
Although it wasn’t particularly a goal to get this record, once Emily had ticked off Luhmühlen last year while on a European trip, she thought “I only have one more to do”. To help fund another Atlantic crossing, she sold 10 “Team Barry” memberships, some of whom travelled over as a support group in Team Barry jackets.
Barry gave them had plenty to cheer about in France.
“He was great cross-country, it felt really easy for him,” Emily said. “I tried to make the time but it was hard, twisty and turny, and it takes him a while to settle into his gallop and really stretch but he tried his heart out. There were a couple of places were I should have taken one less stride but for him, at 18 years old, to come out and jump like that at his 10th five-star is pretty exciting.
“He’s the best horse, I feel like I could jump anything on him. I love him so much.”
After dressage, Emily was emotional, knowing that this might be the last ever run on her horse of a lifetime. However, after springing round the full-up showjumping track, Emily said: “I don’t think he’s ready to retire just yet. He feels better than ever.”
For now, Corvett will head home to the USA for a holiday – but not for too long.
“He doesn’t like too much time off, just a month, then he’ll start hacking with no pressure,” she said. “Maybe we’ll look at Kentucky again.”
How US rider broke five-star record
Corvett nailed the best five-star result of his career at Maryland 2024, finishing seventh. He made his debut at this level at Kentucky in 2021 and has completed a spring and autumn five-star every year since. He has never had more than 20 penalties across country, nor more than one showjumping rail down.
Remarkably, Corvett is the only horse Emily has competed above three-star level, though she now has some promising youngsters coming through at three-star level.
A decade ago, Alice Dunsdon had a quest to complete the world’s six five-stars on the same horse, Fernhill Present. They completed Burghley, Pau, Luhmühlen, Adelaide and Kentucky between 2001–2015, but the pair were eliminated at Badminton 2016 and did not compete internationally again.
The five-star complexion has changed a little since then, with Maryland added to the mix to make a total of seven premier events. There are two riders who have completed all seven, Tim Price and Boyd Martin, but not all on the same horse. Fittingly, both Tim and Boyd were on the podium at Pau 2025.
Pre-Maryland’s inception, American rider Colleen Rutledge completed the five northern hemisphere five-stars on Shiraz, but did not do Adelaide. Before her, Mary King started at the same five on Apache Sauce, but did not finish at Pau.
Five-star tally for Emily Hamel and Corvett
- 2021: Kentucky, 21st
- 2021: Maryland, 14th
- 2022: Badminton, 52nd
- 2022: Burghley, 2oth
- 2023: Kentucky, 10th
- 2023: Maryland, 11th
- 2024: Luhmühlen, 15th
- 2024: Maryland, seventh
- 2025: Kentucky, 12th
- 2025: Pau, 14th
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