Lexington, KY – Great Britain’s Mary King was unstoppable on cross-country day at the 2011 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Bridgestone. She guided two horses around Derek di Grazia’s course to claim the top two places on the leaderboard. Australia’s 2007 winner, Clayton Fredericks, sits third on Be My Guest and Sinead Halpin jumped up to fourth in her first CCI4* with Manoir de Carneville, to lead the assault on the USEF National CCI4* Championship.
King cruised around on Kings Temptress, her 11-year-old homebred mare. She was one of only three double-clear rounds all day and jumped her way from fourth after the dressage, to the top of the leaderboard on a score of 47.7. With her less experienced horse, Fernhill Urco, she used all of her expertise to guide the Portuguese-bred gelding home for owners Sue and Edwin Davies in his first try at this level. Second after the dressage behind American rider Tiana Coudray, Fernhill Urco kept his position even after he picked up eight time faults. His score of 49.7 means his stablemate doesn’t have a rail in hand.
“The mare was pretty fluid all the way around,” said King. “I was amazed, galloping along thinking how good the ground was. The mare had a fairly fault-free round and she was quite easy with the time.”
Kings Temptress is a fairly experienced horse, and set an immaculate standard as the fourth horse out on the cross-country course which was rarely duplicated throughout the day.
Fernhill Urco impressed King with his ability to keep galloping; she said she was worried the half-bred horse might get a bit tired with the wet ground and Kentucky sunshine.
“The grey horse went a bit green at the first water,” said King. “He really improved, it was a fantastic course for educating a horse – he improved as he went round. He got tired but not as tired as I had thought.”
King took the long way at the third-to-last fence, which caught out several riders, and got her horse home in safely.
“I thought a few extra time penalties, rather than risk something going wrong,” said King.
King indicated the she has struggled getting clear show jumping rounds out of Kings Temptress due to the shape of her jump, but the mare has improved for owner Derek Rostron Baden, and King is optimistic about both her horses.
“I’m not even thinking about tomorrow – I’m enjoying the moment,” said King after her ride. “They are two very different horses… I never would have dreamt I would have been in this position when I left England to come here, so I am just enjoying the moment.”
Fredericks looked stylish on the 13-year-old mare which he owns with his wife, Lucinda (who also won the event in 2009) – they made the track look easy and moved up from 10th after the dressage to third after adding 2.8 time faults. Their score of 53.0 keeps the pressure on King.
Halpin looked like a seasoned professional and earned her spot among the celebrity veterans King and Fredericks. She was part of a USEF-funded trip to Boekelo CCI3* in Holland last fall and used that experience to feel comfortable at the Kentucky Horse Park. Halpin added 4.4 time faults to her dressage score of 48.7 to finish on a two-day score of 53.1.
“He’s a super horse,” said Halpin of Carraig LLC’s 10 year-old Selle Francais gelding. “I was lucky enough to go to Boekelo in the fall, which took a lot of the stress out of it. My goal coming here was to be happy with all three phases. My horse should be fairly competitive. He’s not confirmed enough at the level to put in a winning dressage test. I wanted to be accurate and not make any mistakes.”
Halpin, who now makes her home in Gladstone, NJ, wasn’t overwhelmed by her first CCI4*. She felt that the track suited her unorthodox chestnut gelding, and was pleased with how he handled the terrain and the challenges.
“I walked the course and I thought it really suited my horse,” said Halpin. “He’s actually really rideable. He doesn’t really take a hold of the bridle. He sometimes lands a bit stalled, but in the combinations out there, that was good, some of those combinations walked a bit short on the back side.”
Halpin managed three strides between the two ducks in the Head of the Lake – which walked in a long two.
“I watched Mary’s (first) horse and then I didn’t watch anymore,” said Halpin of handling her nerves. “My horse can be a little different than the average horse, so I didn’t want to over-think it.”
Halpin is optimistic about Sunday’s show jumping, which starts at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
“My horse doesn’t have a normal style over a fence, but he is careful.”
Hannah Sue Burnett, who was the USEF National CCI3* Champion in 2010 and the National CCI2* Champion in 2009 with St Barths, lies fifth on a score of 53.3 after a sparkling double clear.
Overnight leader Tiana Coudray had her Rolex dreams end when she fell off Ringwood Magister at the Bridgestone combination near the end of the course after some trouble early on.
There were 18 clear cross-country rounds out of 41 starters. Difficulties were spread around the course, but DiGrazia was pleased with how the ground held up after such a deluge of rain over the past two weeks.
The complete order is available here: http://www.rk3de.org/timetable.php.
Watch the competition live (and free) on http://www.usefnetwork.com/Rolex3Day2011/.