{"id":362869,"date":"2026-01-07T15:01:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T20:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/?post_type=article&p=362869"},"modified":"2026-01-08T18:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T23:10:07","slug":"stay-hungry-the-grind-that-powered-boyd-martin-to-world-no-1","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.chronofhorse.com\/article\/stay-hungry-the-grind-that-powered-boyd-martin-to-world-no-1\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Stay Hungry’: The Grind That Powered Boyd Martin To World No. 1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last year saw three U.S. riders reach No. 1 in the FEI world rankings for their respective sports. This week, we’re looking back at the 2025 season of those three athletes: Kent Farrington (jumping), Boyd Martin (eventing) and Fiona Howard (para-dressage).
<\/em>
For all the success that put Boyd Martin in eventing news in 2025, May delivered the biggest headline of all: FEI world No. 1. That month, Martin stood alone at the top of the chart and became the first U.S. rider to summit the FEI Eventing World Athlete Rankings<\/a> in more than two decades, unseating Great Britain\u2019s Tom McEwen, who had held the position since August 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin, who is also nominated for U.S. Equestrian Federation’s International Equestrian of the Year<\/a>, said the milestone had him thinking about his early days back in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was just a surreal moment, to be honest,\u201d he said of getting the news in May. \u201cI’ve been doing this sport full-time since the day I left high school when I was 17 years old. It’s my 25th year of riding five-stars. It’s something I always kept an eye on over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Boyd Martin’s strong performance at the Defender Kentucky CCI5*, finishing with three horses inside the top 10, boosted him to No. 1 in the May 2025 FEI eventing rankings and earned him the 2025 USEF CCI5*-L Eventing National Championship with Commando 3 (shown here), who finished second overall to Germany’s Michael Jung and fischerChipmunk FRH. Kimberly Loushin Photos<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

For Martin, the ranking was a reminder of the long, unglamorous stretch of his career when he was still far from the sport\u2019s spotlight and its biggest players, like his childhood idol Phillip Dutton, who would later become his mentor and close friend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest influence of my life has been Phillip Dutton,\u201d Martin said. \u201cHe’s sort of paved the way for me, being from a rider from Australia\u2014the other side of the world\u2014and coming to America and starting from scratch. I remember when he was ranked the No. 1 rider in the world [in 2005], and he didn’t even know who I was at that time, just because I was a young kid in Australia working away in the dust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin says Dutton has taught him lessons out of the saddle as well, including \u201chow he handles himself in great moments and bad moments,\u201d and kept his month at No. 1 in perspective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s a weird thing, being ranked the world No. 1 rider,\u201d Martin said. \u201cHonestly, I don’t feel like I’m the best rider in the world. In eventing\u2014I’m not sure about the other sports\u2014but in eventing, it was just a moment in time of who’s had the best group of five-star results.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Martin, that \u201cmoment in time\u201d included a standout April, highlighted by three top-10 placings at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI5*, which powered him to the top of the FEI leaderboard and set the tone for the months that followed. Anchored by his 2024 Paris Olympics partner Fedarman B and backed by a deep string of versatile horses, his barn\u2019s depth of talent kept him firmly inside the world\u2019s top three through the end of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin says that his ranking was buoyed by the horses he took over from his friend and longtime competitor, Liz Halliday, who suffered a traumatic brain injury at the 2024 American Eventing Championship<\/a> (Kentucky). That reality was bittersweet: He was glad to find a winning groove with her horses but also felt the weight of stepping in for a rider he wished was still in the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be honest, my year seriously got boosted in the results category due to the fact that a lot of Liz’s top horses had come my way,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the second half of the year, we had some fantastic results with Cooley Nutcracker and Miks Master C and Shanroe Cooley. These were horses that Liz had spent years and years and years training and bringing up the levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a little bit spoiled, where Liz had done all this hard work with these horses, and then I sort of slipped in and figured out how to ride them and got some great results on them,\u201d he continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, Martin won the CCI4*-L at the Yanmar America Tryon International Spring Three-Day Event (North Carolina) on Cooley Nutcracker. Martin told the Chronicle then that he and gelding had been slow to click<\/a>. But by the time they reached Tryon, Martin was ready to ask the horse for a new gear. That ask paid off with a double-clear finish and a win on their dressage score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn cross-country day, it was sort of the first time I really asked Cooley Nutcracker to open up and gallop\u2014and holy moly, he had a fifth gear that I didn\u2019t even know about,\u201d Martin said following their first four-star win at Tryon. \u201cHe has got so much speed and stamina and bravery; I was just blown away with how easy the four-star long felt on him. He\u2019s a really smart, quick-footed horse that\u2019s been beautifully educated and trained, and really it was just a matter of me guiding him and showing him where the flags were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the summer and fall, Martin continued to log international results on multiple horses, keeping him within the top three riders as points tightened and the rankings shifted around him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During demanding summer and autumn campaigns that spanned continents, Martin entered Commando 3 in the CCIO4*-S at CHIO Aachen (Germany). The pair held their own in one of the sport\u2019s deepest international fields, placing fifth. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Boyd Martin piloted Fedarman B, his 2024 Paris Olympic mount, to sixth place <\/em>at the Defender Kentucky .<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In October, Martin and Miks Master C captured the inaugural U.S. Equestrian Open Eventing Final<\/a> at Morven Park (Virginia), where their clear show jumping round sealed the victory on a final score of 28.7, while also finishing fourth on Shanroe Cooley. Later that month, at the Mars Maryland 5 Star at Fair Hill, Martin took an early dressage lead with Luke 140 before ultimately earning third place aboard Commando 3. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year came full circle in October at the \u00c9toiles de Pau CCI5*<\/a> (France) where Martin finished third aboard Cooley Nutcracker. After a season that carried him to the top and through the grind of international competition, Pau offered a fitting closing chapter. And for Martin, it was a shared success, as his mind turned back to Halliday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know Liz, and she’s an ultra-competitive person, and part of me was worried that she might be a bit bitter and angry that the horses were winning without her,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the couple of times I talked to her\u2014like, I talked to her straight after the show jumping at Pau this year in France\u2014she was absolutely<\/em> elated. So it sort of started off as a bit of an awkward feeling, and then to being quite proud.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Martin enters the next year of his career, currently comfortably seated at the No. 2 position in the world rankings behind Harry Meade, he is still focused on growth for himself and his “great squadron of horses back in the stable.” Looking ahead to 2026, the rider has little interest in sitting still. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe No. 1 thing which I’ve learned from Philip was this just continuous, relentless pursuit of getting better,\u201d Martin said. \u201cA lot of the champions I’ve been around, they’ve all had the same trait, where they’re never quite satisfied of where they are in their training and their riding ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven as you\u2019re sort of entering into the second half of your career, I think it’s very important to stay hungry and desperate to keep getting better,” he continued, “because the sport is evolving, and the quality of horses is getting better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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