Self explanatory - but it’s been driving me crazy! FEI lists him as chestnut, but he also appears to have some black points and a very dark mane. I’ve never seen a bay or chestnut with coloring like his.
He looks light bay to me.
Also, how great is it that the grooms are finally getting some credit and having their names recognized in connection to these horses? Long overdue!
And also, McLain is looking like a very strong contender to win the 1.60 equitation class in that picture. 
Wait, the picture changed. But it’s still true! Lol.
Also, also. Look at that freaking horse above the standards! At the Olympics, no less!! That’s just incredible.
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The first one wasn’t showing up clearly for me so I tried to find another one lol.
But I agree - and that horse jumps like a derby horse not an eq horse!
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Regarding his color, I can only guess that maybe it was filled out that way on his paperwork when he was registered as a baby, and they never bothered to change it.
Also remarkable that the horse is only coming 12 this year when he’s already won so much.
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I agree-- the color on my mare’s papers is dark brown, but she’s clearly a dark bay. Baby colors are often so different from adult coloration. Even season to season, horse’s look so different. And my gosh, what a gorgeous horse Ilex is!
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Genetically brown is the same thing as bay, just a way to describe the darkest version of bay.
Based off the two pictures posted of Ilex I would say he’s bay but sometimes concentrated red can look like black.
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As a previous boss of mine would have said, “Some kinda brown hoss.”
If it wasn’t obviously a “sorrel colt” (actual coltitude being optional for this description to apply) and it wasn’t “yella” or “whaaaaaaaaaait” it was a “brown hoss.”
This brown hoss looks like a bay kind of brown hoss to me.
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If this is the same horse (quite a few horses have the name Ilex if you google it) it is definitely bay, and not one I use the descriptor brown for.
This looks like the bayest of bay horses 
Horse telex has him listed as brown: https://www.horsetelex.com/horses/pedigree/1569160/ilex
That certainly looks like it could be the same horse from the markings, right down to the dark spot on his upper lip.
But that doesn’t look to me like McLain or any of his team. So I wonder if that is a previous rider from the horse’s younger days in that picture.
Plus from the signage on the arch over the ingate in the background, it is obvious the picture is not too recent.
Personally I’d be totally clueless if the picture was recent or not based on the arch. Some of us don’t hang in the right neighbourhoods to be that familiar with the show settings. 
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After mistaking a bay horse for a chestnut (my riding teacher corrected me pointing at his black points) I did some research.
There is a variety of bay that is called “wild bay” which does not look like what we automatically think is a bay horse, but has black points even if the mane looks more chestnut.
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He is stunning regardless of his color. I hope they bring him to Devon this year!
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Source?
The colour genetics people now call it low point bay instead of wild bay.
They can be tricky to spot though regardless of what you call it, sometimes they just have a bit of black around their fetlocks.
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I’m sorry, it was many years ago and I do not remember the source.
I found the term on-line when I typed the word bay and I looked at all the articles that came up. One of the articles had pictures of various shades of bay and the picture for “wild bay” looked sort of like the color of my lesson horse back then.
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Thanks.
Off topic but I think this is a perfect opportunity to talk about how in love I am with this horse- he makes the 1.60 look easy. Definitely clearing the jumps with a 6” margin at least every single fence.
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