Phillip Dutton Talks Horses, Goals—And Aging Without Ice Baths – The Chronicle of the Horse
It’s not exactly a new experience for seven-time Olympian Phillip Dutton to win an upper-level event, but the CCI4*-S at TerraNova—which served as the third qualifier in the inaugural year of the US Equestrian Open series—was a big day, even for him. Dutton won with Azure, and he also took second on Quasi Cool, giving him an early lead in the series, which builds toward a fall 2025 final offering $250,000 in total prize money.
The 1-2 finish was good affirmation for Dutton that he’s on the right path with his current crop of top horses. Azure, a 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare (Omar—Cavalier Roselier, Cavalier Royal) owned by Caroline, Anne and Michael Moran, completed her first CCI5*-L this season at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, having won the CCI4*-L at Bromont in July 2023. Caroline Moran’s 13-year-old Holsteiner Quasi Cool (Quo Vados—B-Estelle, Lord) has two wins at the four-star level, but fell on cross-country at Kentucky earlier this year in his first five-star attempt.
Now 61, Dutton is accustomed to his age having become part of his athletic story. In Tokyo, at 57, he was the oldest member of the U.S. Olympic Team across all sports, and five years before that, at the 2016 Rio Games, his individual bronze earned him the distinction of being the oldest Olympic medalist since 1952 (a record he ceded this year, when show jumper Laura Kraut, at 58, won team silver in Paris). He has hinted that the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics may mark a turning point after which he could ease off the gas, though there are no timelines written in stone.
