Five-star horse trials cancelled for 2026 after months of rumours

Maryland 5 Star, the end-of-year US five-star horse trials, has been cancelled this year; “apparent financial concerns” are cited as the reason the current organisers will not go ahead with the event in 2026.

The news follows months of rumours about whether the fixture would go ahead. Maryland 5 Star is the world’s newest five-star and has run five times since the venue first stepped up to host this top level of eventing in 2021. It was scheduled to run on 15-18 October this year.

“US Equestrian has been in regular communication with the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) to support their ongoing discussions surrounding the future viability of the Maryland 5 Star,” said a statement from US Equestrian.

“The current licensee, the Sport & Entertainment Corporation of Maryland, due to apparent financial concerns, will not host the CCI3*-L or CCI5*-L in 2026.

“US Equestrian is working with a new potential licensee for the CCI3*-L for 2026 and will share updates about the future possibilities for the CCI5*-L as soon as possible. The timeline and FEI requirements to host an event of this stature are published to support any efforts to pursue an application in the future.”

Concerns had been raised about the future of Maryland 5 Star last year; information came out about the departure of key personnel including event CEO Jeff Newman. In addition, there were financial worries around state funding being eliminated.

Within the eventing world, there have been discussions about whether there are too many five-stars in the world – and whether there are enough combinations at this level to sustain seven such competitions.

Maryland has suffered from low entries over the years; there were 46 starters for its inaugural running in 2021 – helped by other events such as Burghley Horse Trials not running that year as a result of Covid – but there have been no more than 26 in any year since then.

In 2025, the event had 22 competitors, including one British pair, Alex Bragg and Quindiva. Alex retired after an unexpected refusal late on the cross-country course.

The winners of the five runnings of Maryland 5 Star are the home side’s Boyd Martin and On Cue (2021), New Zealand’s Tim Price and Coup De Coeur Dudevin (2022), Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue (2023), Britain’s Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class (2024) and Switzerland’s Felix Vogg and Cartania (2025).

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