It was a great day today for the Leuwer family and Nicolai Aldinger as the Blenheim Palace Horse Trials came to a close! Ben Leuwer fought his way to a fantastic tenth-place finish with his Road2LA prospect Zuccini after a solid dressage performance and a clear round in jumping. Today, they tackled the challenging cross-country course of the CCI4*-S for eight- to nine-year-old young horses. And here, too, the Holstein gray—whose sire, Zuccero, competed for Germany today in the Nations Cup at St. Tropez —showed what he’s capable of: no jumping faults, just a few time penalty points, which allowed the pair to finish their Blenheim debut in a fantastic 14th place.

Ben’s wife Pia and her wonderful Westphalian Hamberger daughter Hanami (also a Road2LA horse) also completed their first four-star cross-country event since her maternity leave without any faults—only time penalties. The pair finished 48th out of more than 100 competitors.

The third German rider in the Youngsters’ field, Phoebe Locke—who has only been competing in the black, red, and gold colors since this season—finished in 51st place with Kilmanahan Ulysses, also with only time penalties but no penalty points for faults.

There was no such luck for the fourth German rider of this Blenheim weekend either: Nicolai Aldinger and his promising young Holsteiner, Bart. The pair competed in the CCI4*-L; they had a knockdown in the cross-country yesterday but posted a confident clear round on the course today. They thus finished in 40th place out of 77 competitors.

Tom McEwen – Double Victory in the CCI4-L

When Tom McEwen rode into the CCI4*-L course on Sunday as the last rider on the start list, he had already secured the victory. Even a knockdown on the nine-year-old The Fieldmaster—new to his rider this season and owned by Jo and James Lambert as well as Penny Barker—wouldn’t have changed anything. His only remaining opponent was himself. Riding Brookfield Quality, the trusty 17-year-old warhorse owned by John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn, McEwen was trailing by just 0.1 penalty points at that point.

Both rounds were clear. First place, second place. One rider, two horses, one award ceremony.

“I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but luckily both horses jumped superbly,” McEwen admitted as the full extent of his success sank in. “It’s a shame they couldn’t both win, but what a weekend. I came here with five really good horses and no expectations. For Tom Strawson, who rode ‘Trev’ (The Fieldmaster) here last year, this is a great result. But ‘Norris’ (Brookfield Quality) is an absolute star—a great old guy.”

The first since the great WFP

With this victory, McEwen took home 28,000 pounds in prize money. And: He is the first rider since William Fox-Pitt to achieve a one-two finish in the CCI4*-L at Blenheim. Fox-Pitt accomplished this in 2002, riding Stunning and Tamarillo. Since then: no one has done it for two decades.

In 2025, The Fieldmaster was still competing under his previous rider, amateur jockey and eventing rider Tom Strawson, at the CCI4*-S in Blenheim. At the start of this season, the gelding switched to team world champion McEwen. Already after the cross-country ride the day before, McEwen had raved about his new partner: “I saw him here last year and liked what I saw. He cantered and jumped so well today, and as we headed home, he really stepped it up. I couldn’t be happier with him. He’s phenomenal.”

The second title: McEwen’s rising star

In the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-old horses—a reliable barometer for future stars since its inaugural edition in 2009—the competition remained tight right up until the final rider. That final rider in today’s cross-country course was Tom McEwen, who led the field on Brookfield Danny de Muze, an eight-year-old Irish gelding also owned by Alison Swinburn and John and Chloe Perry. He could afford to be nine seconds over the ideal time of 6:54 minutes, but not ten. In the end, it was only five.

That was enough to keep Katie Magee and Cushlas Indigo—who, for their part, had finished just seven seconds over the ideal time—at bay.

McEwen thus became the first rider ever to secure a one-two finish in the CCI4*-L and CCI4*-S classes for 8- and 9-year-olds in the same year. He was followed by Bubby Upton on Sancerre de Tiji, Tom Jackson on My Star Turn, and Yasmin Ingham on Kinda Corvette. The fastest rider of all was Ireland’s Padraig McCarthy on Kilroe Tiger—with just 1.2 time penalty points, he finished in sixth place.

You can find all the results from Blenheim here.